Gainesville, Nov 9 (THAINDIAN NEWS) ‘The SEC fined Florida coach Urban Meyer $30,000 for his comments about league officiating during Wednesday’s SEC teleconference’, commissioner Mike Slive announced on Friday.

The 1964 born Urban Meyer has said that he will pay the fine himself with no outside help. He was really sad at Georgia linebacker Nick Williams’ hit on Tim Tebow in last week’s 41-17 match. When watched on video then it appeared that it could have been called a late hit. This video of Nick William’s hit was widely seen on the Internet.

“I’m not sure I’m allowed to give you that, what they said. I don’t want to step out of line,” Meyer said during the SEC teleconference. “Once again I’ve always had great confidence in — that should have been a penalty in my opinion. Obviously it should have been. You’ve got to protect quarterbacks. That’s the whole purpose. It’s right in front of the referee. But once again I have great — I’m not sure how they’re going to handle that but we do send it in and that was one of the plays we did send in.”

“Coach Meyer has violated the Southeastern Conference Code of Ethics,” Slive said in a statement. “SEC Bylaw 10.5.4 clearly states that the coaches, players and support personnel shall refrain from public criticism of officials. The league’s athletics directors and presidents and chancellors have made it clear that negative public comments on officiating are not acceptable.”

“I have great respect for commissioner Mike Slive and the Southeastern Conference and I respect this decision. There was no intent to criticize an official after being asked about a situation that occurred last Saturday and I apologize for my remarks,” Meyer said in an official statement.