Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low
After talking with several people around the league Wednesday, I'd look for some type of punishment to be handed down to Florida coach Urban Meyer later this week by SEC commissioner Mike Slive.
We'll wait and see if it's a suspension or a fine, but something's coming. Slive has no choice, not after the league's mandate last week that it was going to start bringing down the hammer on coaches who call out officials publicly.
It was inevitable that somebody was going to test the SEC's new get-tough policy, and less than a week after it was implemented and approved unanimously by the league's athletic directors and presidents, we have our first test case.
To be fair, what Meyer said wasn't all that bad, and he didn't attack the officiating or question the league's integrity. But he did call out the officiating publicly, and if this new policy is going to have any teeth to it, Slive's going to have to make Meyer the first example.
According to SEC officials, the last time a coach in the league was suspended for criticizing officials was former Mississippi State baseball coach Ron Polk in 2006 when he was suspended for one game.
After talking with several people around the league Wednesday, I'd look for some type of punishment to be handed down to Florida coach Urban Meyer later this week by SEC commissioner Mike Slive.
We'll wait and see if it's a suspension or a fine, but something's coming. Slive has no choice, not after the league's mandate last week that it was going to start bringing down the hammer on coaches who call out officials publicly.
It was inevitable that somebody was going to test the SEC's new get-tough policy, and less than a week after it was implemented and approved unanimously by the league's athletic directors and presidents, we have our first test case.
To be fair, what Meyer said wasn't all that bad, and he didn't attack the officiating or question the league's integrity. But he did call out the officiating publicly, and if this new policy is going to have any teeth to it, Slive's going to have to make Meyer the first example.
According to SEC officials, the last time a coach in the league was suspended for criticizing officials was former Mississippi State baseball coach Ron Polk in 2006 when he was suspended for one game.
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ABOUT THIS BLOG
Chris Low
Low joined ESPN.com in 2007 after 10 years with The (Nashville) Tennessean covering the University of Tennessee and SEC. The Rock Hill, S.C., native lives with his wife in Knoxville and has three sons.
