OT: Tebow is a good guy, Hernandez clearly is not...Jury is out on Urbz

Submitted by boliver46 on

Much has been made about the increasingly disturbing past of Aaron Hernandez.  I must admit I am fascinated by the story and jump all over any news regarding the matter.

I came across the below linked article that brings up a topic (albeit inferred) that has been batted back and forth on this blog - how Urban handled discipline while at the University of Florida - specifically how he handled Aaron Hernandez.

Summing up the article, Hernandez was involved in an assault in 2007 involving a bouncer at The Swamp (and yes, at night it's a club - hence the bouncer).  What stands out in this situation is the action (or lack thereof) taken against Hernandez for (a) underage drinking and (b) assault of security personnel:

Officers made it known the following day that they would not be pursuing charges for a minor being served alcohol at The Swamp, but "it would be noted in the report so the coaches could handle it internally."

The Sentinel wrote that Gainesville Poilce recommended Hernandez be charged with a felony, but it's not clear how the case was resolved "because all of Hernandez's other juvenile records are sealed."

During Urban's time in Gainsville, we all know of the string of both violent and non-violent arrests made and the dearth of discipline brought down. The whole situation smacks of the lack of institutional control during Urban's time at Florida.  I am of course not insinuating that Urban could have prevented the man (or beast) that Hernandez has become - but perhaps intervention and/or discpline (including removal from the team) may have significantly changed Hernandez's path in life.

Link

mGrowOld

July 2nd, 2013 at 4:13 PM ^

I fear in our zeal to demonify Meyer we are treading dangerously close to the "Brady Hoke is so FAT - hardy har, har" territory we laugh at our rivals for taking.  

Look - I think Meyer is a egotistical little weazel who reminds of a guy who needs to have his ass beat BUT he's also a Hell of a football coach who's won and won big everywhere he's gone.  And to the best of my knowledge, none of the schools he has coached faced any NCAA investigations or penalties during or after his tenure.  

I'm sorry but if the board had voted prior to Brady being hired who would you rather have as our next coach - Hoke or Meyer - the vote would've been a landslide for Meyer.  And if he had gone undefeated in his first year here like Urban did with a projected NC game appearance projected for year two we'd have the board full of "Meyer, Yost or Bo......who was the greatest Michigan coach ever?" type threads.

MidnightBlue

July 2nd, 2013 at 4:34 PM ^

Id have voted for Meyer but I didn't know how welcoming he was to thugs, nor did I know how right Hoke does things, either.   Ask me now and I'd take Hoke all day.  This is gonna catch up to Meyer, when the next OSU player commits a felony...after all, 'everyone murders'...

Benoit Balls

July 2nd, 2013 at 6:22 PM ^

at Bowling Green. I was recently depearted when Meyer became the coach there, but a few friends of mine told me they had some unpleasant encounters with him on campus.  Nothing major or horribly damning, but suffice to say he's pretty serious about everything (including parking spaces) ALL of the time. I'm sure that intensity has helped him become an excellent coach, and I'm sure he isn't out to "Win friends and influence people" so, take it fwiw.  Also, that was over a decade ago, perhaps he has mellowed some since then.

BILG

July 2nd, 2013 at 4:15 PM ^

No coach can change that.  If someone is immoral you can teach him or guide him, when he is ammoral and has no conscience, not much you can do to change his character.

HOWEVER...

Even sociopaths can learn from consequence.  If you do something and get jail time and see what its like to have your freedom taken away, you may think twice before shooting someone in the face or executing another.  So yeah, maybe your heart doesn't change, but your actions, simply due to self preservation, can.

So yes, Urban Meyer could have done much more.  And it is not as simple as, "You can't blame a coach for a player's actions later, especially something like murder" meme.  He may not be directly to blame but he was a big part of this guy's development and clearly consequence to foolish actions was not taught at Florida.  They did have a nice billboard of values however.

hart20

July 2nd, 2013 at 4:53 PM ^

as everyone does from time to time, and came across this image of a pineapple with maize and blue in the background. Although I do love Simba manifested in pineapple, I thought this was much more appropriate and just as amazing. Plus, it brings out the color of my eyes. 

MidnightBlue

July 2nd, 2013 at 4:33 PM ^

Out here in the northeast, I heard on sports radio today, a reporter guy ripping Meyer pretty hard for his time at Florida, and how Meyer would say all the felons and problems on that team were "exagerrated"... then the reporter went on to say that it really isn't exagerrated when were talking about  "murder"...

bacon

July 2nd, 2013 at 6:23 PM ^

Why is everyone so focused on blaming Urban Meyer?  What about his current coach Bill Belichick?  

Clearly this guy had problems, but a lot of players do and a vanishingly small fraction actually end up killing someone.  I doubt that Urban Meyer could have affected his outcome any. Hernandez is just a bad guy who deserves to go to jail forever. He probably should have been in jail a long time ago. Who knows, maybe Urban's influence delayed his downfall for a few years.

Perkis-Size Me

July 2nd, 2013 at 6:24 PM ^

I despise Urban Meyer as much as the next guy on this board. I think he was a scumbag at Florida, and watching the pure anguish on his face of losing to an unranked Michigan team at the Capital One Bowl is one of the highlights of my Michigan career.



But people trying to connect the dots between Meyer and Hernandez is just treading to close to the likes of OSU and MSU fans who berate and criticize Hoke for being fat. Its irrelevant and a little childish.



And personally, I'd derive much more pleasure out of bashing Meyer because he loses to Michigan. Its not like OSU fans could beat around the bush on that one.

Jasper

July 2nd, 2013 at 7:56 PM ^

Here's a situation in which there are, roughly, three kinds of people: Suppose you're a consultant at work on a project one day and your boss informs you that he plans to (unfairly) throw one of your underlings under the bus to appease a client. Do you:

A) Enthusiastically endorse the plan.

B) Acknowledge the plan but feel guilty to some degree about not saying anything.

C) Try to keep your underling from being chucked under the bus. Assume, for the purposes of this example, that your boss could have a signficant impact on your career path.

I think Urban is A all the way here. As others have noted, he has lots of ability of a coach, but I think he's the type to do whatever it takes as long as he keeps within the letter (if not spirit) of commonly enforced rules. I don't see a thoughtful, introspective guy there.

bronxblue

July 2nd, 2013 at 11:28 PM ^

Hernandez is clearly a very troubled person, and while Meyer isn't particularly strong on punishment I doubt he could have done anything to change what happened.

That said, this does make me like Tebow a bit more. I don't agree with him on lots of topics, but he definitely takes his mantra of helping others seriously.

Blue in Yarmouth

July 3rd, 2013 at 10:55 AM ^

We can't always say what will change people. I'll give a personal story to try and back up my point:

When I was 20 years old I had a new born daughter, had been in trouble numerous times in my life with the law, was a high school drop out and lived at home with my parents with no prospects or hope for the future.

My parents were great and my Father was always my best friend, but when it came to punishment they were pretty darn lax, and they had plenty of opportunity to dish it out. Even at 20 and with a new born daughter I had no interest in anything but partying. Finally my Dad came home and told me I had to either get a job, go back to school or get out.

I decided I would take my GED because I never really felt smart enough for school I was always the athlete in my family and my brother was the brain. I excelled on the courts and he did in the classroom. My parents always said I was just as smart as him if I would just apply myself, but they were my parents, what were they going to say, that I was stupid?

Anyway, back to the GED. The teacher was my best friends brothers wife so I knew her a little. I attended class for a week and then following class one day she asked me to stay after to talk to me. 

After everyone left she looked at me with a puzzled gaze and said "_______, what are you doing here?" I felt like a fool and told her "I know, I'm stupid but my parents said I either had to go to school or they were going to throw me out of the house." 

She continued to stare at me in disbelief and said "No, I mean what are you doing here as in this is a waste of your time, you should be getting your high school diploma and going to university."

Hearing that from her at that time in my life was enough to give me the confidence to try for the first time in my life. Before I just wouldn't try because then I would have an excuse for failure, but now I finally wanted to try because someone (other than my parents) actually said they believed in me.

Fast forward 19 years and I am finally a person who my daughter (who is now almost 20) can be proud to say is her father who has a moderately successful career and a great family. I also haven't been in trouble with the law since that time either.

My point is we can't always tell what will impact a persons life. It doesn't always have to be something huge, sometimes it's just a little comment that comes at just the right time in a persons life.