[Update: Dantonio stated that his comments were taken completely of context. Color us skeptical.]
New Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer isn’t making many friends in the Big Ten so far, as Wisconsin’s Bret Bielema and Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio are both openly criticizing the Buckeyes’ head man.
This shouldn’t come as a shock after highly-touted OT Kyle Dodson flipped his commitment from Wisconsin to Ohio State and four-star DE Se’Von Pittman switched his commitment from Michigan State to Ohio State. Meyer has already gained a reputation for negative recruiting and stealing verbal commits from other schools, and Bielema and Dantonio are only going to fuel that perception.
“There are a few things that happened early on that I made people aware of that I didn’t want to see in this league, that I had seen take place in other leagues,” Bielema said, according to a report on the website of Chicago’s local CBS affiliate. “Other recruiting tactics, other recruiting practices that are illegal.
“I was very up front and was very pointed to the fact, actually reached out to Coach Meyer and shared my thoughts and concerns with him. The situation got rectified.”
Dantonio, speaking to the Detroit News, was much more blunt: “(Ohio State has) got a new coach, and it’s different,” Dantonio said. “I would say it’s pretty unethical, in the end.”
Well then.
After landing the fourth-best class in America according to Rivals despite being on the job a little over two months, we’re guessing Meyer isn’t losing much sleep over his Big Ten brethren’s sour grapes.
