Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer admitted surprise at the depth of the NCAA’s findings following its investigation into Michigan’s football program for its sign-stealing operation and illegal scouting. Meyer said he initially pushed back on reports of sign-stealing during his time at Big Ten Network and didn’t believe the details of various reports indicating Michigan “had sent people on the road to videotape” future opponents.
Meyer’s viewpoint has changed since the NCAA released its findings, which included a 10-year show cause for former coach Jim Harbaugh.
“This is one that will go down in the history books, something in my lifetime I’ve not seen,” Meyer said on this week’s “Triple Option” podcast.
Harbaugh declined comment on the NCAA’s penalties and its report over the weekend.
Meyer later read two quotes from the NCAA’s final report he found most abhorrent for the Wolverines.
“I want to hit something really hard here, ‘There was little, if any, emphasis on following the rules. This program saw compliance as the enemy and made no decisions,'” Meyer said. “The compliance office directors were rebuked, which means they were turned away, by the coaching staff, dismissed and disregarded by a football program.”
Meyer said the multiple show-causes, a $20 million fine and a multi-game coaching suspension for coach Sherrone Moore levied by the NCAA falls flat when considering what he faced as a first-year Buckeyes coach in 2012 after violations left in the wake of Jim Tressel and a previous staff.
Meyer said Ohio State’s administration, including then-athletic director Gene Smith, was confident the Buckeyes would not receive a postseason ban or lose scholarships upon his arrival — and then it happened.
The Buckeyes went 12-0 during Meyer’s first season at the program, but were ineligible for the postseason.
“In December of 2011, I had to stand in front of a group of seniors and tell them they were not allowed to play in a bowl or championship game in their final year of college football, for something they had nothing to do with,” Meyer said.
During the podcast, Meyer said he agreed with the NCAA choosing to not punish Michigan’s current players who had nothing to do with the Conor Stalions, sign-stealing schemes.
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