Former Ohio State head coach and Fox analyst Urban Meyer gave his thoughts on the penalties the Michigan Wolverines Football program received in the NCAA investigation of Connor Stalions’ advanced scouting tactics.
Meyer was particularly harsh towards former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, whom he called a “winner” before following that compliment with a couple of comments that can be perceived as below the belt. Meyer, after all, was once accused of kicking Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo
in the leg when Meyer was the Jaguars’ head coach for part of a season before getting fired (2-11 record).
“Now, there will be an asterisk there,” Meyer said.
Meyer went on to insinuate that Harbaugh’s situation mirrors that of former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel.
“There’s an elephant in the room here that no one’s talking about,” Meyer said earlier this week on The Triple Option podcast. “When Jim Tressel was fired by Ohio State and he was given a suspension. Roger Goodell, Commissioner of the National Football League, came out and said that we’re going to honor that suspension. [Tressel] went to the Indianapolis Colts to work in the replay room. The Colts, because of the respect they had for the NCAA and the suspension, suspended Jim Tressel, so he was unable to perform his duties for the first six games of the year. Any chance that Roger Goodell and the NFL . . . I don’t think so.”
There are key distinctions between Tressel and Harbaugh.
— Tressell was proven to have known players traded memorabilia for tattoos and lied to NCAA investigators about it.
— Tressel was suspended for five games by the NCAA for tattoo gate, while Harbaugh wasn’t suspended for sign gate.
— Tressel’s case was about personal dishonesty and escaping accountability, while Harbaugh’s is about program responsibility.
— And the biggest key of all — there’s no proof Harbaugh instructed or even knew of Stalions’ actions. The NCAA even admitted as such.
Quote from the NCAA ruling
“The true scope and scale of the scheme — including the competitive advantage it conferred — will never be known due to individuals’ intentional destruction and withholding of materials and information.”
Through the NCAA claiming lack of evidence, the more plausible and logical, based on the evidence attained, would lead to a reasonable assumption that Stalions acted in a more rogue manner than it being a team-wide collaboration. After all, Stalions was paying college kids on Venmo to record games, he was buying tickets on Stubhub, and was even selling vacuums to fund his operation.
Meyer saying there’s an asterisk there for the Wolverines may rally Ohio State fans and other Michigan haters, but it’s not a fair comment overall. NCAA President Charlie Baker said the 2023 Michigan team won their National Championship “fair and square”. Meyer, along with the Paul Finebaum’s of the world, should just accept the fact that Michigan was really good — that’s why they were 15-0.
