Mike Weber's high school coach ethers Ohio State over Stan Drayton departure

Cass Technical head coach Thomas Wilcher had some rather choice words for Ohio State -- and in particular Urban Meyer -- in the aftermath of Buckeyes running back coach Stan Drayton's departure for the NFL, less than 24 hours after Weber honored his commitment to the Buckeyes and rebuffed overtures from new Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh.

"My athlete, his heart, his passion, the way he feels right now is really what my major concern is. If he's feeling down and out, I'm feeling down and out," Wilcher said on Matt Dery's show on Detroit Sports 105.1 FM.

"Mike Weber had a little bit of straddling on the fence. He wanted to go the Michigan but he wanted to stay committed. He wanted to show that he understands about commitment," Wilcher added.

"His father is trying to teach him about commitment, his mother wants him to understand about commitment and that's what he showed Ohio State in the end. But they are at least supposed to be show him the same kind of courtesy. That's my problem."

Wilcher went on to add that his frustration isn't direct towards Drayton, whose difficult predicament he seemed to empathize with.

"I'm not pissed at Stan Drayton. A man has to want to be able to be elevated ... I'm just pissed at the program because he should have at least told the young man. It's not Stan Drayton I'm pissed at. Let's start at the top. Because that's where it all falls from. Because I understand that they didn't want to let nobody know. The key thing is you have to let people know. You have to let kids know. I just feel that way."

Dery followed up, "So you're mad at Urban Meyer?"

"That's where it starts. At the top. He comes to Detroit. He comes to these schools. You want to look at him as an honest person. And I'm not saying he's not an honest person. But you want to believe in your whole heart whatever they're saying to you, whatever they're doing, is honest. And I just want it to be that way. I want to keep it that way."

The sports talk radio host followed up again with an analogy comparing Urban Meyer and Ohio State's perceived actions to those of Bobby Petrino, who told a kid two days before National Signing Day that he would have to grayshirt if he wanted to play at Louisville.

"I think Urban Meyer is going to have to step his game up [if he wants to come back here again]. He's going to have to come down here, we're going to have to talk. We're going to have to meet. Because he just came here to my school and got the number one athlete, got an All-American athlete out of my school, two years in a row; number one player in the state. I think that's big. I think that's real big for the university," Wilcher said.

"But the most important thing is you can not come up here, come up to the north, and walk out of here with your pockets full and not give us respect. That's the most important thing right now. You have to respect us. You can't just walk all over us. That's not going to happen again. I can tell you that right now."

"I talked to the recruiting coach already. I really haven't gotten my words together for Coach Urban Meyer. I'm really kind of hoping he calls me. That's what I'm really waiting for. This is a very tough situation. I can tell you right now, Mike Weber's not happy. I can tell you right now his family is not very happy. But they're teaching him morals and values and standards right now. Because Coach Drayton ,he's supposed to want to go get a higher job. That's just how it is. I'm not mad at Coach Drayton. I'm not mad at him at all, I'm mad at the protocol. That's what I'm mad about," he added.

"When you're out there recruiting, tell young men what's going on. So they can believe in the university. And that's just it. I think it's a black eye on the university also. Because they're out there getting these young men under false pretenses. And that's just it."

On whether or not Meyer, who told 247Sports today that he and Drayton both have already spoken with Weber, had mended any fences, Wilcher added "I have not talked to Mike Weber since he talked to Urban Meyer. So I don't know how that talk went. I only talked to Mike Weber when he told me how hurt he is, how upset he was. I had to calm him down a couple times."

Regarding why this is so tough for Weber: "He's got to come to school. He has to face everybody at school. He has to walk out that door and face all these people in the state of Michigan who's all going to be pointing their fingers in his face and saying, "What. I told you so."

Wilcher went on to add, "It's not going to be an easy thing. It's not going to go away. There's going to be a lot of people in the state of Michigan who really rooted for Mike Weber to go to the University of Michigan."

"It's going to be hard. He's got a heavy heart. And I really feel bad for him right now."

Weber's coach wouldn't go as far to say that Weber will ask to get out of his National Letter of Intent, but didn't rule it out either: "I truly believe that Mike Weber, his parents have to come to that decision. I truly believe that Mike Weber and his parents will sit down and keep talking. I truly believe that Mike Weber and his parents hold their son's best interest at heart. We have not discussed that, we have not talked about it, but I'm quite sure that whatever is done for Mike Weber will be done for the best interests of Mike Weber. It's not always about the school, it's always about the family first."

"I think they're going to look at what Mike Weber needs at life and where he has to be at. I know he's upset. It's a set back. That's part of life. In coaching, coaches are going to leave. They're not promised to stay there for four years. But the key thing is, you at least want to know who you're going to battle for. You at least want to know who has your back. And that's the problem."

Sounds like Urban Meyer and his staff have some serious fences to mend if they want to step back on Cass Tech's campus again next recruiting cycle.