Urban Meyer has gone through an interesting winter.
Weeks after his Florida Gators lost their bid for the national championship by losing to Alabama in early December, he stunningly announced the day after Christmas that a health scare meant he was stepping down from his lucrative gig with a school that he has made a national power. But he then announced shortly thereafter that he would only be taking a leave of absence.
Last week he returned to coaching the Gators, telling the media that he was feeling great. Then what are to we make of this meltdown that he suffered yesterday in practice, where he went off on Orlando Sentinel reporter Jeremy Fowler, simply for accurately quoting wide receiver Deonte Thompson discuss the differences between new Gator quarterback John Bentley and the departed QB, the legendary Tim Tebow? Watch what Meyer did yesterday:
Obviously, Fowler must have done something egregious to deserve such a dressing down, right? Not exactly. Fowler wrote this last week, in quoting Thompson in the Sentinel :
"You never know with Tim," Thompson said. "You can bolt, you think he's running but he'll come up and pass it to you. You just have to be ready at all times. With Brantley, everything's with rhythm, time. You know what I mean, a real quarterback."
Various other blogs have weighed in with their theories about what's going on here. First and foremost, though he probably meant to praise the new QB vs. diss the old one, Deonte Thompson did appear to be sounding critical about the God like Tim Tebow. Being so close to him as we know they were, Meyer no doubt didn't appreciate those comments.
But instead of discussing those comments with Thompson (who for all we know Meyer perhaps already has), he went into def-com one mode to blame the messenger, in this case the Orlando Sentinel reporter who accurately quoted the young receiver, and just as significantly, downplayed the comments, putting them low into his story.
There are others wondering whether all the bashing that Tebow has received in recent months for his passing style has made Meyer sensitive to his own coaching style. Now, that should be considered absurd, since Tebow deservedly is being called one of the greatest college football players. Having said that, there are enormous questions about his pro potential (though former NFL coach Tony Dungy said yesterday if he was still coaching and had the opportunity, he'd draft Tebow in the first round).
Whatever in Meyer's motivation, he can end the speculation immediately by apologizing to Jeremy Fowler.
This article appears in Aug 5-11, 2010.