Urban Meyer's Current Role With Ohio State's Top NIL Arm Doesn't Match Recent Comments On Collectives & Cheating

Urban Meyer is coming at Name, Image and Likeness in two very different ways.

Meyer, 58, recently spoke with Dan Dakich about NIL. His stance did not match his current position within the space.

It's a situation of "do as I say, not as I do" and "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mixed into one. Something like that.

Meyer spent 18 years as a head coach in college football. The majority of that time was spent with Utah, Florida and Ohio State.

There were 514 five-star prospects during that timeframe. Meyer signed 6.8% of those recruits, while signing 183 four-star prospects over those 15 years.

Meyer had success in recruiting.

Since the dawn of time, to have success in recruiting, money has been involved. Scholarships, meal plans, gear, etc. are all forms of currency in a sense, so the tie between college athletics and financial compensation goes all of the way back to 1956.

Jimbo Fisher once said that "NIL has been going on for a long time. It just hasn’t been above board." Finances have been a factor in recruiting for centuries.

Money factored into Meyer's ability to land top talent with the Buckeyes, Utes and Gators. In one way or another.

Think about what Fisher said about the "old" way of recruiting. Think about the time when Mississippi State locked a recruit in a church so that Ole Miss could not meet with him.

That isn't to say that there was any funny business going on with Meyer's recruiting success, but the boosters have a role in college football at every school. Even if it is as simple as paying for a brand-new athletic facility.

Schools with deeper pockets are at an undeniable advantage. It would be unrealistic to so otherwise.

Now more than ever.

There is some contradiction in Urban Meyer's NIL concerns.

While on Don't @ Me! with Dan Dakich, Meyer expressed his frustrations with the current system.

He called the term "collective" a "fancy word for cheating."

Meyer did not express an issue with how things went down before NIL. If not at a school that he coached, players at other schools were not allowed to be compensated but received compensation under the table. Why didn't he speak up then? Is he suggesting that boosters at Florida, Utah, and Ohio State never once give a recruit or active roster player one dollar, ever? Even without him knowing?

Meyer committed recruiting violations in Columbus. They were minor, and didn't involve money, but they were NCAA infractions nonetheless. As silly as the infractions were, they were "cheating" too.

And then there's the present.

Meyer told Dakich that he cringes at the word "collective." He said that collectives are "going to go to donors and boosters and ask for a lot of money and then decide who gets that money based on ability level."

Hmm....

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day pled local Columbus businesses for eight-figure NIL money just to keep his roster together. That is, essentially, "going to donor and boosters and asking for a lot of money" like Meyer suggested of collectives.

To make Meyer's comments even more confusing, he sits on the board of a collective.

'THE Foundation' is the Buckeyes' top NIL arm.

THE Foundation

It calls itself a "foundation" but it's doing the same thing as other collectives at other schools across the country. Ohio State's official website even lists THE Foundation as one of its three NIL Collective Organizations.

Here is how THE Foundation describes itself:

THE Foundation was founded to pay Ohio State Football and Basketball student athletes as they use their name, image and likeness to help promote worthy charitable causes and make positive contributions to our community.

THE Foundation was co-founded by former Buckeyes quarterback Cardale Jones and real estate mogul Brian Schottenstein. On its board sit former Ohio State athletes like Troy Smith, J.T. Barrett, Santonio Holmes, Evan Turner, Mike Conley, D'Angelo Russell, Terry McLaurin and others.

Among those "others" is Urban Meyer.

THE Foundation

Meyer said that NIL collectives are a fancy word for cheating, but he sits on the board of an Ohio State NIL collective. Doesn't add up.