Mike Slive's Dilemma: Does 10.5.4 Apply To Florida's Urban Meyer?

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive has a dilemma.

Less than a week after Slive announced stiffer penalties for violations of SEC Bylaw 10.5.4, the first person to violate the bylaw is the very coach Slive has been accused of protecting.

Urban Meyer said Wednesday that officials missed a late hit on Tim Tebow during Saturday's Cocktail Party with Georgia.

Speaking to reporters in a conference call, Meyer said Bulldog linebacker Nick Williams should've been flagged for a personal foul after blind-siding Tim Tebow well after Tebow handed off the football.

"Obviously, it should have been (a penalty)," Meyer said, responding to a question from a reporter. "You've got to protect quarterbacks. That's the whole purpose. It's right in front of the referee."

Meyer said his staff sent video of the hit to SEC coordinator of officials Roger Redding.

It was a mild complaint—more of a statement of the obvious than a criticism—and Meyer's comments wouldn't warrant much attention in any other league.

But this isn't any other league. This is the SEC, where the commissioner has made it a point to publicly reprimand every coach who questions officials' calls, as public criticism of the conference's lackluster officiating grows.

This is the SEC, where the commissioner last week said this: "For the foreseeable future there will be no reprimands. We will go right to suspensions and fines."

Those were Slive's words to the Associated Press after he successfully sought the blessing of the league's athletic directors and presidents to forgo reprimands for stiffer punishment.

Meyer joins Tennessee's Lane Kiffin, Mississippi State's Dan Mullen, and Arkansas' Bobby Petrino as SEC coaches who have publicly disagreed with officials' calls over the past three weeks. The previous three were all publicly reprimanded by Slive.

In Petrino's case, part of his beef was also with a no-call on a late hit. Among other things, Petrino criticized the lack of a penalty after a defender hit running back Dennis Johnson late during the Razorbacks' loss to Florida. The officiating crew was suspended, in part because of a blown unsportsmanlike conduct call in that game and in part because of blown calls in previous games, but Petrino was also slapped with a reprimand.

It's ironic that Meyer was the first coach to criticize officials after Slive announced the stricter penalties. A conspiracy theory that the SEC is playing favorites with Florida and Alabama has gained traction as this season has progressed, with some of the league's coaches getting in on the act.

"When they hit you when you're on the white, that's supposed to be a late hit, 15-yard penalty. Unfortunately, at Florida, they don't call it that way," Petrino said of the late hit on Johnson.

"I'm sure we'll get one of those letters that really means nothing, as Bobby (Petrino) got last week. Meanwhile, Florida and Alabama live on," Kiffin said after criticizing the officials in the wake of his team's loss to the Crimson Tide.

Slive responded by threatening to suspend Kiffin if he received another reprimand. Within days, the stricter penalties for 10.5.4 violations had been announced.

The commish's over-reaction to coaches' criticism has him backed into a corner. Does he add weight to claims that he's a Florida homer by failing to address Meyer's comments? Or does he punish Meyer for what was really a weak criticism? 

If it's the former, a once outlandish conspiracy theory begins to look slightly more credible, since Slive has already chosen to show three of the SEC's newest coaches who the boss is in this league. If it's the latter, that's where it really starts to get interesting.

Because Slive decided to jump on his high horse after Kiffin's and Mullen's comments, declaring to the AP that he is "no longer interested in reprimands," and for the foreseeable future will be handing out fines and suspensions instead of reprimands, he cannot address Meyer's comments by simply slapping him on the wrist. He either has to ignore it or fine him. Or go back on his promise to forgo reprimands for harsher penalties, which would make his reactions to criticism of officials as toothless as Kiffin made them out to be when he essentially told Slive to make his day and send him a written reprimand.

No matter how you shake it, it's a lose-lose situation for Slive.

Florida fans were quick to point out Wednesday that Meyer was only responding to a question when he mentioned the late hit on Tebow. That doesn't fly.

A reporter's question isn't a free pass on public criticism of officials. After all, Kiffin was only responding to a question—regarding why he didn't try to move the ball closer instead of settling for a long field goal attempt against Alabama—when he said that he wasn't going to give the officials an opportunity to "throw another flag." In fact, most criticism of officials comes after reporters have questioned coaches about in post-game interviews.

Meyer could have simply said, "We asked the SEC to review the hit." Instead, he added that it "should have been a penalty," and that it wasn't called despite happening "right in front of the referee."

That's criticism in any color. It's public. And Meyer said it of his own free will.

"SEC Bylaw 10.5.4 clearly states that coaches, players and support staff shall refrain from all public criticism of officials," Slive said in written statements as he doled out each of the reprimands against Kiffin, Mullen and Petrino.

"Shall refrain from all public criticism" seems pretty clear. Now the ball is in Slive's court. Does he want to look like a hypocrite, or does he want to look petty?

I'll bet Slive wishes he'd never gone on a power trip by throwing out reprimands at any coach who dares to question a call. First there were the draconian media policies to control what bloggers and media websites say. Then there was the strict enforcement of 10.5.4 to control what coaches say.

Now he has himself a real predicament.