Urban Meyer Faces Criticism from Paul Finebaum for College Sports Roundtable Rant

When college football's brain trust met Washington partisans, the results were probably inevitable: a lot of talking. ESPN personality Paul Finebaum recently discussed the recent College Sports Roundtable, in which an eclectic group of college football personalities and politicians discussed solutions to the sport's increasing chaos in the NIL front.

One of the football figures present was Urban Meyer, former national-title winning head coach of Ohio State and Florida and now a FOX broadcaster. Meyer used the occasion to discuss his perceived NIL boogeyman and Finebaum was not impressed.

Meyer's Issue and Finebaum's Criticism

In his remarks, Meyer was critical of NIL collectives, claiming that the issues inherent in college football mostly come from collectives, terming them "pay for play."

Urban Meyer: “Get rid of the collectives. That’s cheating!”

He is now explaining collectives to Trump in this open meeting.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) March 6, 2026

In an appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, Finebaum was blunt in his assessment of the Roundtable.

"We really didn't need Urban Meyer ranting about something that everybody in that room that has a clue about college athletics is aware of," said Finebaum in regard to his overall impressions of the Roundtable.

Finebaum certainly wasn't the only one who was unimpressed by Meyer's comments. A multitude of fans weighed in on social media questioning the holier-than-thou approach from the former coach.

Pure hypocrisy. In his day Ohio State paid large bags of cash under the table to acquire the best players with total NCAA immunity while the NCAA punished non-blue bloods for doing the same thing.
— Jason L. (@jlawhorn1975) March 7, 2026

Meyer's comments were at least centrally directed, and while many are questioning his approach, Meyer certainly was one of the main beneficiaries of the pre-NIL world of college football, and his desire to get back to the "good old days" might be genuine.

Meyer's College Football History

Meyer rose up the ladder after impressive two-year stints at Bowling Green and Utah. He took over the Florida program in 2005 and returned the Gators to the glory they had previously experienced only under Steve Spurrier. Meyer was 65-15 at Florida and won national titles following the 2006 and 2008 seasons. He left after 2010 following health issues, but resurfaced at Ohio State after a season off.

Meyer was 83-9 at Ohio State, winning another title after the 2014 regular season. In his final season with the Buckeyes, Meyer was embroiled in controversy with allegations that he knew about spousal abuse by one of his assistant coaches, but took no action.

A couple of years off followed, but Meyer returned to coaching briefly in 2021, going 2-11 with the Jacksonville Jaguars and being fired amid allegations of physical abuse against one of his own players. The 61-year old Meyer has since turned to broadcasting and after a recent golfing trip with President Trump and Nick Saban, found himself sharing his thoughts at the College Sports Roundtable.

ESPN personality Paul Finebaum was critical of Urban Meyer's conduct at the recent College Sports Roundtable. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images