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Good Athletes Behaving Badly

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By ANDY STAPLES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 5, 2007

GAINESVILLE - As University of Florida football coach Urban Meyer awaits a ruling from the State Attorney's Office before he decides when strong safety Tony Joiner will play next, one thing seems certain. Meyer will take a pounding in the court of public opinion no matter what he decides.

If Meyer decides Joiner can play Saturday against top-ranked LSU after being arrested Tuesday morning on a burglary charge, rival fans, sports columnists and sports-talk screamers will howl that Meyer runs an undisciplined program populated by thugs. If Meyer sits Joiner for a game or more and the Gators lose, Florida fans could lambaste Meyer for blowing Joiner's alleged offense out of proportion and costing the program a win.

The Internet, sports-talk radio and 24-hour sports television haven't changed the way coaches discipline their players, but they have changed the way that discipline is perceived. When an arrest is reported instantly, fans on both sides of the aisle expect the coach to serve as judge and jury almost as quickly.

Meyer has learned that recently. Since the Gators won the national title in January, nine players have had scrapes with the law. One, offensive lineman Ronnie Wilson, is serving a one-year suspension after an arrest April 5 for firing an AK-47 in a public parking lot to scare a man that Wilson had punched and spit on earlier that morning. The others remain with the team, and, with the exception of Joiner, all have served punishments and returned to the field.

That spate of trouble has drawn criticism - and a fair share of mocking - from fans of other schools. On the Web site EveryDayShouldBeSaturday.com, Atlanta-based blogger Spencer Hall, a Florida fan, keeps a tote board of offseason arrests for all Division I-A schools, assigning points for the severity of each incident. The Gators finished third this past offseason. Former Florida coach Ron Zook's Illinois team claimed the "Fulmer Cup," a dubious honor named for Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer.

Meyer has endured criticism for not booting some of the players who ran afoul of the law. Instead, Meyer prefers to force players to meet strict requirements to stay on the team. He also may revoke their scholarships, as he did this semester to tailback Brandon James, who was arrested in a marijuana sting in June. In July, Meyer explained his aversion to instant dismissal.

"Discipline is not dismissal, in our opinion," Meyer said. "Discipline is education and correction, then do what you've got to do. We're in the process of doing a lot of educating, a lot of correcting, and putting a product on the field."

Joiner's arrest is the first for a Florida player since Meyer spoke those words. Joiner is accused of breaking into a towing company impound lot to retrieve his girlfriend's car. The owner of the lot does not wish to press charges, but that decision rests in the hands of State Attorney Bill Cervone. Investigator Spencer Mann said Thursday that he is tracking down witnesses and that Cervone could reach a decision "in the next few days." Meyer has said Joiner wouldn't be allowed to play if he faces a felony charge.

Meyer actually booted Joiner from the team in 2005 for a variety of offenses, but Meyer's wife, Shelley, talked her husband into giving Joiner, then a sophomore, another chance. By all accounts, Joiner had turned around his life, improving his grades and winning the respect of teammates and coaches.

In previous stops at Bowling Green and Utah, Meyer earned the reputation of a zero-tolerance disciplinarian. The reality didn't match the perception. After Utah tailback Marty Johnson was arrested for drunken driving for a second time, Meyer allowed Johnson to come back to the team after a short jail term provided he met rigorous requirements. In justifying his decision, Meyer said he couldn't have lived with himself had a dismissed Johnson driven drunk again and killed someone. Johnson wound up receiving his degree at Utah.

Meyer may even be more hesitant to dismiss players following the death of former Florida cornerback Avery Atkins. Meyer granted Atkins' request for a scholarship release - a de facto dismissal - after Atkins' arrest for hitting his girlfriend in June 2006. After the dismissal, Atkins' life spiraled out of control. He was arrested three more times before he was found dead in his car on July 5.

Some coaches believe rehabilitation can work as long as the reclamation projects don't drag down their teammates. Fulmer said he learned that after a disastrous 2005 season, during which the Volunteers went 5-6 following an offseason that included 13 players arrested or cited for criminal acts.

"I've let a couple guys go," Fulmer said this year. "Might have been the wrong thing as far as them, but it was the right thing as far as our football team."

It also was the right thing for Fulmer. South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said this week that every time a coach makes a disciplinary decision, he must consider the bottom line; ultimately, he remains employed by winning games.

"Your opponents, they want you to get rid of everybody who gets in trouble," said Spurrier, who said it seems easier to get arrested as a college athlete than it was 20 or 30 years ago. "Your fans, maybe some of them are understanding and some of them want a good, clean program. But we all understand as coaches, we need to win or we're not going to be here. We need to win in the right way. But you can't just run everybody off who gets arrested."

Reporter Andy Staples can be reached at (352) 262-3719 or astaples@tampatrib.com.

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