by Kent Sterling
Urban Meyer wants changes in NCAA enforcement of rules
Every once in awhile, listeners get something special on the Dan Dakich Show on 1070 The Fan. Today, it was Dan with former Florida football coach Urban Meyer talking about the rampant corruption in college football and basketball.
This was not a couple of talking heads opining about what they believed to be the problems with the hybrid of professional and amateur athletics that big money college athletics has become. Dakich and Meyer have fought the wars, tried to make sure the student-athletes are the top priority, and advocated today that coaches who cheat are banned from the profession. It was incendiary, compelling as hell, and voices of reason in a realm that needs just that.
The NCAA’s headquarters are located in Indianapolis, and fans everywhere should hope that new NCAA chief Mark Emmert was listening and will engage both these men as the NCAA undertakes a either an evolution or revolution that leads college football and basketball into a true minor league for the NFL and NBA, or reverts back to a true student/athlete experience. The NCAA would be wise to sit down with both Meyer and Dakich to help formulate a plan to get this right for the players once and for all.
Trying to serve both masters has done nothing but provide scandal and disappointment. Meyer cited the college football rule that was enacted in the mid-1980s that bans players who test positive for steroids. No appeal. No exceptions. One positive test and goodbye for one year starting today. None of this crazy bullshit where Ohio State football players are suspended but only after the big money Sugar Bowl. Dakich spoke about Bruce Pearl continuing to be allowed to coach as the embodiment of the hypocrisy of college athletics.
College athletics to either enlighten those who compete and study, or they can corrupt. Those who choose financial remuneration over the responsibility to educate, mold, and bring youngsters into maturity should be cast out, according to both Dakich and Meyer. And of course, they are right. To advocate anything less is to admit these kids are nothing but soldiers to be chewed up and spat out in the name of cash.
This is an eight-minute segment of the interview where Dan and Urban spoke about these issues, problems, and potential solutions. It’s radio at its best – honest advocacy for what’s right – compelling and so righteous it could serve as a rallying cry for everyone who believes the NCAA is a party in a massive fraud.
Click on the arrow to hear the portion of the interview centering around the issues in college sports: Urban Meyer on Dan Dakich Show on NCAA Problems
The entire interview can be heard by clicking here, as can yesterday’s interview with Purdue head basketball coach Matt Painter.
Full disclosure – I work at Emmis so I’m biased. Love him or hate him, Dan tells you what he really thinks. As you point out, he’s on the right side of the issue here. Thanks for the plug Ken.
Larry Downes
Dir. Digital Media / Host WIBC Saturday Open Phones
Emmis Communications Indy
Full disclosure Lenny, his name is Kent. Glad to see you’re on top of it. You’re lucky to have Dakich.
Yeah sticky keyboard – it happens. Sorry for the typo Kent.
Is this the first time Meyer has come out on the subject publicly?
I struggle to find Meyer, who ran a football factory with player arrests that make the Pacers blush, or Dakich, who worked for Kelvin Sampson, and knew Sampson was a crook, as moral beacons of hope in which the NCAA should go to for suggestions.
It is stunning how salvation finds those after they have left the muck.
Or perhaps they left the muck precisely because salvation found them while they were knee deep.
Maybe Dan came to IU to be a voice of reason and virtue and a swamp of amorality. Where better to treat the sinners than where they are? You heal the sick at a hospital, not a health club. Once he took over, the knuckleheads were sent into the streets.
Urban is a slightly different deal, but I am giving him the benefit of the doubt for two reasons – one, he quit; two, he’s right. If he can use his bully pulpit earned with two national championships to help put the NCAA right, the hypocrisy you infer should be forgiven.
money talks and bullshit walks