Urban Meyer is already causing waves within the Big Ten, assembling a strong recruiting class while simultaneously drawing the ire of his fellow Big Ten coaches. Wisconsin's Bret Bielema and Michigan State's Mark Dantonio went public with some comments regarding Meyer, upset with his recruiting tactics and using words like "unethical" and "illegal." It's unclear if anything he actually did was wrong, but it all seems to stem from the fact that eight out of the 10 players in OSU's recruiting class had previously been committed to other schools.
This is something that happens a lot, though, so it's hard to see where they have any ground to stand on. That being said, Meyer is a different beast in the recruiting game, something the Big Ten isn't used to, so it's understandable there would be a little outrage. Meyer eventually did respond to the accusations, saying that they'd most definitely do it again, and that they'd do it even more next time.
On Friday, Ohio State Athletic Director, Gene Smith, released a statement, according to CBS Sports:
"I am disappointed that negative references have been made about our football coaches and particularly head coach Urban Meyer regarding recruiting. In our league appropriate protocol, if you have concerns, is to share those concerns with your athletic director. Then your athletic director will make the determination on the appropriate communications from that point forward. The athletic directors in our league are professionals and communicate with each other extremely well. Urban Meyer and his staff have had a compliance conscience since they've arrived."
What Smith says makes sense - these are the kinds of things you don't immediately go to the public with. That being said, with them being unfamiliar with Meyer's tactics, it's easy to see where they wanted to go public. Safe to say there's going to be a lot of dialogue between the schools that doesn't get reported.
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