OT: Ohio St BoT meeting this morning to discuss its findings
"The Ohio State Board of Trustees will meet Wednesday morning to discuss the university's findings from their investigation into head coach Urban Meyer.
The meeting will be held at 9 a.m. ET at Longaberger Alumni House. While it will open with a public session, the meeting will move into a closed executive session "for the entirety of the personnel matters discussion," the university released in a statement Monday.
Ohio State said last week that president Michael V. Drake will announce his final decision on Meyer after consulting with the board."
Ohio St is saying the part of about it just being verbal findings is false , and that there will be a full report released to the public.
August 22nd, 2018 at 8:55 AM ^
Time for the inevitable to happen.
August 22nd, 2018 at 8:56 AM ^
Not expecting the right thing to come from this.
August 22nd, 2018 at 8:57 AM ^
If they plan to release the full report, I am guessing the report will not be salacious. I've got a feeling that it will be painted as "Smith was a rogue employee and did everything possible to keep poor, poor, Urban from finding out about the sins he was committing. We hereby give Urban a raise of $5M/year to account for the pain and suffering he has had to endure over the past few weeks. Furthermore, we are all resigning to show Coach Meyer how truly sorry we are that we allowed such a monster to remain in his department all these years."
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:56 AM ^
Including at Florida.
August 22nd, 2018 at 8:58 AM ^
They tried to rationalize keeping Tressel with "he's sorry he made a mistake once and he'll never do it again" it'll be fascinating to see how they 'splain this one.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:02 AM ^
"he's sorry he made a mistake multiple times and he'll never do it again"
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:02 AM ^
they'll go the opposite route. And they will get burned.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:07 AM ^
For real.
More like "he's sorry he got caught...please forget everything you just found out and pretend that none of it ever happened."
August 22nd, 2018 at 8:59 AM ^
Most reports have said that Urban has more political capital than the trustees and the president and so is going to get off light. Maybe a suspension, but probably "time served" - during which he made something like ~400k.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:10 AM ^
Yup.
Honestly, I will be absolutely stunned if this pathetic excuse for a person misses even one more week of practice, let alone a game or being let go.
This report will tell the world how much of a saint Urban is and how he did the right thing at every turn despite facing mountains of adversity. This will all probably end with Urban getting his own statue in front of the toilet bowl and Ohio declaring Aug 22nd annual Urban Meyer day.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:00 AM ^
Urban will be coaching before the weekend. There are 2 scenarios I see:
1. OSU rallies around Urban and they murder opponents (even though everyone murders) like the Patriots after "Spygate".
2. Urban is pissed off at OSU and takes out his frustration on all opponents.
See you around Thanksgiving, Urbz. Bring your sex toys.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:03 AM ^
and then they play us, and we kick the shit out of them. But the game will be close because we'll get screwed over by the officiating.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:07 AM ^
Stop with the "Urbz" bull shit. It's so dumb.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:12 AM ^
Most of this blog is dumb (including Harbaugh memes) but its college football. Relax. I will never give up Mork.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:25 AM ^
Can't understand why it bothers you so much, feel free to explain or maybe it was previously explained???
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:41 AM ^
I rarely agree with Sydney on anything, but in this case I'm with him.
"Urbz" = "Harbs" = dumb
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:46 AM ^
Real fans know him as Urby
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:58 AM ^
Urbz is how Ohio fans pretend they are in good with their coach. It is the intimate form that allows them to pretend he’s one of them, despite that he made in two weeks off five times what most of them make in a year, minimum.
August 22nd, 2018 at 10:10 AM ^
I have a friend who calls him Rural.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:01 AM ^
Hope he gets canned
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:02 AM ^
Poor Urban tried but he couldn't quite help the poor lad. Had he just paid a little more attention perhaps things would have been different. Troubled by the thought of revealing poor Zach's personal details to the media, he made the mistake of misstating his recollection of long, past and always properly handled events. Coach Meyer will use this opportunity to improve on how he manages personnel issues in the future and sincerely apologizes to Buckeye Nation for things and stuff. We asked Jim Delaney for a two week delay to the start of the season so as to not punish the Buckeye players caught up in this in media-driven story. Mr. Delaney said, "Sure, how about three?"
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:02 AM ^
I'm sure they will bring their rubber stamp
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:04 AM ^
He gone.... ok not really
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:08 AM ^
osu boards expecting an mgoblog meltdown after announcement, let's not appease them
if urban is retained then i look forward to beating osu (again)
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:14 AM ^
I'm not going to melt down if he's retained. I've fully expected from Day 1 that they were not going to get rid of him. He's their golden goose, and as long as he keeps winning, exceptions will be made for him.
If anyone is going to get fired, it's Gene Smith. That man is far more replaceable than Meyer.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:08 AM ^
It will start:
"Family Meeting everyone, Family Meeting. OK, I'll keep this quick, as I know you all want to get back to your families."
**LAUGHTER**
"OK, so, how are we going to justify Urban getting no punishment for this terrible lapse in judgment? Urban, you've secretly dialed in, what do you think we should say?"
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:12 AM ^
How on earth did you get a recording of the meeting so quickly!?
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:09 AM ^
Would like to see them reinstate him and McMurphy drop a bomb as soon as they do.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:59 AM ^
Close. I'd like to see McMurphy parse out the info in drips over the next couple of weeks so they NEVER know when he's out of ammo and what might be released next.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:10 AM ^
There's talks of the BoT and Drake being much weaker on punishing Meyer than the public was expecting them to be, and that Meyer is pressuring them into full, immediate reinstatement.
I never expected Meyer to be fired, but if he's reinstated immediately or given a bullshit "time served" sentence, it only confirms what everyone already thinks about OSU: its an institution that values athletic success and winning football games above all else, and that as long as Meyer keeps winning those games, the common rules of the workplace can be bent for him.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:43 AM ^
"it only confirms what everyone already thinks about OSU: its an institution that values athletic success and winning football games above all else..."
And that's a perception that dates at least as far back as 1969, if not before. OSU is nothing if not consistent.
August 22nd, 2018 at 10:22 AM ^
In 1962, then OSU faculty voted 28-25 to decline a bid to the Rose Bowl because a lot of faculty were concerned that the school was seen as an appendage to the football team. The Columbus paper published their names, addresses and salaries, and they were hounded by fans. Students protested wildly. All mid-Ohio media excoriated the decision. I am guessing that ended once and for all the notion that the football tail was not the one wagging the university dog in Columbus.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:11 AM ^
Read last night that OSU created a "new and special" office to deal with title 9 issues...that's all I personally need to know about the "tough" decision they are meeting to make this morning...
https://abcnews.go.com/US/osu-creates-office-handle-sexual-misconduct-discrimination-wake/story?id=57327936
Looking forward to hearing some little prick tell us that as a part of the Urban Crier's reinstatement the university has created a special office to make sure another Zack Smith incident never happens again...cause its just so important!
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:12 AM ^
I would imagine that donors through their back-door wrangling have already decided things. This meeting is more likely window dressing.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:16 AM ^
The Ohio press is already making excuses for him saying Ohio State was in the process of dealing with ZS while Meyer was being questioned at media days.
It doesn't answer the question of why he was a coach for so long. ZS is the same scumbag in 2009, 2013, to the present.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:59 AM ^
If Meyer is reinstated, which we naturally all expect, the story is on what grounds was it granted.
And it will all be about rationalizing whatever action was taken to fit the outcome for public consumption outside of Columbus. This was never about anything other than making sure the public relations could be properly corroborated in granting redemption.
The local audience never wanted to know the details of this tale, and dismissed the negativity as it poured out, with the kind of rancorous opposition generally reserved for those considering removal of a war hero statue, which is what Meyer is. Therefore, unless he murdered someone in cold blood, his reinstatement was always going to hang on the justification found for it by the finders of fact, echoed by the president because what else is he gonna do?
He's so brand new, screwing this up, regardless of how it plays in the academic community, will not be tolerated by the local pitchfork crowd waiting to toast the ruling with many swigs of their favorite rot gut. Buckeye nation doesn't care about the truth, because it would then have to live with its consequences, and the deplorables couldn't deal with that truth.
Speaking truth to power, is not a concept at The Ohio State. They will turn their backs on the truth to ensure that their three-time NC coach remains in power, explaining away why he lied to the press not once but twice in public remarks and his own statement about his actions in the Zach Smith case.
And those were opportunities in which lying can't even be explained away by lack of knowledge because of the timeline involved in the choices made in this tawdry story. There were no good decisions made. None reflect well on anyone involved, not before or after.
This wasn't a post-game press conference, but Meyer treated it as one. Thought he could bullshit his way through. After all, the only ones asking the questions were local beat guys who would give him a pass.
And this, in reality, is how you should perceive the game-plan for reinstatement. Figuring out the best game-plan to bullshit the public after a tough loss. Just one more tough press conference to get through, and everyone can go on with their lives like nothing happened.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:18 AM ^
Ira just mentioned on WTKA that the BoT went into executive chambers to “discuss the employment compensation of a high level athletic official”
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:35 AM ^
So...they're giving him a raise?
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:37 AM ^
I believe the listed matters were "..employment, compensation, and discipline of.."
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:44 AM ^
So they're going to reinstate him, force him to donate some/all of his 2018 salary to a domestic violence charity of some kind, and issue a formal reprimand for his bad behavior.
August 22nd, 2018 at 10:18 AM ^
That's just the legal language justifying the closing of a public meeting so public officials can meet behind closed doors to discuss something in executive session. You can only go in closed session of an advertised public meeting under the Open Meetings Law by discussing an employment matter involving compensation, firing or hiring.
You might surmise that since the nature of the debate focuses on Meyer's contractual obligations as Ohio State's head coach, and that his compensation is tied to meeting certain requirements, including the reporting of sexual misconduct allegations involving someone under is employ and supervision to the Title IX office, that his contract status is at the heart of the closed session.
This isn't about a debate about the findings of fact. This is about how they relate to whether or not he could be fired for cause because of them or not. Compensation is just a matter of figuring out they will deal with the legal ramifications of his leave and payment if dismissal occurs.
August 22nd, 2018 at 12:08 PM ^
Could be a buyout - but it might be for Gene Smith, not Meyer.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:20 AM ^
I fully expect them to come out of this meeting and announce that Urban has fired the president and half the board.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:20 AM ^
Anyone else think it's strange that ESPN is burying this story? It's not on their home page at all and I only see it referenced here. They have a Richie Incognito story in the headlines section on the main page, but this story can only be found if you go to the college football page? I mean, it's ESPN, but I thought they would be more aggressively covering this story. Thoughts?
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:34 AM ^
this has been espn for years. for a while, kardashian stories were literally rising to the top of their page. and i mean literally in the literal sense.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:20 AM ^
This board fully expects reinstatement at this point.
Also to reiterate if they are releasing the report which they say they are, it's going to be 1) focused solely on the question of did Meyer report instead of even looking at Meyers conduct involving Smith over his employment, let alone other things, and 2) not dig too deep or question assumptions in witness statements. I.e, if so why did you not follow university protocol and put it in writing...
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:23 AM ^
I suspect their recommendation will look something like this.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:23 AM ^
Honestly, I don't give a rip. I hope he's back and we go to the Horseshoe and beat them this season. My guess is the AD gets fired and Urban may be suspended a game or 2. Bring 'em on.
August 22nd, 2018 at 8:43 PM ^
Pretty cocky for being 2 - 15 in the last 17 years. We'll bring it like we did in 2015.
August 22nd, 2018 at 9:26 AM ^
It's "Dog and pony show" time. Will they do the right thing? Probably not, the topic seems to have died on the national media.