Indefensible
[Eric Upchurch]
Big mood today:
I thought Urban Meyer would skate away from the Zach Smith thing largely unscathed, and he has. But I'm still shocked this morning because OSU released a report that provides details of Smith's employment and Meyer's actions. First and foremost, Meyer's first action after the Brett McMurphy report that set this chain of events in motion was to delete all text messages older than a year off his phone. If your first reaction to a media report is to destroy evidence, that's a firing offense.
It goes on, pointlessly, detailing years of Smith's very very obvious issues and Meyer's continuing enablement of them before getting into OSU's response post-McMurphy and the lies Meyer told in an effort to make it all go away. It concludes with a burst of stunningly inane pretzel logic in the service of keeping Meyer in his job. Nicole Auberbach:
I now see why it took so long to go through *this* report and somehow figure out a way to justify a suspension, not a firing: https://t.co/ZNJMwcZCpn
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) August 23, 2018
The 12-hour meeting was about inserting the pretzel logic. Meanwhile, this was the guy who Meyer kept in his program for a decade:
(b) At 7:35 p.m., Shelley Meyer conveyed, in a text to Coach Meyer, that “I am worried about Zach’s response. He drinks a lot and I am just not sure how stable he will be. Afraid he will do something dangerous. It’s obvious he has anger/rage issues already.” Meyer did not respond to the message.
In response to this, a slap on the wrist and a warning that if Meyer covers for the actions of a serial abuser for another decade there might be Serious Consequences.
And I dunno, guys. What's even the point anymore? Michigan's main rivals are both proven loathsome institutions. They beat Michigan on the football field, so no one cares. Meyer will face no real consequences for his behavior. Mark Dantonio has faced no consequences for bringing Auston Robertson to campus. Both have enabled abuse, in full view of the public, and nobody cares because they win games. Michigan State tried not to care about Larry Nassar and even when forced to by public outrage still gave Lou Anna Simon a golden parachute; they continue to lie to this day.
No real consequences for anyone for anything except losing football games. No shame. Michigan will go down to Columbus in November and very probably lose again and all will be forgiven, except all is already forgiven. Except there was never anything to forgive in the first place.
We need to stop looking at the NCAA as an organization that is supposed to check these behaviors and start looking at it as the primary cause of them. Every big time school looks at their bylaws as a joke to get around. Every major recruit is getting paid under the table. There is a giant see-no-evil culture across the sport. To some extent this is fine because the evil that people aren't seeing is people exchanging labor for money, but once you have a sport-wide code of silence it can easily be extended to wife beaters. Or rapists. Or anything, really.
And then how are you supposed to care?
August 23rd, 2018 at 8:48 PM ^
Great... the world has now caused me to agree with fuckin Bando on something. You win, world.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:31 AM ^
One wants to believe that good prevails and that character (as far as we can tell our program has some) wins the day. But we have lost against OSU for so long and bad people keep getting loopholed into keeping their jobs, and pretty heinous behavior is so consistently overlooked... this feels like a day for day drinking is all I'm saying.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:42 AM ^
I've got two young boys that watch the world going on around them. Truth isn't truth, lying is okay if you are winning, be good at sports and you can do whatever you want... I thought my dad had it rough bringing me up, but damn this is almost near impossible. Do the right thing buddy even though everyone around you is cheating and getting ahead... Don't get me wrong, I'll still fight the good fight and teach my boys a better way, the Michigan way that I know, it just shouldn't be this hard.
I hear what you say about drinking though, Cheers.
August 23rd, 2018 at 1:39 PM ^
I feel that same challenge in light of all the prominent scandals that go around basically unpunished and I am glad you were able to express that so well. Keep on fighting the good fight.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:32 AM ^
"No real consequences for anyone for anything except losing football games. No shame. Michigan will go down to Columbus in November and very probably lose again and all will be forgiven, except all is already forgiven."
This article was already fucking my day up and then I read this. I might as well go jump off a cliff now.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:32 AM ^
Thanks for this Brian. I was going to write up something similar but you nailed it on the head. This morning I was seething with anger. Now I am just tired and beaten down. Thanks for putting words to my emotions.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:34 AM ^
God must really love OSU... No matter what dumb situation they are in, off the field or not, they always come through unscathed. This is why I hate OSU. They always get the benefit of the doubt and keep on rolling.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:34 AM ^
Have to beat them on the field... the only arena that matters to institutions like MSU, PSU, OSU, etc
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:39 AM ^
As much as I want to give PSU shit for the cult of Paterno they groomed over the years, they actually did the correct thing in firing JoePa once the allegations came out.
The same can't said for MSU and to a lesser extent OSU. These two just live in perpetual denial.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:43 AM ^
Yet PSU gets no credit for anything before or after that moment. They've gotten the wins reinstated. They got their punishment lessened. Then they managed to pass through a period in which any other program would have been nuked into a winter hellscape for years without as much as a losing season. Cult of Paterno lives on for Version 2.0. #409
Lessons: Punishments don't last, punishments don't work, and no one cares either way if you're still winning.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:49 AM ^
Yes. Penn State is in a class of its own. They had reason to know Sandusky was raping young men in their facilities. And they kept allowing him to bring young men to those facilities.* That is a quintessential example of enabling.
*Please forgive my italics yelling. That detail of the PSU scandal still causes me a bit of rage.
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:02 PM ^
young men? It was young boys. F Penn State and Joe Pa
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:12 PM ^
Sadly PSU really isn't in a class of their own. MSU is far worse, USC wasn't sports but that scandal is far worse. Etc.
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:23 PM ^
You're correct re: Nassar. I was thinking of their football and basketball teams.
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:14 PM ^
Punishments don't last, punishments don't work, and no one cares either way if you're still winning.
Slight correction to this. Bull shit punishments don't last, don't work... Negative reinforce the shit out of these people.
IF we actually took these types of things seriously, there would be real consequences. MSU shouldn't get any state funding or be allowed to raise tuition to pay off the $500 million settlement with the Nassar victims. Engler and the BoT should be thrown out on their asses yesterday with no job and be social pariahs forever.
I'm not one for throwing the book at people. I don't smoke pot, never have. I think it's dumb to imprison people for it. While Meyer/MSU heads shouldn't be thrown in jail for ineptitude and flaccid shoulder shrugging, they should never hold a position of power or authority again.
But I'm not the judge so... damn it.
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:47 PM ^
Yet a step father of a single player at USC took money from an agent in another city...and the NCAA hammered the USC program significantly more than any of these other loathsome institutions, including Penn State before they had wins reinstated. F the NCAA, F Ohio State, F Penn State, F Michigan State.
August 23rd, 2018 at 1:30 PM ^
can we just drop all of the "state" schools from the BIG ten? throw rutgers in there too, since they are the state U of NJ. that way, we get back down to ten teams.
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:08 PM ^
Is there a stronger term for too little too late? They're all garbage and none have cleared the bar for acceptable conduct in wake of these situations.
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^
Come on, if Joe Pa was coming off a recent national championship and a bunch of great seasons, and he wasn’t borderline senile, he would have survived. They needed a reason to ditch a guy who should have retired five years earlier, and that gave them the reason.
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^
Come on, if Joe Pa was coming off a recent national championship and a bunch of great seasons, and he wasn’t borderline senile, he would have survived. They needed a reason to ditch a guy who should have retired five years earlier, and that gave them the reason.
August 23rd, 2018 at 1:20 PM ^
Ha. Now that's funny. 'We have to win to get rid of the assholes leading the other team'.
August 23rd, 2018 at 1:31 PM ^
yep, it's up to us. our mission from God.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:35 AM ^
Just listened to WTKA podcasts and no offense to frequent caller "Jake" but I don't know how you can be pumped up for college football right now. I love college football and look forward to it every year, but it gets harder and harder to get pumped up when so many blatantly terrible things get swept under the rug (or just openly disregarded I guess) because schools can't be bothered to do the right thing.
I'd like to think Michigan is above it all, and quite possibly they are, but as B1G school after B1G school gets implicated in one awful thing after another that clouds my thought more and more.
I'll still be excited for kickoff at 7:30 on September 1st, but the whole sport feels gross to me right now.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:43 AM ^
I don't listen to any other WTKA shows, so maybe I've missed the answer to this, but what is the deal with Jake? Is it just a shtick that someone uses to get airtime?
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:59 AM ^
I don’t believe it is a schtick. He clearly is a huge M fan who may have some autistic tendencies.
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:17 PM ^
Fair enough.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:37 AM ^
"Evil will always triumph because good is dumb"
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:39 AM ^
Forget it, Jake. It’s Columbustown.
There is no God. Eat at Arby’s.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:39 AM ^
These days it appears that many in this great country of ours are more than willing to ignore the obvious and overt loathsome behavior to keep the status quo, believing the end justifies the means, whether it is in the arena of college football, business or politics.
Win games (or enjoy a strong economy) and it doesn't matter what is done towards the achievement of that objective.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:47 AM ^
I don't think this is a "these days" type of thing. It's only recently that we began to expect to see consequences of sexual assault and rape and/or coverups when powerful people are responsible. For years, people have gotten away with this sort of stuff. We're seeing more people coming out and accusing others because we've started to become slightly more supportive of survivors over the last few years. It doesn't mean more wretched behavior is happening, just that more is getting exposed. Rape and sexual assault have always been one of the most underreported crimes.
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:31 PM ^
It's not a "these days" thing. It's always been this way, but with the advent of internet news, social media and a 24-hour news cycle, more bad stuff comes to light and then we hear about it non-stop.
Think about this particular story: Without the fact that there were actual text messages showing Urban Meyer's knowledge, he could have simply said "I had no idea" and it would have been uncontradicted, and a non-story. Smith would have been fired, Urban would have said how shocked he was, and everyone would have moved on.
Same goes for sports-related "bad behavior" stories, in general. Did NFL players just start hitting their girlfriends in 2014 with Ray Rice? No, but now we have cell phone cameras, texts, etc., so we are confronted by it. And we have social media, so the story doesn't die.
As another example, you mentioned politics (referencing the "strong economy" and how people overlook other loathsome behaviors because of it). You are right that, in politics, like in sports, winning cures all (see Meyer, Urban), but this has always been the case. Not to be political (I am going to be right down the middle of the aisle on this to avoid debate), but our current president was sleeping with a former porn star and then paid her off. Is this anything new? 20 years ago, the president was getting a BJ in the oval office from an intern. 20 years before that, a president was having an affair with Marilyn Monroe (and apparently a ton of other women).
The point is that there is nothing new today - there is bad in the world, and it is sadly overlooked if the perpetrator is perceived as beneficial. Urban wins, so his sins are overlooked. If Urban were 12-12 over the past 2 years, he would have been canned.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:42 AM ^
If Meyer had a .500 or below record against Michigan, we would probably be discussing who OSU would be looking for as the next head coach and congratulating OSU for eventually doing the right thing. Instead, we're sitting here wondering how yet another massive institution lets a lucrative football program get away with some reprehensible shit. No lessons are learned and we'll just wait until the next scandal at the next institution.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:42 AM ^
All of this is why I find as much or more joy and entertainment in the non-revenue sports.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:53 AM ^
Where we saw another massive abuse scandal in our own state. They're not immune, and I would guess given that they receive less media attention, they are actually way more prone to ethical calamities.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:57 AM ^
The fact that MSU has not lost its accreditation and been kicked out of the NCAA makes me the saddest.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:56 AM ^
There is a lot of truth to this. Refreshing to see the non-revs play.
August 23rd, 2018 at 1:24 PM ^
I take this interesting comment very seriously. Should we follow that line of thinking, and make college football LESS like the NFL, and MORE like the non-revenue sports?
Has anybody thought about how to do that? To de-emphasize, de-monetize, de-pressurize major college football?
I'd be up for that discussion!
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:42 AM ^
It appears to be human nature to overlook the flaws of one's own favored people because they are on your side and because they do things you like. It is true in sports, it is true in partisan politics, it is true in entertainment, it is true in academics, it is true in media, it is true in religion. There's nothing new about this.
The failures, however, have become more public.
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:08 PM ^
100% agree. The scary thing is that while I believe that UM as an institution would have handled this much better, I am very confident our fanbase would have reacted pretty similarly to what we are seeing at OSU. Like you said, it's the same in politics, religion, and business. There is always a loophole or angle you can take to protect your worldview or a situation that will benefit you. Maybe I'm feeling overly cynical, but something will eventually happen at UM and the rest of the world will say it's awful and 95% of this board will find a reason or justification to defend UM. Depressing.
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:16 PM ^
I’m not sure that is right. Gary Moeller was a good coach with a winning record against OSU and MSU who put entertaining teams in the field. He was dumped promptly for a drunken performance in a restaurant. I don’t have total recall of the situation, but my sense is the fan base reacted with befuddlement more than pitchforks and torches.
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:19 PM ^
Maybe. I was in high school at the time. Also remember there was no twitter, internet, or comments sections for people to form gangs of group think. It's possible I'm wrong. He had also lost 4 games multiple years in a row which was new for UM, so people weren't all that sad to see him go.
August 23rd, 2018 at 1:35 PM ^
true. i was shocked he was fired. Bo was absolutely furious.
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:25 PM ^
I disagree about the fanbase. Do you remember the uproar around here after the Shane Morris concussion fiasco? This is infinitely worse than that. I, at least, would be livid. I'd like to think the majority here would be as well.
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:49 PM ^
Maybe. But people were already disgusted with Hoke's incompetence and enraged with Brandon's antics. The football team was consistently awful. It is unquestionable to me that these circumstances had an effect; outrage frequently outruns logic.
August 23rd, 2018 at 1:37 PM ^
uh, the crowd was booing at the game to get shane the hell out of there. shane's staggering around was on the big screen for everyone to see. it had nothing to do with hoke's record.
August 23rd, 2018 at 2:05 PM ^
Maybe. I guess we'll never be able to answer that question, unless we find our own team in a similar ugly situation. However, we do have a few small examples to point to that I think support my view.
Brendan Gibbons, and how the fanbase (majority) reacted to his alleged sexual assault (and Hoke's handling of same).
The small majority of the fanbase that was adamantly opposed to hiring Roriguez (no D), due to his sketchy business dealings. He had no serious scandals at that time.
Taylor Lewan, and the fact that he is almost universally reviled around here because he's a bad human being.
Chris Webber.
I could keep going.
August 23rd, 2018 at 2:14 PM ^
Those are reasonable counterpoints.
We're also a bit singed by mediocrity in some major sports, though. Michigan fans have always believed in "The Michigan Difference," but it takes on more importance when that's all you have during the RR and Hoke regimes, even (or especially) when those regimes don't hold up to it.
The Fab Five fallout does seem to suggest that our fanbase has less tolerance for corruption than many others. Fisher was fired, of course, with no outcry, and nobody seriously complains that the program didn't deserve to be punished.
August 23rd, 2018 at 2:42 PM ^
I guess the only thing that I'd add is that when the plurality of the fanbase was railing against RR, he was a very hot coach, and we had been used to pretty regular success with Lloyd Carr (last couple years excepted). There was also a pretty vocal segment that wanted no part of Les Miles, who was also a very hot coach at the time.
I really don't think the majority of our fanbase is comparable to that of OSU, PSU, MSU, or any of the other schools with recent scandals. There is a vocal minority of every fanbase, but I do think on the whole that we are better than that.
August 23rd, 2018 at 1:04 PM ^
Who was defending the basketball program, players, and coaches when it got nuked in the 90's?
August 23rd, 2018 at 1:26 PM ^
Have you ever seen a discussion about the Fab Five around here? Cognitive dissonance at its finest.
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