The Urban Meyer debacle
By 
Shock of all shocks, Urban Meyer has survived to coach another day. Of course he has. Ohio State’s board of trustees never was going to have the courage to fire him for keeping on his staff a longtime assistant coach who was arrested for beating his pregnant wife in 2009 and was visited by the police twice more in 2015 — both of which Meyer was aware of, the latter of which he belligerently lied about to millions of fans at Big Ten Media Days last month.
Football is way too important at Ohio State to get rid of a liar who fails to do everything in his power to stop another man from beating his wife, if that liar can win you another national championship. So the Ohio State president and the trustees suspended Meyer for the first three games of the season — Oregon State, Rutgers and TCU — but will have him back in plenty of time for the bulk of the Big Ten season.
Brennan doesn’t note that even this slap on the wrist is mostly phony: Meyer actually will be coaching the team for the Rutgers and TCU games, i.e., doing everything he normally does, except being on the sidelines during the games themselves.
[Meyer] has happily spoken out about the transgressions of other coaches, saying nearly a year ago, when the latest men’s college basketball scandal surfaced, that, “if you willfully and intentionally broke the rule or you lie to the NCAA, you can never coach again. … I’m not talking about mistakes made when you have a rulebook like this (thick). But if you intentionally pay a guy money or willfully have a second cell phone to make illegal phone calls, you’re done. You can never coach again.”
What would that man, so concerned about the use of a second cell phone, have to say about a head coach harboring a man on his staff who was the subject of nine different police reports, as Smith was, or lying boldly to Ohio State fans and alumni, and to the taxpayers of Ohio, as Meyer did last month?
This being the United States in 2018, many had no trouble shrugging off Meyer’s industrial-strength fibbing at the Big Ten Media Days July 24. If they think the news media are the “enemy of the people,” as one prominent fellow says, they probably loved Meyer even more for it.
But Meyer wasn’t just lying to the news media. He was lying to you, Ohio State fans. He made a mockery of his biggest preseason opportunity to speak to his fan base, and every Ohioan who pays the freight at Ohio State through their taxes. Even worse, he knew he was doing it as he did it.
Asked specifically about what happened with Smith in 2015, when police twice went to Courtney Smith’s home to investigate reports of domestic violence, felonious assault and stalking, Meyer said:
“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.”
He soon was caught in his lies, and, while apologizing to “Buckeye Nation” in a statement August 3, Meyer said he “was not adequately prepared to discuss these sensitive personnel issues with the media,” which is either another falsehood, completely ridiculous, or both. Meyer had finally fired Smith the previous day, and savvy guy that he is, he knew the subject would have to come up in his news conference.
Truly, we now all live in the Age of Trump.
Of course to Ohio State fans, Courtney Smith is some crazy bitch who made up a bunch of stories about being strangled and beat up by her husband. Also, the defense is looking really good in preseason drills.
Preposterously, the summary of the university’s investigation released late last night finds that Meyer “did not, in our view, deliberately lie,” when he stood up in front of the media the day after firing Zach Smith and said he didn’t know nothin’ about any so-called incidents back in 2015. And about that little incident way back in 2009 (!):
Coach Meyer maintains that shortly after the 2009 arrest, both Zach and Courtney Smith met with him in his office at Florida to inform him that the arrest of Zach Smith had been based on incorrect information provided to the authorities by Courtney Smith and that, in fact, Zach Smith had not hit or otherwise been violent toward Mrs. Smith. Courtney Smith denies ever meeting with Urban Meyer, although she recalls meeting with Shelley Meyer at that time. Courtney Smith maintains that she has never recanted her allegations to anyone. Zach Smith also recalls that only he met with Urban Meyer, but that Courtney Smith did not. Urban and Shelley Meyer referred the couple to a counselor.
We find it more likely that only Zach Smith met with Coach Meyer in 2009, and that Courtney Smith likely did not recant her allegations of abuse at that time to Urban or Shelley Meyer, although it is clear that Courtney Smith decided not to pursue charges and that none were ever filed. Coach Meyer and Shelley Meyer took away from the 2009 events that Courtney Smith was not being entirely truthful when she called 911 to have Zach arrested.
So Meyer lied to investigators about that too. Which is especially significant because Ohio State didn’t know about Zach Smith’s history of domestic violence when Meyer decided he wanted to bring him Gainesville to Columbus:
The background check did not call for or return arrest information, [ed: wut?] and Zach Smith’s arrest in 2009 was therefore unknown to others at OSU at the time he was hired.
… Coach Meyer did not inform others at OSU about Zach Smith’s 2009 arrest. Coach Meyer has explained that he did not do so because no charges were filed and because he believed Zach Smith had not engaged in domestic violence in 2009.
Moving right along:
(iii) Shelley Meyer also maintains that she did not relay Courtney Smith’s expression of fear or allegations of abuse, including the photographs, to Urban Meyer at the time because she had doubts about the veracity of Courtney Smith’s allegations. Coach Meyer also does not recall any discussion with Shelley Meyer about either her or Courtney Smith’s concerns about abuse. Given the closeness of their relationship and Shelley’s concerns, we believe it is likely that Shelley and Urban Meyer had at least some communication about these allegations in late 2015 and were concerned about them, although both had doubts about the credibility of Courtney’s claims, based on, among other things, Zach Smith’s denials and their belief that Courtney Smith’s 2009 allegations had been false; by late October 2015, Coach Meyer knew of Courtney Smith’s domestic violence complaints against Zach Smith through his knowledge of the 2015-2016 law enforcement investigation.
So his administrative superiors have concluded that Meyer lied and continues to lie to them now about the — always flatly incredible — claim that his wife didn’t tell him three years ago about what was going on with Zach and Courtney Smith.
So what about that press conference in July the day after Zach Smith was fired? Again from the report:
Thereafter, still during the evening of July 23, 2018, Meyer received additional media reports discussing Zach Smith’s 2009 arrest and a “felony arrest” involving Zach Smith in 2015; at 10:25 p.m., Coach Meyer sent a message to Gene Smith, Jerry Emig, the Assistant Director, Athletic Communications, Brian Voltolini, Director of Football Operations, and Ryan Stamper, Director, Player Development, stating “I know nothing about this”; he asked “Is there a way to find out exactly what his issues were. I know about 2009 [it was dropped] and last week. That’s it. Need some guidance here so when I speak to media I’m not wrong.” Later that evening, Stamper reported to Meyer that there was no record of Zach Smith being arrested in 2015, only records of a divorce. Meyer acknowledged this, stating “Stamp just confirmed there was no arrest in 2015.” As the same text chain continued into the morning of July 24, 2018, AD Smith cautioned “I would be careful. Do not get too detailed.” He went on to advise that whatever Coach Meyer says on this subject at Big Ten Media Days should be said in his opening statement “and take no more questions on it.” Gene Smith also suggested the following remarks for Meyer for Big Ten Media Days: “As you are aware through our release, we have made a change in our wide receivers coaching position. As Zach dealt with his personal challenge I was aware of two legal instances in 2009 and 2015. This most recent issue is inconsistent with our values. . . . Needs to be cleaned up in your words…..just a thought.” Meyer responds “Thx.” Emig, the Athletic Communications Director, followed up at 7:26 a.m. on July 24th saying “[t]hose are good points” and recommending that Meyer, with respect to the events of 2015, state “[t]here were no charges in 2015 and I really don’t even recall any details.” Meyer does not respond.
And so what exactly is the institutional explanation for why Meyer, to use the technical legal jargon, lied his fucking ass off to the national media the next day?
We cannot logically square Coach Meyer’s responses on Big Ten Media Days broadly denying knowledge of the 2015 events regarding Zach Smith with his extensive knowledge of those events in 2015 and the evident knowledge of AD Gene Smith of the 2015 events reflected in the group text message of July 23 and July 24, 2018 sent to Coach Meyer. (As noted, AD Smith says that his recollection of the 2015 events was triggered by the social media report on the evening of July 23rd.) In the group text on the morning of July 24th, AD Smith suggested that Coach Meyer should acknowledge in his Big Ten Media Days remarks later that day the events of both 2009 and 2015 without giving details. Coach Meyer did not do so.
3. We accept that in July 2018 Coach Meyer was deeply absorbed in football season and wanted to focus on football at Big Ten Media Days. The firing of Zach Smith the day before – the first time Coach Meyer had fired a coach – was also on his mind, as was the erroneous media report of a felony arrest of Zach Smith in 2015. We also learned during the investigation that Coach Meyer has sometimes had significant memory issues in other situations where he had prior extensive knowledge of events. He has also periodically taken medicine that can negatively impair his memory, concentration, and focus. All of these factors also need to be considered and weighed in assessing Coach Meyer’s mindset on July 24th.
OK, consider them considered and weighed. FWIW my considered judgment is that this is the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever read in a university investigative report, which after 28 years in this business is like saying that’s the worst Jerry Bruckheimer movie I’ve ever seen.
And the coverup didn’t stop there:
Urban Meyer was alerted to “a bad article” by Ohio State’s director of football operations Brian Voltolini during a practice on Aug. 1.
That story by college football reporter Brett McMurphy, claiming that Meyer was aware of 2015 domestic abuse allegations involving previously fired receivers coach Zach Smith, led to a weeks-long investigation that resulted in Wednesday’s three-game suspension for Meyer and a suspension for athletic director Gene Smith.
But it’s the conversation on the practice field that day between Meyer and Voltolini that investigators tapped by OSU’s Board of Trustees found troublesome.
“The two discussed at that time whether the media could get access to Coach Meyer’s phone, and specifically discussed how to adjust the settings on Meyer’s phone so that text messages older than one year would be deleted,” according to the summary of findings made public late Wednesday night. . . .
The school didn’t take possession of Meyer’s phone until Aug. 2 and the “phone was set to retain text messages only for that period (one year),” according to the report.
“We cannot determine, however, whether Coach Meyer’s phone was set to retain messages only for one year in response to the August 1st media report or at some earlier time,” the report stated. “It is nonetheless concerning that his first reaction to a negative media piece exposing his knowledge of the 2015-2016 law enforcement investigation was to worry about the media getting access to information and discussing how to delete messages older than a year.”
I’m pretty sure tOSU could fire Meyer for cause for this alone, should they ever be so inclined (check in after this year’s Michigan game).
Summing up:
In the course of our review, as the factual discussion in this summary reflects, we identified a pattern of troubling behavior by Zach Smith: promiscuous and embarrassing sexual behavior, drug abuse, truancy, dishonesty, financial irresponsibility, a possible NCAA violation, and a lengthy police investigation into allegations of criminal domestic violence and cybercrimes. Repeatedly, Zach Smith’s conduct was met with reprimands and warnings by Coach Meyer, but never a written report, never an investigation and no disciplinary action until July 23, 2018. While we do not doubt that Coach Meyer respects women and is dedicated to fostering an environment of respect for women in his program, his apparent blind spot for Zach Smith seems to have impaired his judgment and his management of the behavior of at least one of his assistants.
I think that qualifies as a masterpiece of understatement. Zach Smith is the grandson of former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce, who was Meyer’s most important mentor in the coaching business.
The report suggests that Meyer’s “loyalty” to Smith was a product of his respect for Bruce, or to put it less delicately, a product of nepotism and cronyism. A more cynical and therefore more plausible suggestion is that Smith has been with Meyer since Meyer’s Florida days, and therefore knows where all the (hopefully metaphorical, although with guys like Aaron Hernandez around at the time, who knows?) bodies are buried.
The whole report is disgusting.
. . . a friend makes a good point:
Two years ago, I think a university’s AD would be scared to admit to Title IX violations, because the DoE would come knocking on their door.
Now, it’s a rule with no teeth. You can go on TV and tear up the Title IX guidelines and throw them at a reporter and the only “investigation” the DoE will conduct is sending Betsy DeVos to a luxury box on game day to inspect your nacho bar.