Urban Meyer talks Jim Harbaugh

Submitted by Ezekiels Creatures on August 1st, 2019 at 6:19 PM

Urban Meyer gives a fair, even handed assessment of Michigan, which is a bit surprising. There was no retaliation for Jim Harbaugh's comments about him. Maybe he has now taken off his coaching and, and put on his tv analyst hat. Honestly, if this is how he is going to sound on tv I will want to watch him.

Hat/Tip to Isaiah Hole at WolveriensWire (https://wolverineswire.usatoday.com/2019/08/01/michigan-football-ohio-state-urban-meyer-wolverines-in-2019/)

Short video at pic.twitter link:

 

https://twitter.com/TheHerd/status/1156994331158298624

Ezekiels Creatures

August 1st, 2019 at 6:23 PM ^

Correction:

Maybe he has now taken off his coaching (insert) "hat" and, and put on his tv analyst hat.

WichitanWolverine

August 2nd, 2019 at 12:57 AM ^

Devil's advocate here... I'm not sure he's that horrible of a person if you set your Michigan fandom aside. He cheated on his wife and pathologically turns a blind eye to just about everything, but I'm not sure he's truly "horrible." Sleazy scumbag, sure, but it's not like he molested kids or beat his wife or anything of that nature. I just can't get that fired up about the guy other than to say I'm glad he's gone. 

ijohnb

August 2nd, 2019 at 8:18 AM ^

I'm with you.  Despite my best efforts, I have never been able to summon the amount of hate for Urban Meyer that I want to.  Part of it is that he is truly a great adaptive football coach and I admire talent, regardless of other sub-optimal qualities.   The other part is that I think he was actually a little bit of a "fall guy" for local law enforcement in the Zak Smith matter.  Clearly he should have fired Smith but it was not as though he could conduct a "citizens arrest."  The PD knew what Smith was and had been called to the house multiple times and saw evidence of abuse.  Had they done anything about it Meyer would have had to have fired him for obvious cause.  So I guess that did not "move the needle" much for me as to Meyer specifically, more so it confirmed to me that Columbus is a shit hole.

TomBradyBunch

August 2nd, 2019 at 10:03 PM ^

The SOP for a domestic abuse call is to arrest the husband with even the slightest evidence of wrong doing. The idea that multiple cops at multiple PDs in two separate state would ignore evidence is just silly. The police are not to blame here. You can’t arrest someone without evidence. Urban needs to hire better people. 

GET OFF YOUR H…

August 2nd, 2019 at 8:57 AM ^

Seriously, please show me any substantial source that shows that he cheated on his wife?  Literally the only place you find this stuff is on Michigan sites.  Also, it's now over a year later and Smith has a podcast and hasn't been charged with any domestic violence whatsoever even after the cops were at the house like 90 times from being called out by his crazy ex.  This website is full of people drawing conclusions that you can't find traces of on the internet.

MotownGoBlue

August 1st, 2019 at 6:32 PM ^

 As slimy as Meyer is behind the scenes, I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard him attack anyone publicly...or say many negative things at all.

Maybe someone can jog my memory? 

Leaders And Best

August 1st, 2019 at 6:38 PM ^

Are you serious? There is a plethora of columnists, journalists, former players, and victims who would disagree.

EDIT: I misread your post. I thought you had asked whether people had publicly attacked Meyer. As for Meyer attacking others, I think he has been careful about how he does it, and as a one of the most successful coaches in history, it is a lot easier to insulate yourself and use others to do it for you (local reporters, reporters who want access (PETE THAMEL), the AD, etc.) It is not a coincidence that Pete Thamel is one of the writers who had some of the most access to Urban Meyer and has also been one of the national journalists involved in trying to troll Harbaugh. Look at Thamel at the last two Big Ten Media Days or any piece he has written about Harbaugh compared to Meyer. Even when Meyer was getting hammered for the Zach Smith charges, Thamel somehow had all these sources who were putting out stuff protecting Meyer.

Leaders And Best

August 1st, 2019 at 6:47 PM ^

He wasn't, and I believe Urban was forced apologize later. Jeremy Fowler is a pretty good beat reporter who went on to be hired by ESPN to cover the NFL. The guy is a professional unlike most of the college football beat slappies who will not question a coach like Urban Meyer. See the journalists who cover OSU in Columbus for example.

Leaders And Best

August 1st, 2019 at 6:37 PM ^

Considering he is being paid to cover one of FOX's most valuable college football assets, he has to tread lightly now that he works in TV. TV analyst has little power compared to being a HC of major college football program. Picking a fight with the head coach of Michigan (or Texas, OSU, or PSU for example) will probably lead to you getting reassigned, suspended, or possibly even fired, even if you are Urban Meyer. His relationship with Texas HC Tom Herman is no longer warm and fuzzy either.

And I am not sure how it serves Urban Meyer to venture into an area where Harbaugh has the upper hand. Nothing Harbaugh said was false about the cloud that has come with Urban's success, and it is not an argument Urban Meyer can win. About the only revenge Urban can get is talking about how Harbaugh has come up short in the rivalry and H2H.

Mgoeffoff

August 1st, 2019 at 6:38 PM ^

Urban never says anything publicly bad about UM, their players, or their coaches.  It's a part of his "respect the rivalry" mantra.  He never gives them anything publicly to use as motivation.  He saves all that for his team and then curses us behind closed doors.

Leaders And Best

August 1st, 2019 at 6:57 PM ^

It's a lot easier to do that when you can say "scoreboard." And Urban was in a unique position last year where he was avoiding the media altogether due to the Zach Smith scandal.

I don't think Harbaugh had said anything about the OSU program either until this point. He had the back and forth with AD Gene Smith after Smith took a shot at Michigan's program. But like I said above, Meyer had a lot of other people and players in his program trolling Michigan, even his wife.

Mgoeffoff

August 1st, 2019 at 11:26 PM ^

I get the sense Meyer is a little more calculated when talking about UM and the rivalry.  JH seems to wear his emotions on his sleeve a bit more.  Neither is right or wrong, they are just different personalities.  I like our coach and hate Meyer for the same reason I hated Tress...they are two faced.  But, they were damn good football coaches.  I'm a bit more like JH and rarely lie so I can relate to him better.

MGoStretch

August 1st, 2019 at 9:10 PM ^

A horrible affliction, to be honest.  Though on a positive note, it's not that hard to get rid of.  Just pile up enough arrests and it magically transmits itself somewhere else (though notably it only seems to grow stronger and more resistant with each transmission, unlike what one might otherwise anticipate).  Florida coeds think it's an STI but folks in ohio think it's actually fecal-cooler-orally transmitted, I think the jury is still out on that.

taistreetsmyhero

August 1st, 2019 at 6:53 PM ^

Sure, he was balanced and didn't retaliate or whatever, but he also said nothing super insightful. Not sure why I'd want to listen to anything he has to say if that's the level of depth he will provide...