"Inconsistency of that penalty still bothers me": Urban Meyer slams NCAA over 2010 Ohio State scandal fallout
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Urban Meyer, the former Ohio State head coach, has a few particular things he wishes NCAA officials would have done differently in responding to the infamous 2010 tattoo scandal that nearly sunk the Buckeyes program.
He inherited the fallout from the scandal, one that started in 2010 but went on long after Meyer got to Columbus, including a 2012 postseason ban that expunged any shot Meyer and an undefeated Buckeyes team had at competing for the national title. In a recent interview on The Triple Option podcast, Meyer said the sanctions were too severe, notably since the violations (trading memorabilia for tattoos) had nothing to do with competitive advantage, but rather were inherently subjective.
Urban Meyer says there was no competitive advantage for Ohio State
The crux of the problem at hand, a few players trading memorabilia for ink, played no role in the Buckeyes' on-field success, Meyer said,
'Competitive advantage: zero'
because such things did not enhance performance or provide an advantage in terms of recruiting, he stressed. The controversy did not concern boosters or excessive inducements during the recruitment process, or even tampering, merely players exchanging souvenirs for tattoos.
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He also noted that the situation was overblown in hindsight. 'There were some players trading… memorabilia for tattoos. That's it,' he said, suggesting that the national furor and NCAA response far exceeded the offense. In the current NIL landscape, that type of activity hardly raises an eyebrow. Meyer argued that it did not give Ohio State an advantage in winning games or securing the best players.
NCAA's harsh penalties cost Ohio State a national championship run
The scandal also led to Ohio State vacating all 12 wins from the 2010 season and imposed a postseason ban that impacted the 2012 team, Meyer's first season in Columbus. That team was undefeated, but was ineligible to play for a national title. Meyer noted that his team missed the so-called football glory by pointing out that
'we would have played Notre Dame.'
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Jim Tressel received a five-year show-cause penalty and a $250,000 fine for allegedly lying about the violations. While it was still wrong the way Tressel handled it, Meyer felt that the punishment was too much, especially at a time when players are profiting off their name, image, and likeness so openly. 'The inconsistency of that penalty, to this day, still bothers me,' Meyer said, lamenting how quickly guidelines for college football have adjusted since that time.
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