Meyer shouldn’t hesitate in booting Chris Rainey off Gators
Florida is among programs pointed in wrong direction off the field, and Urban Meyer needs to kick Chris Rainey out.
(UPDATED: 4 p.m.)
Florida coach Urban Meyer said Wednesday that Chris Rainey is “not with the team,” and when asked to disclose the minimum number of games the wide receiver would miss, he responded: “I can’t do that because I don’t know.”
Question: Does Meyer need to check the Gators’ schedule first to see how long he thinks they can do without one of their starting receivers? Because it seems to me when a football program is accumulating arrests and one player admits to police that he sent a text message to his [ex-]girlfriend with an assumed death threat, reading, “Time to Die Bitch,” the case is fairly cut and dried.
Rainey should be gone.
This is the problem when you put coaches in charge of discipline for matters slightly more serious than being late to practice. They can’t look at one of their players in handcuffs and make an objective decision when a voice in their heads say, “But we have to go to LSU Saturday.”
Rainey, the Gators’ junior slot receiver, has been charged with aggravated stalking, a third-degree felony. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Rainey is “at least the 30th player to face charges or be arrested during coach Urban Meyer’s tenure,” which began in 2005.
This is not the typical driving or underage drinking violation that has become norm in college towns. The Gainesville police report doesn’t paint a pretty picture of Rainey. (Note: Def. stands for defendant, as in Rainey, and Vic. stands for victim, whose name is not disclosed.)
Quoting:
“At 23:10 hours [Monday night], the Def. showed up at the Vic’s residence and continued calling and texting the Vic. The Def. texted back, “I will not open the door.” The Def. replied, “I’m here and I will bust out the window.” The Vic. texted back, “I’m calling the cops.” At approximately 23:20 hours, the Vic went outside to talk to the Def. After approximately 10 minutes, the Def. became irate and the Vic. told the Def. to leave. The Vic. went back inside her residence. At approximately 23:47 hours, the Def. texted the Vic, “Don’t go a sleep,” and the Vic. went outside to make sure the Def. was gone. The Def. was gone and at approximately 00:22 hours, the Def. texted the Vic, “Time to Die Bitch u and ur??” At this point, the Vic, fearing for her life and the life of her family called [police].”
When Rainey was told by the women that she was phoning the police, he reportedly responded, “Wait and see what happens when they leave.”
On the weekly SEC coaches conference call with media members Wednesday, Meyer said of the Rainey matter: “It’s just further evaluation as we go. As for immediacy, he’s not with the team.”
We have taken some shots in this corner for the number of arrests in the Georgia football program. But Florida is right up there. Meyer once bragged that he would recruit “only the top one percent of the one percent.” But gives the 30 arrests, you have to wonder about his grading methods. The reputation of the Gators’ program has been significantly dented.
Meyer’s hesitancy to discipline players also was in evidence last season when he initially balked at disciplining Brandon Spikes for a significant eye-gouging incident against Bulldogs running back Washaun Ealey in a pileup in last year’s game. Meyer ultimately suspended Spikes for only the first half of the Vanderbilt game, but after mounting criticism of the coach and SEC commissioner Mike Slive (who had stood by and done nothing) Spikes decided to suspend himself for the entire game (logic dictates he had a little help in that decision).
The Rainey case is no minor incident. The woman now says she doesn’t want to press charges, but that shouldn’t even be a factor.
What is Meyer’s policy for a player texting a death threat: One-game suspension and extra laps in practice?
Or does it take an actual physical assault to get kicked off the team?
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519 comments Add your comment
Yellow Fuzz
September 15th, 2010
4:50 pm
Go Tech!!!!!!!! We beat the crap out of Kansas last week! Almost as bad a North Dakota State beat them.
St Augustine
September 15th, 2010
4:50 pm
YF you crack me up!
south
September 15th, 2010
4:50 pm
Did anyone ever consider maytbe she deserved it? Just a Tech fan here saying let’s look at both sides of the story before making conclusions.
Jeff
September 15th, 2010
4:51 pm
Hey Yellow Fuzz…. great job in Tech’s last 2 bowl games… boy you guys really took LSU and Iowa to the woodshed didn’t you? And your top-10 ranked team suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure took care of business at home last November against an overmatched UGA team didn’t you? And you guys definitely looked GREAT beating unranked Kansas last week…. oh, wait, you didn’t win? My bad.
Georgia fans would be calling for Richt to kick this guy off the team if he played for UGA… I would hope reasonable Tech fans would expect Paul Johnson to do the same.
As for Voice of Reason at 4:46…. sorry, in college athletics, serious charges merit serious consequences. The backlash of playing a guy until he’s convicted in court would be astronomical. Alums who donate millions to keep a university and it’s athletics programs afloat will not accept having a black eye like this on their team.
I don’t know where all you experts are getting the idea that this is just a misunderstanding… the police report pretty much details that this kid THREATENED TO MURDER A WOMAN. Why is that not serious enough to demand his expulsion from the team???
north
September 15th, 2010
4:52 pm
south -I agree with you. Another Tech fan here that says maybe she deserved it!
Yellow Fuzz
September 15th, 2010
4:53 pm
“I mean, try removing that Beam from your own eye first”!
Les Miles Clock Management Team
September 15th, 2010
4:53 pm
Urban Meyer will make sure that Chris Rainey plays against Georgia just like he did with Marcus Thomas- you can bet the mortgage on it.
SEC fan
September 15th, 2010
4:53 pm
She should have done the dishes!
east
September 15th, 2010
4:54 pm
Robert Hall’s girlfriend deserved it! That’s why we cheer for him!
Montez Robinson and Mettenberger on Vacation
September 15th, 2010
4:54 pm
Dude how stupid can you be to put it in writing?
Roger Clemens
September 15th, 2010
4:55 pm
North/South– there is a legal defense in Texas that is called the “she had it coming” defense.
west
September 15th, 2010
4:56 pm
We love to beat women up at Tech.
ga gator
September 15th, 2010
4:56 pm
I don’t like Saban but one thing is for sure; a Bama player does something like this and they quit before having to sit before him and explain it.
Tom Osborne
September 15th, 2010
4:57 pm
So he threatened to kill her in a text message- what’s the big deal?
Sounds made up
September 15th, 2010
4:57 pm
ga gator – please use an example of when a Bama player quit prior to sitting down with Nick.
Yellow Fizz
September 15th, 2010
4:58 pm
Go Robert Hall!
There’s a reason they call us the “BeatYourWomenBloodypool of the South!”
Robert Hall
September 15th, 2010
4:58 pm
Rainey is a good kid. I taught him all I know!
Lawerence Phillips
September 15th, 2010
5:00 pm
Rainey and I hang every weekend. He is a good kid.
Yellow Fuzz
September 15th, 2010
5:00 pm
You dog fans crack ME up. You can’t hang in football with the “big dogs” anymore so you just start minding other people’s business. Hahahahaha. Florida will beat you by 21 points even if 11 starters get kicked off the team. They hate you that badly. And Tech hates you worse. Good thing the game is not played on paper and on blogs because georgia would still be in the top 30. Hahahaha.
Bill
September 15th, 2010
5:00 pm
bamaguy,
Masoli is a senior. Rainey is going to end up at LSU with Mettenberger.
Yellow Fuzz
September 15th, 2010
5:01 pm
Tech is a “big dog” We knocked off Kansas last weekend.
OneEyeJacked
September 15th, 2010
5:01 pm
I’ll admit it. YELLOW FUZZ WAS RIGHT.
There, you happy?
Yellow Fizz
September 15th, 2010
5:01 pm
Robert Hall will beat you Dogs bloody! Oh wait, that’s just women he does that to.
Go Tech! Hahahahahah!
Kansas and Iowa Hayseeds
September 15th, 2010
5:03 pm
Shut your piehole Tech fans- we own you fancified Nancy boy city folk.
bamaguy
September 15th, 2010
5:03 pm
Unfortunately, there is no real punishment for criminal behavior if you are good enough. You get kicked off one team, someone else will take you under the guise of “giving a kid that made a bad decision a second chance.” Of course the real motivation has zero to do with second chances.
When Auburn plays Ole Miss we should call it the “Laptop Bowl”.
bamaguy
September 15th, 2010
5:04 pm
Good point, Bill.
ga gator
September 15th, 2010
5:05 pm
Sounds made up, grammatical error, meant would PROBABLY quit. If you can’t see the fear of God that he puts in his players, then you are blind.
AltamahaDawg
September 15th, 2010
5:05 pm
IN all fairness, we should see what Meyer does first. I don’t think there is anyone who truly believes the man is lite on death threats. AS do they all, he needs to know what the details are first and not just react. Reacting is almost as bad of a signal to send than being lite. Gets the fact, make a statement, get maximum effect from the point you are making. Don’t let the media control the story. Richt let players go after he had the facts. Meyer has dismissed players too.
He mishandled the Spikes deal, and got embarrased IMO, but a few years ago that kind of thing would have just been locker room chatter.
Ben Rothlesberger
September 15th, 2010
5:06 pm
Should of been hanging with the 3 M’s: Mett, Montez and Me!!
Sounds made up
September 15th, 2010
5:06 pm
ga gator -How did you know I was blind?
chazzo
September 15th, 2010
5:07 pm
Runtellthat:
I have never been in a heated argument with anyone much less my girlfriend where I would take the time to spell out that I was going to kill them or have them killed.
It doesn’t matter who called the cops. It doesn’t matter what the story is as to why he used the language. He threatened somebody’s life. That’s a big deal, friend. This isn’t a Chris Rock routine.
All across America events unfold on college campuses involving violence. Some of them involve murder. These institutions cannot maintain any modicum of safety, with stundents stalking and threatening people. Those actions, whether you feel they are justifiable or not would get many people expelled from school. And, if not, it should. You don’t have to know the story. The proof is right there in the text. Whether you or anyone else, including the girlfriend believes that he is not capable of murder is irrelevant.
He took the time to press those little keys and spell out those little words and they were directed at someone to hurt them and make them feel unsafe. Sorry, champ. That is a crime… a crime that can get you jail time, and a crime that if a univeristy has any self-interest will be taken seriously.
Beast from the East
September 15th, 2010
5:08 pm
I agree that Rainey should be dismissed. Does Meyer have to do it by a
certain time to make it any better, Jeff?
By the way, reminds me of an old joke I heard years ago.
Q. What did the redneck tell his wife that had two black eyes?
A. Nuttin, he dun tole her twice!
ga gator
September 15th, 2010
5:08 pm
Sounds made up…………….Scype.
chazzo
September 15th, 2010
5:10 pm
Proof that Yellow Fuzz is an absolute loser. He shows up on this thread slinging insults about the GaTech rivalry. What an ignoramous.
DawgInLace
September 15th, 2010
5:10 pm
You’re right YELLOW FUZZ. Go away and stop jinxing us!
Beast from the East
September 15th, 2010
5:11 pm
I think we’ll continue to see more kids get into pickles with texting. With today’s instant technology, it gives people no time to “think” before they text, upload, send, etc. 25 years ago you had to physically send something. Now it’s just “send” and it’s gone.
BOOGIE man from Hartwell
September 15th, 2010
5:11 pm
You win YELLOW FUZZ.
The Original SugarHillDawg
September 15th, 2010
5:12 pm
Yellow Fuzz was right
Yellow Fuzz
September 15th, 2010
5:15 pm
Thanks fellas
Delbert D.
September 15th, 2010
5:16 pm
Voice of Reason – Meyer is Catholic. Named after Pope Urban the (something).
AltamahaDawg
September 15th, 2010
5:16 pm
Mett fuzz. You were right.
AltamahaDawg
September 15th, 2010
5:17 pm
Me too fuzz. You were right all along.
Delbert D.
September 15th, 2010
5:17 pm
I do not think “texting” is mentioned in the Old Testament, if that is the reference he’s trying to make.
ga gator
September 15th, 2010
5:21 pm
I checked, texting isn’t in the Old Testament, but mistreating women is in the New.
82Dawg
September 15th, 2010
5:21 pm
Me too Fuzz. You win
Yellow Fuzz
September 15th, 2010
5:22 pm
I am hoping we will jump North Dakota State in the rankings soon! Have you seen their D. They held Kansas to 3 points and we let Kansas score 28 against us. Screw this Boise State talk. North Dakota State is legit!
MountainDawg
September 15th, 2010
5:24 pm
Yellow Fuzz likes PBR (America in a can) so in my book, he is right!
45-42
September 15th, 2010
5:25 pm
Yellow Fuzz was right the nite the lights went out in Athens!
Dawg in Dublin
September 15th, 2010
5:28 pm
“Yellow Fuzz was right the nite the lights went out in Athens’!
Our Defense against South Carolina looked a lot like it did against Stafford, Moreno and Martinez in the 45-42 game.
Dawg Whisperer
September 15th, 2010
5:29 pm
Good job, Jeff! You pounced on this one like a cat on a canary. Unfortunately, you hurt the feelings of more than a few Gator followers. Maybe, you should say you’re sorry or something… never mind.