Ohio State announced on Wednesday August 22 that Urban Meyer would be suspended for three games for his role in the scandal involving former wide receivers coach Zach Smith. He will be suspended through September 2, but will not be able to take part in Ohio State’s first three games.
Athletic director Gene Smith has also been suspended without pay from August 31 – September16.
“Although neither Urban Meyer nor Gene Smith condoned or covered up the alleged domestic abuse by Zach Smith, they failed to take sufficient management action relating to Zach Smith’s misconduct and retained an Assistant Coach who was not performing as an appropriate role model for OSU student-athletes. Permitting such misconduct to continue is not consistent with the values of the University and reflects poorly on Coach Meyer, Athletic Director Smith, and the University. Their handling of this matter did not exhibit the kind of leadership and high standards that we expect of our Athletic Director, Head Coach, Assistant Coaches and all on the football staff. Urban Meyer is suspended through September 2, 2018, and for the games on September 1, 8 and 15 without pay. Gene Smith is suspended without pay from August 31-September 16.”
The University cited Meyer’s lack of adherence to his contract as the grounds for the suspension.
“Although Coach Meyer and Athletic Director Smith failed to adhere to the precise requirements of their contracts when they concluded that they needed to await a law enforcement determination to file charges before they reported the otherwise disputed claims of spousal abuse against Zach Smith, they did so based upon a good faith belief that they did not have sufficient information to trigger a reporting obligation or initiate a disciplinary action in the absence of law enforcement action. Other than their misunderstanding of the requirements triggering reporting obligations, neither Coach Meyer nor Athletic Director Smith violated any policy, rules, law or contractual obligation in connection with the alleged domestic abuse claims against Zach Smith.
“The investigation also concluded that “Coach Meyer has ‘a sincere commitment to the Respect for Women core values that he espouses and tries to instill in his players.’ The Independent Counsel also concluded that Coach Meyer would not hesitate to terminate any coach if spousal abuse was established:
“We believe [Coach Meyer] as did Zach Smith, that if [Coach Meyer] ever came to learn or believe that Zach Smith had physically abused his wife, Coach Meyer would have fired Zach Smith or any other coach on the spot.”
Asked if he agreed with the suspension, Meyer said, “I trust and support our president.”
Meyer admitted that his relationship with Zach Smith’s grandfather Earle Bruce may have clouded his judgment. “I followed my heart and not my head. At each juncture, I gave Zach Smith the benefit of the doubt,” he said.
The scandal first became public on July 24 with a report that a domestic violence civil protection order had been filed against then-wide receivers coach Zach Smith.
That report also mentioned an incident from 2009 when Smith was an intern on Meyer’s staff at Florida. At the time, Smith was arrested for aggravated battery on a pregnant woman after his then-wife Courtney accused him of throwing her against a wall. Courtney Smith ultimately decided not to press charges in that case.
Just hours after the first report came revelations about an incident from 2015 when Smith was Ohio State’s wide receivers coach. In October 2015, Smith was investigated for felony counts of domestic violence and felonious assault.
That evening, Ohio State officially fired Smith.
The next day, Meyer spoke at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago. First, he explained his version of incident from Florida.
I’m going to address the 2009 because I’ve been asked about that. In 2009 Zach was an intern, a very young couple. As I do many times, most coaches and people in leadership positions, you receive a phone call, first thing you do is tell your boss, let the experts do their jobs. We’re certainly not going to investigate. It came back to me that what was reported wasn’t actually what happened. And Shelley and I actually both got involved because of our relationship with that family and advised for counseling and wanted to help as we moved forward.
Next, he addressed the 2015 allegations against Smith.
2015, I got a text late last night something happened in 2015. And there was nothing. Once again, there’s nothing — once again, I don’t know who creates a story like that.
Later in the day, during a separate interview session, Meyer expanded on that answer.
“I can’t say it didn’t happen because I wasn’t there. I was never told about anything, never anything came to light, we never had a conversation about it, so I know nothing about that,” he said.
He added, “First I heard about that was last night (July 23, 2018).”
Meyer said that as soon as he heard about the 2015 report, he asked his staff to investigate.
“I asked some people back in the office to call and see what happened and they came back and said they know nothing about it.”
However, a week later, a new report surfaced with text messages that appeared to show that Courtney Smith had discussed the 2015 case with Meyer’s wife Shelley.
A separate group of text messages from 2015 cited in that story appeared to suggest that Shelley and Urban Meyer had discussed the case.
That triggered a media firestorm, and cast Meyer’s definitive defense that “I was never told about anything” into doubt.
On August 1, the school placed Meyer on paid administrative leave, pending an investigation.