In wake of Urban Meyer suspension, Kirk Herbstreit has idea for programs to better monitor issues off the field

College football head coaches can’t know everything about their program at all times.

Policing over 100 student-athletes is very difficult, and knowing assistant coaches intimately may not happen to the fullest extent. Urban Meyer said he fell short at pursuing the full information regarding former assistant Zach Smith’s life because he “gave him the benefit of a doubt.”

Kirk Herbstreit hopped on SportsCenter to discuss Meyer’s three-game suspension, and he had an interesting idea as to how coaches and programs to better monitor off-the-field issues.

“I think Ohio State — I think every school out there should hire a former FBI detective or somebody that has a background in investigating and put them on staff,” Herbstreit said. “Their entire job is to focus on the coaching staff, their wives, their children, the players, the players’ girlfriends, the players’ children if they have them, and that’s all he does. And the coach can rely on an investigator to look into some of these things that continue to maybe come up, and then, that investigator can go to the head coach and say, ‘Hey, here’s what’s happening. Here’s the report this week. What do we want to do about A, B and C?’ As opposed to relying on the head coach, who necessarily isn’t even qualified.

“(Schools) need to get an outside party in who does this for a living, understands the psychology of these situations and could help a coach make these decisions.”

It’s an interesting idea that may be looked at by a few programs in wake of Meyer’s situation and suspension.