They do say that there is no such thing as bad publicity. Clearly it doesn't hurt recruiting anywhere that you have this type of publicity as long as there is winning and players going to the NFL. Lord knows the UF of the west coast is USC and they have been chased over the Reggie Bush thing for awhile now and have a long history of covert cheating. Yet it never hurts them in recruiting. I don't think bad graduation rates hurt you in recruiting. At the peak of the Thug Era in Miami they never had problems getting kids to go there and play. No matter what players/parents say they first and foremost care about getting to the league and winning a lot of games. They will ignore reports that show poor academic performance by players and players getting in trouble if there is a lot of winning and drafting into the NFL.
I try to apply a certain saying to these matters... It starts off something about those that live in glass houses....
Terry, I agree with yours and Sid,s thoughts about the differences of campus culture, big State schools vs small private schools etc. No question in my mind about some of those difference's in culture which also carry over to graduation rates etc. I am curious where you get some of the stuff in your list above, the weapons charges listed above were one player, Ronnie Wilson, who was allowed to try and come back last fall and failed. I think that has effectively taken him out of the football scene, certainly out of the Gator scene. In fact Wilson was the one that the post was about last year when Timmy made his rant. He was never back on scholarship and for reasons I don't know didn't make it back and is gone. Jamar Honrsby was the guy with the credit card, he was dismissed immediately and is now at Ole Miss. I'm a bit surprised you mentioned the violation of restraining order, that was Carl Johnson and the incident was also discussed here. He was found innocent and the restraining order lifted. I hardly think that qualifies. No matter I don't want to get cross wise with you Notre Dame guys, and I believe your points about campus culture have validity. However some of the attacks on Meyer reek of attacking the guy who is being successful. In fact he takes a pretty tough hand when players get in trouble, much tougher than Zook. Not tougher than Spurrier but different than Spurrier. Spurs wold just kick someone who got in trouble off the team where Meyer will do whatever he can to help a player rehabilitate himself. Well I'm at Yellowstone kind of rained in this morning but still don't want to spend my day dealing with this post.
Terry wrote: I hope you meant semi-automatic. Yes, both are criminal offenses, but without the proper permits, just having a full automatic weapon is a felony. Add assault and you're up the river for double digit years. The permit I am referring to is not a simple conceal carry permit like I have. I am referring to a permit from the ATF which I may or may not possess. You have to have this permit for any class III weapon. A while back, I wanted to purchase a semi-automatic replica of the M1A1 (Thompson machine gun) used in WWII. If I bought this gun, I would have to go through the exact same permit process that I would have to go through for a fully automatic version, simply because it has a barrel shorter than 16". I just wanted it to display over the fire place.
Bill it was posted on another board that way, I just copied it. So I'll accept what ever you say as I know you are a guy who doesn't sweep stuff under that table or minimize serious stuff. As far as Spurriers method vs Urbans method, I would think Urbans method would work well for recruiting as kids would see that they can mess up and still get another chance. Do you worry that Urban over time will develope the Bobby Bowden approach to problem players?
Bill is correct and it's too bad these things are misrepresented. It's also a misrepresentation in a huge way to suggest that Meyer is all about second chances more than he is about tough discipline.... second chances a la Blobby Bowden. :roll:
You're right Tim...when we finally tire of Urban's lax attitude on discipline we will ship him off to Notre Dame where he will be more welcome.....geez give it a break.
Terry actually I think I may not have explained well enough. For starters let's just not discuss Zook but compare Spurrier and Meyer. Spurrier demanded performance and loyalty and being good Gators. One time he sent two starters home from a bowl game and dismissed them from the team because they got into a fight at a dinner before a Sugar Bowl game. I thought he did the right thing and as you know I admired, and still admire, Spurrier. Meyer takes a different, more hands on approach. He's involved in the kids life from day one and his assistants are to know the status of each of his players in school etc. No matter what these negative articles are saying Meyer is pretty strict with his players. However when one screws up it's according to the offense. Certain things get you immediate dismissal. A perfect example is Hornsby, the guy with the credit card, he was gone as soon as it came out. No second chance. Other players get an opportunity to earn their way back, some do and some don't. An example of one who didn't was Ronnie Wilson the one who we discussed at length last fall. He was allowed to come back as a walkon and earn his way back if he could. He was showing well at practice but somehow fell short of Meyer's expectations and disappeared. There have been success stories also, Steven Harris a DT from our championship team in 2006 is one of the biggest. I am not aware of his problem but know that he was a starter in 2005 but was not at the beginning of the season in 2006 but was earning his way back. By the Championship game he was starting, mostly because Marcus Thomas was kicked off the team. Meyer was always complimentary of Harris for the effort he put forth to change his personal and school life. Under Zook he was not headed for graduation, under Meyer he graduated. And no I have ne feat that Meyer will become Bobby Bowden, while he let's people out of the doghouse, he always makes them earn it. Sorry about the length of this post.
Good post Bill and I think you summed up Urban pretty well. Too bad that not many in the media and subsequently here on Skybox can see the reality of it.
we can't have a 'gator got arrested' topic without me posting in it With that being said, I'm too busy for this.