Urban Meyer Put On Paid Administrative Leave

[CenTexDave]

Something's going on at Ohio State. Urban Meyer has been placed on paid administrative leave while an investigation is launched into
a former assistant coach he fired due to domestic violence. The fired assistant, Zach Smith, is related to Meyer's long time mentor and
former Ohio State head coach Earle Bruce. Smith played for Urban when he was head coach at Bowling Green and was also an assistant
for him at Florida. Evidently this domestic violence goes back a few years and Smith's wife had to get a restraining order.
My take on it? BFD - he is a football coach, not a marriage counselor or cop. It was reported to the police and no charges filed.
Of course some in the media are calling for Meyer's head.

[CenTexDave]

Have read the articles - much more thorough now than when it first hit the news waves - on Fox, Yahoo and ESPN. Plenty of sports reporters calling for his firing.
I imagine this divorced ex of Zach Smith isn't very popular in Ohio right now. She might want to consider relocating out of state in a real hurry.
Some of these sports geniuses are claiming this violates Title IX, remnants of Baylor and Penn State, etc. B.S. Baylor involved women students reportedly raped
by football players. Penn State was an assistant coach having sex with adolescents. This is a divorced couple who had domestic violence. I fail to see how Urban
Meyer has any responsibility here. When it first happened years ago, when they were still married, it was never proven and no charges against Zach Smith were ever filed.
Only recently when the ex, Courtney Smith, went and got a restraining order was Urban aware of what was happening. He then fired Smith.
Of course in this day and age of PC and all the other B.S. going on, the school administrators will hold him at fault.
If I was Urban Meyer I would right now be negotiating one huge payout and simply resign.
And if I was the football team, I'd up and quit. Go enroll at a FBS school or Div II and play your last season.
It's time these school administrators grew a pair of gonads and backed their people.

[CenTexDave]

Bit by bit, more is coming out on this mess. Some main points I have picked up the past couple of days include:
-- Zach Smith, who is Earle Bruce's grandson and played for Urban at Bowling Green and was an assistant for him at Florida, was arrested for domestic abuse in 2009. However, no charges were ever filed and the case dropped. Earle Bruce, now deceased, was the first one to give Meyer a coaching job as an grad assistant at Ohio State. Meyer loved the guy and still refers to him frequently. Urban Meyer reportedly told Smith that if he ever hit his wife he would be fired.
-- Evidently more domestic violence in 2015, but was never reported by the wife. No police reports, no arrests, etc. So how is Meyer supposed to know about this? Guess he was supposed to play FBI agent and have a lookout outside the Smith's house.
-- They divorced in 2016.
-- In April, 2018, OSU gave Meyer an extension of his contract. Besides a nice pay raise up to $7.6M/yr, language was added to his contract that he must report/act on all cases of abuse/violence, etc., pertaining to his players/coaches.
-- In June or early July, ex-wife Courtney Smith files for a restraining order against Zach Smith. Meyer becomes aware of this and fires Zach Smith.
So exactly what has Urban Meyer done wrong? The ex-wife is stating that she told via text to Urban's wife that she had been abused. This was prior to his contract extension requiring Meyer report it to the administration and take action. Zach Smith has come out and said this is entirely his fault, and Meyer did nothing wrong.
OSU has appointed a committee to look into this. Nothing but a witch hunt. This PC world is getting out of control.

[gnatsum]

Read the story in Sports Illustrated. Think that OSU believes that the NCAA will stomp them a new mudhole because Meyer had Bruce's grandson on staff despite knowing about the domestic abuse case in Florida. In other words, Meyer should've cut the grandson loose in Florida and never looked back.
Sure, the man was charged, but in some places (Bama? Nebraska?), a coach can just break the law and the law enforcement community will just walk past the indiscretion, just whistling away...or a coach can ignore what his staff AND players are doing off the field, and just blow it off as "some folks just sowing their oats...nothing to see here". Just look at the number of coaches who brought in "student-athletes" with juvie records over the years...

[CenTexDave]

I've read a few articles by attorneys and those seemingly in the know that have stated there is absolutely no Title IX violations.
So then, how can the NCAA do anything.
What the NCAA can do is kiss my a$$. Worthless organization - much like the U.N.

[kantwin]

I'd really like to hear your opinion on this matter, Dave.

[Rick]

Here's a statement supposedly, from Meyer. Given that it was a personnel matter, there was probably only so much he could answer, and in the end, he totally bungled the response by not telling the truth

[CenTexDave]

"Given that it was a personnel matter, there was probably only so much he could answer, and in the end, he totally bungled the response by not telling the truth."
True, but his reply was at the Big Ten media days, not under oath to the NCAA.
He probably just should have refused to answer or say "no comment".

[Night Owl]

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"Given that it was a personnel matter, there was probably only so much he could answer, and in the end, he totally bungled the response by not telling the truth."
True, but his reply was at the Big Ten media days, not under oath to the NCAA.
He probably just should have refused to answer or say "no comment".

But the problem is he didn't. I watched one of his statements and he stated he wasn't truthful when answering media questions. He dug his own hole. Ten years ago nothing would have happened but with society like it is he might lose his job.

[fchafey]

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But the problem is he didn't. I watched one of his statements and he stated he wasn't truthful when answering media questions. He dug his own hole. Ten years ago nothing would have happened but with society like it is he might lose his job.

I agree. Look what they did with Paterno when he said he told his boss about Sanduskey. It is sad that today society and the media can just destroy someone because they can....