Urban Meyer Closes Practices, Citing 'Scumbags' and 'Internet People'

[madinmaryland]

Come on, trumad, be nice to Urban...

http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2010/08/07/urban-meyer-closes-practices-citing-scumbags-and-internet-pe/?ncid=txtlnkusspor00000002

Urban Meyer bared some angry teeth in public this week, using colorful words to describe those he views outside the interests of his program. In response to questioning about why he had completely closed the Gators' first few practices to the public, Florida's head coach spoke of certain unwelcome parties.

"I'm concerned about the stuff where you get NCAA violations and scumbags that are involved that shouldn't be involved," he said. "One way to control it and that's 'get out.'" The Palm Beach Post also says he is protecting his players from 'internet people'.

Quoth Meyer: "When I tell my colleagues that you get dressed, you walk across and people just maul you and bother you and internet people grabbing helmets, 'Sign this,' and we don't have security saying, 'Get the heck out of here.' You'll see a lot more 'get the heck out of here' from now on and let the kids go practice and concentrate on football."

Well all right. The tension from an ongoing NCAA investigation into former Gator Maurkice Pouncey may be starting to wear on Meyer, and other SEC coaches -- see Alabama coach Nick Saban's strange 'pimps' performance at SEC Media Days. The ban is well-intentioned but the wording comes off more than a bit paranoid and in turn becomes a distraction, a bit of theater where none was needed.

In more vague -- but positive -- news, Meyer is hinting that there is behind-the-scenes work by himself and others involved in college athletics to police agents and other troublesome parties. "I can't go into details yet, but a group of us has gotten together and we're trying to make some changes," he said.