It's Your Job To Know
[Bryan Fuller]
It doesn't matter whether Urban Meyer knew what Zach Smith did to his wife. It didn't matter if Joe Paterno knew. It didn't matter if Lou Anna Simon knew. All three of these people were or are the superiors of people who can fairly be described as evil, and we are now coming to a society-wide revelation that systems that allow abusers to continue unchecked for years are designed to do so. People in charge of massively failed systems do not get a pass because their system sucks.
Penn State was designed to allow Jerry Sandusky to continue operating well after his mysterious departure from the program. He used Penn State facilities to abuse children for years after his official departure from the staff. That departure was never explained despite requiring explanation: extremely successful 55-year old defensive coordinators do not simply evaporate from college football. Anyone poking around the edges would have found out. That it went on so long is by design.
Michigan State was—is—designed to allow Larry Nassar to operate for years even after reports started filtering up the ranks. Nassar was allowed to see patients for 16 months while he was under investigation for sex crimes. His direct superior is also a sex criminal whose behavior was reported to no avail. The Michigan State board of trustees offered their strong support for Simon even after the scope of the criminality became clear, and hired an ancient toad crony to try to sweep things under the rug.
The only way Urban Meyer did not know about Zach Smith is if his entire program is designed to keep that knowledge away from him. Saying he might not know is no defense. It is worse for Meyer if he ran the kind of program where the head coach did not know serious, damning information about one of his assistant coaches when every one of his coaches' wives knew, when the police knew, when fucking bloggers knew:
Of course he knew. He knew he was an alcoholic, he knew his marriage was in shambles and he knew that his mentor's grandson was a terrible football coach and that he was protected because of bloodline. Literally everybody knew. I knew. I wrote around it for six years.
— Ramzy Nasrallah (@ramzy) August 1, 2018
There are programs like that. There are programs where the biggest sin in the business is telling the head guy what you're up to. Jim Tressel ran a "no snitching" program, and then a lawyer with some very wrong ideas about how Ohio State wanted to run things made the cardinal mistake: he told the head guy what people were up to. The Ohio Bar gave him some misconduct runaround in the aftermath because no deed against the wishes of the program goes unpunished.
It's one thing when you don't want to know about some kid exchanging services for money. But "I don't want to know" is systemic. It spreads. Ohio State learned nothing. Their lesson from the snitching incident was never learned because that entire program was indignant that the NCAA had the temerity to enforce its "no lying to us" rules and fell ass-backwards into an elite coach who just inexplicably left a program he had two titles at. When that guy decides to import an already-established domestic abuser from his previous job, well, nobody asked you about it.
Ohio State was designed to shelter Zach Smith. Urban Meyer's programs at two different unversities were designed to shelter Zach Smith. Meyer's level of knowledge is irrelevant except in an after action report. If Urban Meyer didn't know it's because he didn't want to know. It's his job to know. It is his job to know if any of his players have a jaywalking citation. It is 1000% his job to know whether the flagship institution of the state of Ohio is accommodating a serial abuser.
It is your job to know. If you don't know, you shouldn't have a job.
August 2nd, 2018 at 12:55 PM ^
wrong ... Smith was baggage that Urban WILLFULLY took on. Yes he should have been fired in Florida, and then this would have never arisen. Coaches rotate around the universe, but if Smith was as horrid as described ... then no, he should not have been coaching, or probably married. Smith is the definition of a loser ... never ever accepted responsibility for his actions ... and Meyer helped him to never accept any responsibility.
You are totally on the wrong side of this issue ...
Go Blue!
Brian's argument isn't that Meyer should have stepped in and tried to fix their marriage. His argument is that standing up and saying at Big Ten Media Day that there's no way he could have known is hollow bullshit, because either he knew and is lying or he didn't know and is clueless and/or creating a culture of willful ignorance out of self-preservation.
That culture could, ya know, extend to other things above and beyond just Smith.
If Meyer knew that she had called the police for assault in 2015 before his answer last week, then yes he lied. To be frank, he owes no level of honesty to the media in regards to the Smith's marriage. If you feel he should be fired over that then I can probably find reasons why nearly every coach in America should be fired pretty quickly.
I didn't say he should be fired. I think he *might* get fired, and if so it will be because of Title IX or something like that that the institution can't ignore.
All I was trying to do was to reiterate the author's point, which is what I thought you were questioning by arguing a straw man about Urban trying to fix the Smiths' marriage. Brian's point is that Meyer's defense of "I didn't know" is a crock. Nowhere did Brian try to prescribe how Meyer should have intervened vis a vis their actual marriage; rather, it's how he should have handled it at the program level, which involves making sure the institution knows what's happening and that he's notified the proper parties.
But, you move the goalposts if it makes you feel better about all of this.
August 2nd, 2018 at 12:34 PM ^
Anyone else's girlfriend, fiancée or wife stay up in bed for about 10 minutes before going to sleep talking about her day or something really important she just has to tell you? I have to think since those domestic violence acts happened, Urban's wife had to have said "By the way, your assistant coach's wife text me today and..."
Or he's gotta prove that he and his wife just don't talk at all about obvious, serious situations happening to people they supposedly care a lot about.
August 2nd, 2018 at 12:39 PM ^
that's good. You just have a way of writing stuff that cuts through all the bullshit.
That's a great point that now it's totally irrelevant if Urban knew, because if he didn't then the systems he set up are to keep plausible deniability and his head should roll for that also.
August 2nd, 2018 at 12:41 PM ^
Known gross human acts accordingly. No consequences for gross human. And the cycle continues.
Michigan should seriously leave the B1G. It's a fucking garbage dump of humans beings. Disgusting.
August 2nd, 2018 at 10:23 PM ^
Been thinking the same thing today - it really needs to be considered at this point. Just ugly stuff. Michigan is going to start getting lumped in with the rest of these mouth breathers.
The guy who has suggested kicking in the grill of somebody's car, is now informing us of what, in his considered opinion, is "a fucking garbage dump of humans [sic] beings."
Okay!
Have a nice day.
August 2nd, 2018 at 12:42 PM ^
Yeah, except it ain't his job to know. His job is to win football games. Argue till you're blue in the face that it should be his job to know, but it ain't and likely never will be.
Al Davis defined the job of head coach in big time athletics to perfection, "Just win baby."
All that other stuff is window dressing.
Urban's problem is that he did know even tho he likely didn't want to, and then he went out and got caught lying about it.
The morals here are ... of course ... don't find out stuff you don't want to know, and if you do, don't get caught lying about it. When they should be, if you do find out stuff you don't want to know, wince and then handle it, and absolutely don't lie about it.
August 2nd, 2018 at 12:55 PM ^
"Al Davis defined the job of head coach in big time athletics to perfection, "Just win baby."
Not even true for professional football (Ray Rice was a good player for the Ravens, did they do nothing about his DV?), and definitely not for college football. As an alum of Michigan and fan of its football team, I have many values and principles that go ahead of winning when I consider who is coaching the team. Of course I want our team to win, but not at the expense of many, many higher principles.
Good for you on that values thing. I'd like to point out here that it's very likely that you aren't running a national athletic or entertainment brand.
We've seen it over and over and over, and we will continue to see it for the rest of our lives and no amount of pontificating is going to change it. When some douche get's too cocky and certain that he/she/it is invincible, the weight of their indiscretions will topple them, while the ones with their eye on the ball will skate, likely tisking all the way to the fundraiser ... just as long as they win.
Consider Harvey Weinstein, whose behavior was so egregious that people made jokes about it at award shows ... for fucking decades. All those good Hollywood folks who are so quick to cluck about whatever is the indiscretion du jour had absolutely nothing to say, excepting maybe Brad Pitt who went to the source and made threats, but never let the sun shine on the issue. Not on my wallet said hundreds, if not thousands of fine socially conscious people.
Wanna fix it? Stop thinking Meier, Dantonio, Simon or anybody in that position has the stones to step up. Create a position with the authority to fire over athletic department or even administration objections, then give that person a long term contract that pays big come hell or high water.
Until then, talk is cheap. The problem here is that it's only when it's your livelihood on the chopping block is that it gets real.
August 2nd, 2018 at 12:48 PM ^
I'm having a really hard time seeing how OSU can weasel out of this one the way they almost weaseled out of the Jim Tressel thing. This is the 2nd time a head coach has been caught lying red-handed. It is pretty easy to say "well, Tressel was the only one who knew about Tat-gate, he knows he made a mistake, and he's sorry. Let's move on" (If you recall, this was more or less Gordon Gee's explanation for not firing him in the first place). But this is different. If they choose to keep him, I don't see how OSU can spin this in a way that doesn't cause public outrage across the country. Nobody outside of the Michigan fanbase cared that some OSU players got free tattoos. But plenty of people care about this.
I want Gene at a press conference say "I don't do weasel moves"....
August 2nd, 2018 at 12:49 PM ^
One hell of a write up. Like dang. Bravo sir.
August 2nd, 2018 at 12:51 PM ^
Dantonio knew.
August 2nd, 2018 at 12:53 PM ^
If Urbs knew (and I believe he did - in all logic how could he not?) then rightfully he should be fired. If Urbs gets fired, then shouldn’t every coach/staffer who had knowledge of this also be fired? According to Mrs Smith, all the wives knew.
They all (including Urbs wife who is an OSU employee) are all under the same Title IX obligation to report such incidents or reasonable suspicions of such. So if Urbs goes, the entire coaching staff that has been there should also go. Not sure what that leaves coaching staff wise, but would be interesting to see The buckeyes limping through the season with a couple of non descript position coaches running the whole show.
August 2nd, 2018 at 12:57 PM ^
Best op-ed anywhere on this topic. Thanks comrade.
Great stuff by Brian. I couldn't agree more. The crazy part is that even after writing this that Brian said this morning that he doesn't think Meyer will lose his job. I think he almost has to lose his job at this point, the media outcry might be too strong.
P.S. Jay Paterno needs to stfu, that guy cannot keep defending Penn State and his dad, he is trying to tell OSU to stand up to the mob like Penn State should have....
The pattern Brian establishes here (read: anyone who has an inkling of college football has known) is repeated violations in the face of NCAA regulations. Tattoogate was strike 1. Now we are talking Title IX violations on top of the whole wrestling fiasco. Take this story and move it to a Group of 5 program and there are citations for lack of institutional control with programs (football, wrestling at minimum) getting shut down in a death penalty scenario. Now, remember that this is one of the 5 most important schools for revenue for the NCAA. What should be a death penalty scenario will likely end in a slap on the wrist or at worst another coaching show-cause penalty that allows the program to endure an interim coach downturn and then jump right back to national prominence. For an organization that constantly cites its insistence that it is non-profit and that students are amateur, it certainly has a financial interest in not disrupting the status quo
Great stuff Brian. I completely agree. You found a way to lay it out much more eloquently and emphatically than anyone else has been able to.
Well said. Probably falls on deaf ears in Columbus. Vegas says -300 he opens the season as their coach I believe.
Read the replies to that tweet if you’re still wondering how stuff like this can keep happening.
My God, Ramsey! If you knew why didn’t you do anything? We know who the real bad guy is here.
These people will do anything to keep the machine alive.
He probably feared for the safety of his family and himself.
I'm only 40% joking.
I guess it depends if he knew in the sense of "it's a rumor everyone is aware of" or if he knew. If it's the former, then he shouldn't have published anything about it, just like Brian doesn't post rumors until he has some verification (particularly when they relate to player or staff discipline).
If it's the latter, yeah, something should have been done earlier.
Well written article.
Great write up Brian. I did crack a smile visualizing the ancient toad crony with Engler's head superimposed on it though.
I'm not defending Urban. But I do think it's worth pointing one thing out.
Courtney Smith had a lawyer, as early as 2015. If it was in Courtney Smith's best interest for OSU's top brass above Urban to know about what was going on, she could've told them herself, and her attorney had an ethical duty to do what was best for his client.
It's entirely possible that the rationale going through the mind of Courtney Smith and her lawyer was: 1) I'm getting divorced from Zach, 2) I'm taking the kids, 3) I need money to support myself and my kids, 4) Zach needs to stay employed with OSU. And that's why they didn't run it up the OSU flagpole.
Should Urban have reported it up the food chain? Sure. Is this a case where the victim was subjected to further abuse because Urban did not report it up the food chain? Probably not.
I'm not victim blaming at all here. If what happened to Courtney Smith is true, it's horrible, and she deserves all the alimony she can suck out of that dirt bag abuser. So if that's what her thought process was, she's completely justified in doing what's best for her and her kids.
Wow, for a moment there I thought Urban was running for city council in A2 under a no development platform.
/s
Well written explanation of his point of view, but I disagree. The media is getting a little out of hand with going after the "head man in charge" as if Urban is some god-king that controls all. Unlike the Sandusky case or MSU scandal, none of Zach Smith's behavior affected the program.
Yes, it took a while for his wife to finally file for divorce and press charges for the abuse, and I understand that women in her situation often fear for their lives. But blaming her ex-husband's boss is only beneficial to her because of the high profile. I can't image her doing the same thing if he worked a white collar job as a software developer.
As much as I hate OSU and Urban, I think the media has a lynch mob mentality and this is just the next event they can jump on.
The only thing that could possibly be a more tone deaf PR move than MSU is if they actually name Schiano as head coach. We'll see
This desire to have Meyer gone and, presumably, OSU diminished in football is going off the rails. Trying to compare what happened with Smith to the awful PSU and MSU sex scandals is just crazy. Meyer certainly isn’t a great guy, but Smith wasn’t arrested for anything in 2015. Should Meyer have fired him just because his ex called the police and made reports that went nowhere criminally? I think that would be a pretty dangerous standard.
As far as Meyer talking in 2018 about what happened in 2015, I could definitely see a hyper-focused football coach getting confused about dates or forgetting about something that occurred a few years earlier that wasn’t related to football. I’m no Meyer fan, but I don’t think he deserves to be fired. I’d rather see Michigan beat them on the field with Meyer standing on the sideline.
Agreed, Brian makes no sense at all.
One clue to how Michigan would handle domestic violence charges is the 2014 case of Frank Clark. He was dismissed from the team right after the arrest happened. No waiting around. He wasn't a coach, of course, but U-M not likely to look the other way on domestic violence, or other crimes.
Well, if Urban is out of a job maybe Coach Harbaugh could hire him as an analyst?
Amen
I totally agree about PSU and MSU. But there seems to be a piece missing that allows us to equate those situations with OSU. Smith was fired because of domestic abuse; and rightly so. But why should Urban have known about this? The blogger say that Urban should have known that Smith’s marriage was in shambles. I probably agree but we should not be firing people who’s marriage is in shambles. The blogger says that Urban should have known that Smith was an alcoholic. I probably agree but we should not be firing people because they are alcoholics (unless it renders them unable to perform their job). The blogger says that Urban should have known that Smith was a terrible coach. I agree but firing him for that is at Urban’s discretion. So the blogger provides no support that Urban should have known about the domestic abuse. If there is evidence that many knew of Smith’s domestic assault, then yes, Urban should have know too and Urban should Face the consequences of intentional ignorance. But I wish that evidence would have been in Brian’s post. The link to the blogger does nothing to advance the case.
Fact: Courtney texted Urban's wife (and other coaches wives) that she was being abused.
There are two possible scenarios here:
1. Shelley Meyer told her husband about the abuse like almost every normal spouse would do when hearing such things (99.999999999% chance this happened)
2. Shelley Meyer (and everyone else in the FB program who knew) did not tell Urban about it and did everything possible to shield him from knowing about it.
If it's scenario 2, then you are responsible for an organization (as Brian just argued) that is purposefully set up to allow and enable bad shit like this. If it's scenario 1, he should be fired. If it's scenario 2, he should be fired for creating a culture that poses such an incredible danger to the reputation of his employer - the university.
He can't win here.
Bingo! Your'e exactly right. That's what was missing from the Brian's post. Instead of linking to a largely irrelevant blogger's post, I would have preferred that Brian elaborated on why Urban should have known instead of assuming that fact. Your response is on point and would have made Brian's post more convincing.
Channel 10 in Columbus is reporting that Bob Evans has suspended its upcoming partnership with Urban Meyer.
https://www.10tv.com/article/bob-evans-suspends-upcoming-partnership-urban-meyer
Link to patties.
Brian, this is the best article that either you or anybody at Mgoblog has ever written. It has a moral and ethical clarity to it.
Thanks for this perspective, you make some very good points.
The question I have about this piece is "what is it his job to know"? Unless I've missed something, the public isn't fully informed on what Urban's action were. If after the 2015 incident Urban and the AD discussed the accusations with Zach Smith, and Zach said she's lying, Urban has satisfied his title ix requirement. He also has a he said-she said situation where the police failed to press charges. What is it his job to know past that?
That's why, in my opinion, this situation is going to be determined by title ix. If he reported the accusations up the ladder, then his only offense is lying about it to the media. Unless there is proof he witnessed zach smith beat his wife, pressured the cops to not file charges, pressured Courtney to drop charges, or any other manner of coverup/suppression, then he is going to be in the clear. Ohio State will have to decide if they want the PR hit of keeping him and I think they won't hesitate to bring him back.
From the outside I think Urban was an idiot for keeping Zach Smith after 2009. But I also can see his human side of wanting to believe him with the mentor aspect with his grandfather. I personally think he knew enough but chose to ignore it for whatever reason, thinking it wouldn't bite him. But I can't prove that, and from what I have read, nobody else has either. All we have are insinuations so far.
I also don't know how far we as a society want to take the "our bosses should know" angle. I don't want my boss being in every aspect of my personal life. The right to privacy is still valid and the head football coach of Ohio State University isn't legally allowed or obligated to break it. Unless it is volunteered to him by Zach Smith or Courtney Smith proves it to him, he has to rely on the legal system. And besides 2009, there isn't any proof he knew anything for sure.
And just to play devil's advocate, we don't even know his wife told him much. If he was not told about Aaron Hernandez's Florida situation because a grad assistant knew he didn't want to know, wouldn't his wife follow that same procedure. If Shelly Meyer followed title ix procedures and didn't tell Urban because the police were handling it, procedure was followed and Urban is back.
The other thing about this whole episode that has me curious is Courtney Smith. I am trying to figure out exactly what she was trying to get with those text messages. Her actions with the police seemed designed to get her out of the marriage and safe while also keeping her husband's job. As was mentioned by other people already, it is a logical assumption that she didn't want him fired. So what did she want from Urban? I'm not picking on her, it is a logical and rational decision to get divorced from your abusive husband while making sure you still have a way to provide for your family. Zach gets fired, she and the kids suffer still with the loss of income and benefits. Based on the knowledge of her actions in regards to the police, what is she trying to accomplish with the text messages? It seems contradictory to think she's advocating for his termination. I keep reading it's a cry for help, and I'm not disputing that, but what help is she trying to get?
Sorry for the length. I've been trying to think about this without the emotion of a fan. If I've missed something or you think my viewpoint is flawed please enlighten me.
Urban didn't have a (employment) duty to confront Zach Smith upon having credible evidence of domestic violence. He had a duty to inform the OSU HR Office who would then investigate. So no, if he discussed the 2015 incident with Smith, he by no means fulfilled the obligation of his employment.
Asking head coaches (or even ADs) to investigate misconduct by their assistant coaches would be a terrible policy.
Meyer said, to the press, that he didn't know in 2015, and that he would have fired Smith then if he did. He can't turn around now and say "well, I knew, but since the charges didn't go anywhere we didn't think firing Smith was the right call"
If he knew, then he told a bald faced lie to the press as a representative of OSU, and OSU can and should fire him for that alone.
Tell this to Buckeye fans and they respond with "Grant Perry," one of the dumbest, Sparty level false equivalencies out there. Regardless of how they handle this, little will change IMO.
Grant Perry is college kid that made a huge mistake, was reprimanded and suspended from the team and lost valuable playing time that will likely effect his future as both a football player and Michigan alumni. A lot of people feel he shouldn't have been able to come back.
Zach Smith is a 34 year old long-time suspected alcoholic, wife beater whose family and friends tried to sweep his allegations under the rug for almost a decade and when it became apparent that his wife needed to tell someone, looked the other way.
Eerily similar...
If Shelley didn’t tell Urban about those texts, it can only have been to shield Urban from ethical and perhaps legal responsibilities that knowledge would have triggered. There is no other plausible reason. On the other hand, if she did tell him, Urban lied at the presser. Either way, you’re looking at an egregious abdication of responsibility.
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