Urban Meyer: Coaches Intentionally Lying About Violations Shouldn't Coach Again

Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer said coaches who lie intentionally about committing recruiting violations should be barred from coaching again collegiately. 

"If you intentionally lie about committing violations, your career is over," Meyer said Thursday on 97.1 The Fan in Columbus (h/t ESPN.com's Dan Murphy). "You're not suspended for two games (or) some of the silly penalties you have, you can't talk to a recruit for a week and a half or something like that. No. You're finished. That will clean up some things."

Meyer was responding to the ongoing FBI investigation into college basketball corruption, which has already led to 10 arrests—four of which were current Division I assistant coaches. The scandal also led to Louisville coach Rick Pitino being placed on administrative leave.

Meyer said coaches should face the same consequences as players, who are often stripped of their eligibility when found to have lied to NCAA investigators. 

"I'm not talking about mistakes made when you have a rulebook like this," Meyer said. "But if you intentionally pay a guy money or willfully have a second cell phone to make illegal phone calls, you're done. You can never coach again."

Meyer has committed NCAA infractions during his time at Florida and Ohio State, though none have been major. His most high-profile incident at Ohio State was a self-reported violation where he allowed a recruit to talk to former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, who lobbied on his former coach's behalf.

Meyer took over at Ohio State while it was serving a probation due to violations during Jim Tressel's tenure as coach.