What is
Southeastern Conference
commissioner Mike Slive to do now?
A matter of days after Slive declared that fines and suspensions would replace reprimands as punishment for coaches who publicly criticize officials, the most prominent and successful coach in the league put his words to the test.
Florida coach Urban Meyer thought Georgia should have been called for a late hit on quarterback Tim Tebow last Saturday. And here's what he said on his weekly conference call:
"It should have been a penalty, in my opinion," Meyer said. "You’ve got to protect quarterbacks. That’s the whole purpose. It’s right in front of the referee.”
Now, I see nothing wrong with what Meyer said. I see nothing wrong with coaches criticizing officials in general, as long as they don't go over the line and question their integrity. Coaches and players have to answer publicly for what happens in games. Officials should have to answer, too.
But that's not the point.
Here's what Slive, apparently frustrated and irritated by a rash of coaches going public, said last Friday in an interview with the Associated Press:
"On rare occasions over the last seven years there were several private reprimands and that took care of the matter. On occasion there were public reprimands and that took care of it. It became clear to me after last week that I was no longer interested in reprimands, and the conference athletic directors and university presidents unanimously agreed.
"For the foreseeable future there will be no reprimands. We will go right to suspensions and fines."
Uh-oh.
Did Slive mean what he said? Does that edict apply to everyone? We're about to find out.
Want to comment? Subscribers GO HERE.
