BIRMINGHAM, Ala., – It’s been a busy week in the Southeastern Conference, particularly for Alabama coach Nick Saban and Florida coach Urban Meyer.
 
News recently broke that the two schools are under NCAA investigation because of improper benefits Alabama defensive lineman Marcel Dareus and Florida center Maurkice Pouncey allegedly received from agents.
 
Pouncey was rumored to have taken $100,000 from an agent as a junior at Florida, something he has steadfastly denied.
 
“I talked to my brother and it’s not true,” said Mike Pouncey, also a Florida center. “I feel bad about it because it ruined somebody’s name that don’t really know who me and my brother are. Those that know who we are know we’re not those kind of people. We pride ourselves on having a great clean name. It’s just hard right now.
 
Speaking on the first day of Southeastern Conference Media Days, Saban made his position clear — he’s not happy about the situation, and the agents are to blame.
 
“The NFL Player’s Association should monitor and control what agents do,” Saban said. “It’s very difficult for the institutions and the NCAA to control it.”
 
Saban said players and institutions have a responsibility to toe the line when it comes to the rules, but the agent should have consequences if he ruins a player’s eligibility. Suspending an agent’s license for the year would probably do the trick, he said.
 
“It’s ridiculous and entrapment of young people at a very difficult time in their life,” Saban said. “It’s unfair to college football.”
 
Saban said the hospitality that had always been shown to the NFL hasn’t really been returned.
 
“We treat the NFL as well as anybody when they come to Alabama. I’ve never had any minute of our practice restricted from scouts,” Saban said. “I’m not sure that same hospitality will be welcomed in the future.”
 
Saban said he had never closed a practice to NFL scouts, and doesn’t plan on it in the future for the sake of his players. But something needs to change, he added.
 
“How are they any better than a pimp?” Saban wondered of the agents that didn’t play fair. “I have no respect for them.”
 
Meyer didn’t mince words either when talking about agents.
 
“I use the term ‘predator’ because they’re there. Since my first day at Florida, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Meyer said. “At Florida we have security for one reason, and it’s not so much for the fans, it’s for people we don’t want around our players.”
 
It’s an epidemic right now that needs to be fixed, Meyer said.
 
“If you’re allowed to go do things that you’re not supposed to do without punishment, you’re going to continue doing it,” Meyer said. “If there’s a law or rule in place, you punish it to the full extent if you can. That has to happen with the agents.”
 
SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said the NCAA rules on agents need tweaking.
 
“The current NCAA rules are as much a part of the problem as they are the solution,” Slive said. “The rules make it difficult for student-athletes to seek and obtain the kind of advice in the context in which they need it to properly evaluate potential opportunities for a career in professional sport.
 
Slive said he didn’t intend to excuse bad behavior, but change the NCAA’s philosophical basis of these rules.
 
“It is time to reexamine the NCAA rules that relate to agents,” Slive said. “We in the SEC look forward to being active participants in this review.”–Contact Katherine Terrell at [email protected]