I really think it’s ridiculous that I still have to address this story line. But when columnist Paul Finebaum says Urban Meyer is “probably” leaving for Notre Dame, it’s apparent that some people just don’t get it. I will link to the column only for completeness and with great reservation, as it seems to me that when you write a teaser for your column a day early, saying “a big storm is brewing in Gainesville”- and proceed to follow it up with little or no facts- your column is written less to make a point and more to get the wrong kind of attention. Don’t click this link. I’ll quote the relevant portions. In the course of this column, he uses inflammatory language and throws the best coach in the SEC under the bus. And by that I’m referring to two different coaches!

For all the mainstream media piling on blogs for being off-base and traffic-whores, in this case it is a newspaper columnist that is out of line. And I’m the blogger here to set the record straight.

I have many issues with this column. The first begins with the terrible accusation of dishonesty. Finebaum writes “So how do I know Meyer is not telling the truth? Easy. Meyer's lips moved when he denied the story.” When, Mr. Finebaum, has Meyer shown himself to be worthy of such character assassination? You’re telling us the entire basis of your idea that Urban Meyer is headed to Notre Dame is that he has said he is not? Remember, your own headline said he was “probably” (my dictionary says this means “in all likelihood”) leaving Florida after the coming season. And you don’t “think” Urban Meyer is lying- you “know”.

Here, let’s discuss some facts about Urban Meyer and Notre Dame.

1. The Notre Dame job is not open. And it will not be open, as a ‘resurgent’ Notre Dame, with 10 scheduled wins, will get the hype-machine treatment and allow Charlie Weis to stick around for Jimmy Clausen’s senior season.
2. He’s already had the opportunity to take the Notre Dame job. Why, after landing one of the premier jobs in his sport, and earning lifetime job security at that job, would he then take the Notre Dame job, when he could have easily taken it in 2004? Don’t give me a talent argument- Weis’ most successful team had as much talent as the current crop, if not more so (no nine-loss seasons for that group).

Finebaum goes on to weigh in on internal Gator Nation matters of which he has little knowledge. Read a few “bottomlines” on ESPN, Mr. Finebaum? Urban Meyer came into Florida and brought back many more of our older players than had been around the program before his arrival. He wants them in the locker room, on the sidelines, visible to the current players. When he “strong armed” Shane Matthews, he was taking a stand for his team. He was not casting out those with dissenting football perspectives- he was drawing a line between media types and the average Gator alum. You can rip our program, but the players in the locker room don’t need to have it shoved in their face. This is a story that has long since blown over to anyone who even casually follows the Gators.

Throughout the column, Mr. Finebaum sticks up for his boy Nick Saban, the Head Coach of the Crimson Tide. He states Urban Meyer helped Utah in the Sugar Bowl because Saban is “stockpiling warehouses loaded with blue-chip talent in Tuscaloosa.” I have many issues with this statement, and the entire premise. Here are a few:

1. While the Tide have had great recruiting classes, Florida’s cupboard is more full, and a #1 recruiting class should be on the way. The thinking of Urban leaving after the season is that Tebow will be gone and the Florida program will be in for a downfall. His accepted premise is that Florida goes undefeated and wins the National Title, so that is why I will discuss such things, not because I think they are a certainty by any measure. In this premise, Florida will be the premier team of the last decade, so any 2010 season will probably be somewhat of a step backward. And this season’s depth chart is stacked with juniors. Johnny Brantley will have plenty of toys and plenty of help on D, hardly a reason to walk away from a contract extension and a raise. In a down economy, when Notre Dame is losing ground to SEC teams, no less.
2. Mr. Finebaum paints a picture of Urban Meyer developing the Utah gameplan for defeating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl for his own personal gain. Not only is the idea that a coach heading into a National Championship game will be game-planning for anyone other than his opponent (while losing a coordinator, even) absurd, Mr. Finebaum seems to actually believe it to be true.
3. The only evidence that any conversation between Kyle Whittingham and Urban Meyer took place are some comments made a month before the game by Mr. Whittingham, “We talk at least weekly throughout the course of the season, and it will be a situation where the familiarity they have with Alabama will obviously work to our favor, we hope. It will give us a head start on our game-planning and what we plan on doing. We share ideas all the time, so that’s not new to us”. It seems to me that Mr. Finebaum should look for fewer excuses for Mr. Saban, and instead be searching for the real reason Utah won the game: Utah’s dominance by their defensive line, some of the blame for which must fall on Alabama’s head coach. Alabama lost to a team it should have been able to beat, because it could not cope with the loss of Andre “Manboobs” Smith. Who should have been game-planning for the absence of that player?

Mr. Finebaum, once again, brings up another tired storyline: the number of arrests in Urban Meyer’s tenure at Florida. Yes, we should hold our Gators to a higher standard. Yes, some of the arrests are utterly indefensible (it should be noted those players committing the heinous acts had their Gator careers ended prematurely- and at least one of them has found his way into the SEC West.) But, I would really like to see the list for all the other programs. Has Alabama had much less than 24 arrests in the last 5 years (the only number I found was 8 under Saban, a similar pace)? The Gainesville Sun (whether it was a good move or not) told us Tennessee and Georgia had numbers comparable to UF over the same time period. Should anyone be pointing a finger at Urban Meyer before they point it at their own coach? Mr. Finebaum, I suggest you worry about the cleanliness your own program, which is currently losing wins to the NCAA. I feel sick defending any sort of arrest, but when a sports columnist- remember, supposedly the ‘responsible arm’ of sports coverage, at least compared to we bloggers- compares the UF program to the TV show “Cops” and references the police blotter, he at least better be addressing a program that is far and above in worse shape than the others, and especially the one he is supposed to be covering.

I’ll only dispute one more “fact” Mr. Finebaum states about Urban Meyer. He takes issue with UF President Bernie Machen’s push for a raise for the Gators head football coach. Finebaum states, “He works at a school that recently cut $40 million from its general budget.” Mr. Finebaum, even you have to realize Urban Meyer isn’t paid from the general budget- he’s paid from the UAA budget. And that UAA budget is donating an extra $6 million to the University. Urban Meyer is making a lot of people money; he might as well be earning some of it.

The end of the column borders on lunacy, which is saying something after the way it began. Mr. Finebaum takes several unfounded shots at Billy Donovan, and states he “is no longer even considered the best coach in his division”. Uh, he’s the best coach in the SEC. By a longshot. I have my issues with Calhoun and Boeheim, but those are the types of names he’s competing with, legacy-wise. Not Horn, Fox, Stallings, Calipari, and Pearl. And my opinion is that, before his career is over, we’ll be talking about him with the all-time greats.