Urban Meyer Call-in Show
For those few people still clinging to hope that Hoke can be the guy, please contrast this call-in show featuring Urban Meyer with the bumbling clip released last night where Hoke couldn't remember really anything.
I used to disdain Meyer, for multiple reasons. For him to be required to sign a contract with his family to spend time with them as chief among them. Also, the BCSCG from the 2006 season, the politicking, his smugness, etc.
I've done a 180 on him. He seems to lack what most people would refer to as a personality, and he may be a workaholic father that doesn't do a good job balancing family time. I never would have thought this, but I have been forced to respect him. In this particular example, he let's random fans call in and ask pointed questions about the program, then he honestly and comprehensively answers them. Seemingly without reverting to any coach speak. I listened to his call in show today at lunch, I'm usually not in my car at this time. It was... refreshing.
So neg away, as I know that the horse that I am beating is most deadest. But if you listen to this segment, you'll have full clarity on why Hoke can no longer be supported. I've met a lot of really nice fry cooks that I would not vote for in a presidential election.
http://www.971thefan.com/content/showpages/UrbanMeyer_call_in.html
October 9th, 2014 at 1:37 PM ^
but I've seen/heard some politicians that could deliver a message with conviction. It didn't mean that I respected them any more, just meant that they could speak well. EDIT: I will say this though, not to ignore your point...I'm slightly impressed he delivers a message straight up without coach-speak, something that I wish Hoke would do less of.
October 9th, 2014 at 1:38 PM ^
If you listen to him, he has absolutely no passion or conviction in his voice. It's not a rah-rah type conversation. He simply goes into great depth about the subjects presented to him, and you can really tell that he is very knowledgable about the game of football. I smell BS like a shark smells blood. If you listen, you can tell he is giving a genuine answer.
October 9th, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^
trying to get the gumption to listen, but I'll take your word for the fact that they're genuine answers. One other thing to consider is that he has very little reason not to be transparent with his answers. His program had a lot of problems, many or all of which are now public knowledge AND his team is, regardless of what troubles he's having, playing very well aside from the one loss. They're still part of the playoff discussion. I have a feeling that if he were successfully keeping issues under wraps or he had a 2-4 record, he would not be as forthcoming with his answers. EDIT: I'm not downvoting you...I'm sick of folks downvoting someone for their honest opinions. Flamers, yeah I see that. But you're giving good discussion points here, I wish folks would lighten up.
October 9th, 2014 at 3:27 PM ^
Your point on the EDIT is spot on.
The OP is giving an honest, thoughtful evaluation of why he thinks the way he does. He also makes valid points to support his opinion. In addition, it was presented in a respectful way.
I listened to the interview and am saddened by the chasm that is currently between the programs.
October 9th, 2014 at 3:31 PM ^
and I just wish folks would just speak up when they disagree. Instead, they hide behind a downvote, which I could care less about points, but we're here to interact. Most folks provide great reasoning with their disagreements, but some will just downvote because they disagree and not say squat. Pisses me off.
October 9th, 2014 at 4:51 PM ^
but Hoke has been really really embarrassing to listen to since. . . forever. . . including when he was winning in the beginning. People came down hard when some of us said that he came across as unintelligent and didn't rep a place like the UM well.
To me this doesn't have anything to do with a good guy--I would take that for granted, and would take for granted that I would love him if he lived down the street--but with whether he should be getting paid 3 large and running one of the nation's most storied football programs. He shouldn't.
October 9th, 2014 at 7:10 PM ^
October 9th, 2014 at 1:36 PM ^
So he's smug, politicking, a bad father and husband, and he lacks a personality, but you're opinion on him has changed because he answers questions about football. Got it.
October 9th, 2014 at 1:40 PM ^
I don't know that you can state that he is a bad father. We know that he signed a contract to spend time with his family. How many people on here are so tied to their jobs that they spend less than the optimum amount of time with their families? I'm guilty of it. I savor every second I have with them, but that doesn't mean I don't have to work my ass off. It is something that I fight internally, but I don't consider myself a bad dad.
October 9th, 2014 at 1:47 PM ^
I don't know if he's a bad father or not, I just thought that's what you were insinuating with the whole contract and workaholic/family time thing.
October 9th, 2014 at 1:49 PM ^
October 9th, 2014 at 1:53 PM ^
that was the old Urban Meyer. You know...the one who worked in Florida? FLOR. I. DA. Not Ohio.
October 9th, 2014 at 2:07 PM ^
October 9th, 2014 at 4:37 PM ^
Ohio State started out as an agricultural college
October 9th, 2014 at 2:52 PM ^
you raise an interesting point.
October 9th, 2014 at 8:07 PM ^
So does the guy whose never met/talked to/been in the same room as Urban Meyer or any of his family members, yet feels comfortable calling him a bad father and husband.
October 9th, 2014 at 10:28 PM ^
October 9th, 2014 at 1:38 PM ^
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October 9th, 2014 at 1:43 PM ^
but because Meyer is indeed doing what he was hired to do - win football games. The problem I have with Meyer is that he wins at any cost, namely loss of class, loss of the values college athletics should be teaching, loss of respect from one's opponents and a general slimeyness that I've attributed to him before he ever became the coach at osu. I hated him before he went to Columbus, so the fact he's osu's coach is only icing on the cake. But, I do think he can coach football, that is for sure.
October 9th, 2014 at 2:36 PM ^
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October 10th, 2014 at 12:59 AM ^
I dunno. I'm a Buckeye fan, and I didn't like Urb much before he came to tOSU, mainly because he has a smarmy, used car salesman vibe to him. But I have what I think are pretty reasonable standards for a football coach. I'd be upset if my coach beat his wife, or encouraged academic fraud, or made a habit of being drunk in public, or whatever; but having a vaguely unpleasant personality... meh.
Frankly, I couldn't really care any less than I do about whether he actually had an affair with a graduate student or not. It doesn't affect me. There's a pretty reasonable chance it was just a rumor, so it's a bit annoying seeing people refer to it as if it were a documented fact, as if internet rumors are always true, or even frequently true, but whatever. It's between him and his family, and they seem fine with it. It's not like a successful man having an affair at some point is uncommon; hell, in some countries it's basically expected, so again... meh.
Negative recruiting... I'm pretty sure that's a joke, right? If you don't want a coaching staff that goes out of their way to point out the negatives of schools they're competing with, just drop scholoarshp football altogether and be done with it. It's not even clear that it's in any way bad for the kids being recruited; there's something to be said for having as much information as possible, and of having the opportunity to ask a coaching staff some hard questions based on what you've heard from other staffs.
I've got mixed feelings about dropping scholarship athletes. Urbs has made no secret about his willingness to do so at tOSU, yet at some point you being to wonder how much of it is real and how much of it is a motivational tool. Supposedly Kenny Guiton was basically gone from the team before turning it around, next thing he's Urbs' favorite player and he wants him as a graduate assistant. Cardale Jones was going to be dismissed, next thing he's battling it out with JT to be Braxton's replacement. Brionte Dunn wasn't going to have his scholarship renewed next year, now he's on all the special team units and close to getting playing time on offense. Those that have actually had their scholarships yanked? I can't think of any. Maybe there were a couple his first year, but I don't remember any, and it certainly isn't anything like a yearly occurance.
If I could spend time at a bar with RR, Hoke, or Urb, I'd take RR in a heartbeat. If I had to have one of them as the godfather for my kid, I'm pretty sure I'd want Hoke. But nothing that I know about Urb makes me ashamed that he's my coach.
October 10th, 2014 at 10:47 AM ^
the tone which you delivered your message, but a few things:
1. If a coach had a habit of beating his wife or being drunk in public or encouraged academic fraud (repeat...habit), then he wouldn't be a coach in the NCAA for very long, I promise you.
2. You couldn't care less if he had an extra-marital affair??? Really?? This guy is the molder and developer of young men who represent your favorite university. If you are a grad of that school, if I was you and a head coach HAD done this and it was verified to be true, I'd be furious! If what you say is true, you are only perpetuating the notion we have of osu that you want to win at any cost. This is a cost that UM fans would not want to be paying. Recent problems aside, i.e. Gibbons, we want those guilty of those sorts of transgressions to be properly punished. We the fans that is...the school doesn't always behave in the way we woluld want them to.
3. No, the negative recruiting isn't a joke. He has most recently said some unsavory things about the UM coaching staff in front of a room of recruits and their families. it was just a few months ago...dig around and you'll find the story. EDIT: Found something you may find interesting: https://twitter.com/nezzy21/status/473202007294357504/photo/1
4. If you don't know much about Urb and not being ashamed that he's your coach, then you must have your head in the sand. He may have cleaned up his act a bit while at osu, but he had a history of dividing the locker room at Florida. If any of the pre-mentioned items doesn't do it for you, then I think there's very little we can say on this blog that will change your mind.
October 10th, 2014 at 11:00 AM ^
But the thing is, my reaction really has nothing to do with how many football games Urb wins. It really says much more about who I am as a person, which is (apparently) someone you wouldn't like very much.
If I were a recruit, I would want recruiters to tell me possible problems or downsides at the schools I was considering. I wouldn't want to hear nothing but sunshine and roses about all of my choices; if (for example) I was a QB and the new QB coach at one of the schools I was considering had overworked someone in the past and blew their arm out, I'd want to know that, so I could ask him to his face what happened and whether he had learned anything and why I shouldn't be worried. If a school has a bitter rival, I'd expect that they'd talk smack about each other. It wouldn't influence me one way or the other, and seems like harmless fun. It just doesn't bother me, and that doesn't have anything to do with tOSU.
I don't have your visceral reaction to affairs. I've been faithful to my wife our entire 15 years of marriage, but that's the sort of relationship we have, and it's between the two of us. I know of other couples who are, by many measures, more successfully married than we are, where one or both partners has dallied a bit. That's between them. And if I were a player and found out my coach had slept with an attractive younger woman, I don't think it would make any impression on me. I really question whether there's anyone who's so weak-willed and malleable that they'd find that out and then say, "wow, if coach is doing it, it must be fine, I guess I'll do that too!". I mean, I honsestly don't think the "shaper of young minds" angle here.
Maybe part of it is that I might have a different outlook on humanity than you do, because I think that if we knew everything there was to know about all coaches, past and present, that I have zero reason to belive Urb is below average on the character scale. For all I know, he might be well above average. There are rumors he had an affair; I'd bet my house-- literally bet my house-- that between Bo, Woody, Lloyd, and Tressel, at least one of them had an affair, and I'd set the over/under at 2.5.
In any event, I said my piece, and this is a Michigan blog anyway (and my favorite football blog of all, by far), so I'll let it drop.
October 10th, 2014 at 11:11 AM ^
and I wouldn't assume to like you or dislike you, aside from your scholastic ties (lol), from what you believe and who you are as a person based upon these decisions. I've done my homework on Urbz, but you I just met.
However, the negative recruiting is something that bothers me. UM does not do that, from what I can tell. Its highly discussed on this blog and it is something we don't need to do. And in my opinion, neither does osu. They truly don't. The fact that Urban does, to me, says a lot about his character. Its neagative...by definition. I think a coach of a successful football team of a good school doesn't need to negative recruit, let ALONE say that an opponents lack of success is because the coaches blame the players. I'm sorry, any way you cut it that's slimey.
I respect your dedication to your marriage and your feelings towards people you know about their past. For us, the possibility of a coach with a checkered past isn't going to cut it. I don't think Woody would stand for that sort of thing from what I knew of him. Nor would Bo. I don't know enough about JT to make a call, but although he beat the shit out of us for a while, I always liked him as a coach, a lot more than Urbz. I would disagree with your o/u, I'd put it at 1.5 for my money.
Even other team's fans are allowed to post here, just as long as you're respectful and have a thick skin. Don't let that part scare you.
October 10th, 2014 at 11:21 PM ^
Heh, I just grew up in Columbus, and hung out with some students there my senior year of high school; it never crossed my mind to apply there. :)
October 9th, 2014 at 4:53 PM ^
have been winners. But you could do worse in your initial cull of good than to start with ones who have won a buttload of games, or won an NC, at the nation's best football schools.
October 9th, 2014 at 1:38 PM ^
So listening to this segment will finally bring it all together on why Hoke should no longer be supported as head coach of Michigan?
October 9th, 2014 at 1:39 PM ^
Urban Meyer is and shall remain a doody-head.
October 9th, 2014 at 1:42 PM ^
Okay. So let me rephrase this.
Listen to 5 minutes of that segment. Then come back and tell me that his candid attitude and perceptable intelligence is not exactly what you would want in a coach.
October 9th, 2014 at 1:53 PM ^
Surely there are some characteristics in Urban Meyer that I would like in a Michigan coach - he's alive and breathing, runs a good offense, wins many a football game. I guess we can add candid attitude to that list, per your recommendation.
Yet Urban Meyer also has many negative traits I do not like - willingly chooising to be a part of Ohio State Football is one of them. He's also a shameless liar who used his health and family as a shield against his own cowardice, he's a negative recruiter, and he seems to attract some bad people to his football teams. He also likes to leave when the chips are down and/or when better opportunities arise.
In the end, a lack of media-friendliness is just one of those things that seems cute when you're winning, but becomes intolerable when the losses mount.
October 9th, 2014 at 2:01 PM ^
Bo was an OSU coach and protege of Woody. That's a dumb knock on him. He had a clause in his Florida contract thay he could have left for Michigan, ND or OSU with a lower buyout. if the cards fell right, he could have been Michigan's coach.
October 10th, 2014 at 10:31 AM ^
I believe the "clause" you are refering to was in his Utah contract not his Florida contract.
October 9th, 2014 at 2:13 PM ^
To Hell with Urban Meyer.
October 9th, 2014 at 2:25 PM ^
October 9th, 2014 at 1:55 PM ^
Your reaction after listening to Meyer is not dissimilar to my reaction to women in general after my divorce. I was stunned to learn there existed a lot of females who were NOT alcoholics hooked on anti-depressents who screamed 24 x 7 and blamed me for each and every one their life choices and subsequent troubles. Needless to say I became smitten with the first couple I coupled with as the comparison to my ex was nothing short of amazing to me.
October 9th, 2014 at 2:00 PM ^
October 9th, 2014 at 2:19 PM ^
Giver her time. The detached ones put on a cloaking device. Once attached the cloaking device slowly melts away leaving you the female species in all their glory.
October 9th, 2014 at 2:47 PM ^
If you don't mind my saying so, your post-divorce wife search seems like it worked out rather well, so maybe you could conduct Michigan's post-Hoke coach search instead of Dave Branding?
October 9th, 2014 at 3:26 PM ^
Thank you - I agree with your assessment by the way.
Pro-tip for Michigan - Don't marry the first one. Look around a little bit, be patient and see what's available. You just might be surprised to find that there's somebody wonderful out there that likes you as much as you like them.
My current wife/avatar is to me what Mullin or even a Harbaugh is to Michigan!
October 9th, 2014 at 3:37 PM ^
...and to extend the metaphor further, Michigan is saddled with a bunch of fussy and gossipy old aunts who insist on meddling in the marriage and won't accept a girl who isn't from the "right" social circles, her personality/character/looks be damned.
October 9th, 2014 at 4:40 PM ^
Have you considered asking Brandon to conduct a new wife search?
October 9th, 2014 at 4:55 PM ^
Did you couple with the "first couple" at the same time? That might have help you forget a few things.
October 10th, 2014 at 10:10 PM ^
October 9th, 2014 at 2:27 PM ^
Didn't listen, but if I did, I assume it would confirm what I already knew: Urban Meyer is more articulate & transparent with the media/fanbase than Hoke. I mean...okay.
I think most fans wouldn't give a damn if they had a Spurrier/Parcells type (overly honest about team), or a Belichick/Popovich type (couldn't care less about how much the media/fans know) as long as the team produces...and that's for any fanbase.
October 9th, 2014 at 2:06 PM ^
This has absolutely nothing to do with results on the football field.
End of.
October 9th, 2014 at 2:10 PM ^
October 9th, 2014 at 2:16 PM ^
I think I agree with this, though I'm not sure.
When you're losing, people decide that everything that's happening is bad. The coach should talk more to the media, the coaches need to be in the box, the CEO model can't work, you need 11 players on the field at a time (wait, actually...), the coach should be charismatic in public, etc. In reality, some things are causing our problems right now and some things aren't, and it's hard to tell which things are which. I'd bet that this is pretty low on the list.
October 9th, 2014 at 2:17 PM ^
"some things are causing our problems right now and some things aren't, and it's hard to tell which things are which."
And the funny thing is, fans think they deserve to hear ALL about those things so that WE can decide which things are causing the problems and which things aren't...so we demand transparency. The nerve, right?
October 9th, 2014 at 2:16 PM ^
Fuck Urban, Fire Hoke, Hire Stitt...........Oh, and Fuck Domino's pizza.