Urban Meyer fined $30,000 by SEC

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Urban Meyer
of Florida became the first coach to be disciplined under the
Southeastern Conference's new policy regarding criticizing officials.
The league fined Meyer $30,000 on Friday, two days after he said
referees missed a late hit against quarterback Tim Tebow in No. 1
Florida's 41-17 win against Georgia. Meyer sent video of the play to
the SEC office, but his mistake was telling reporters refs missed the
call.Last week, the SEC changed its policy about coaches
publicly criticizing officials, making the punishment either a fine or
a suspension and doing away with reprimands. The change came after
Tennessee's Lane Kiffin, Mississippi State's Dan Mullen and Arkansas'
Bobby Petrino were reprimanded after they publicly questioned
officiating.

"Coach
Meyer has violated the Southeastern Conference Code of Ethics," SEC
commissioner Mike Slive said in a statement. "SEC bylaw 10.5.4 clearly
states that the coaches, players and support personnel shall refrain
from public criticism of officials. The league's athletics directors
and presidents and chancellors have made it clear that negative public
comments on officiating are not acceptable."

Meyer apologized following the fine.

"As
I stated last week, I have great respect for commissioner Mike Slive
and the Southeastern Conference, and I respect this decision," Meyer
said in a statement. "There was no intent to criticize an official
after being asked about a situation that occurred last Saturday, and I
apologize for my remarks."
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091106/SPORTS060407/91106019/Urban+Meyer+fined++30+000+by+SEC
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I would have bet that Kiffin would have been the first one hit with a fine but it seems that Urban Meyer has beat us again!
I don't like this rule. I think that when the refs are making so many bad calls and many time even with the replay they still don't get them right. They should have to spend their time in front of the media after each game just as the coaches are required to do. They should have to explain their calls. But that doesn't happen. They put the coaches in front of reporters and they will always ask about the critical penalty that was called late that seemingly cost one team the game. The coach is pissed and he will talk about it. They should have that right. I don't understand what make these refs untouchable.

I agree they need to be called out when their wrong. But I think a lot of the bad calls by the refs when Florida and Bama plays other team is because the SEC wants both Florida and Bama to be undefeated so the SEC championship will get better TV ratings. We all no Bama should of been called for offsides and taking the helmet of in the middle of a play that would of helped TN beat Bama, but they were not called.

as much as i am no uf fan (nor do i care about urban), i too think it is a bad rule to have fines for criticism of officials. not only should a free communication be allowed, but sec officials in particular are quite shady. of course, the conference just makes it worse by covering for the bad calls in order to show favoritism.

censorship has never resulted in something better than if there was no censorship.