Meyer releases statement:
Exactly.
There must be no actual report of anything that was "reported." So it was all just collusion to cover it up if it was talked about initially. No one being aware that it was reported at the institution (because it wasn't reported based on legal protocol) can only be why he would be placed on administrative leave. Unless all his job requires is that he mention it to Gene Smith and file no traceable paperwork, but then that means NCAA violations for the school and Gene Smith being fired. Still, hard to imagine that's enough to fulfill his mandatory reporting when the school doesn't know about it at all.
Optics.
And if he's being investigated, why is he issuing a statement?
This really sounds like a man who knows the shit is about to hit the fan and he's getting his ducks in a row for a wrongful termination lawsuit.
Where can I get a maize and blue Urban Liar T-shirt?
So it isn’t fair because he wasn’t prepared to tell the truth? Gotcha
Would it be considered a troll move if we sent tickets to Courtney and kids to be our guests at one of the home games?
I hope there is some journalism student out there that is ambitious enough to pursue this. I mean, just yesterday, I saw a story posted about him that now basically portrays player abuse while at Florida. I hope some kid out there sitting in Journalism 101 right now is saying "Geez, if I dig just a little bit, I might be able to uncover the college sports story of the decade due to corruption and blatant disregard / ignorance at two of the most well know universities in the country". The kind of story that makes your career. If I wasn't so set in my career and turning the big 40 this year, I would seriously contemplate going back to school for a journalism degree and unearthing that gem.
Do you need a journalism degree in the current social media communique format?
Pretty genius manuvering by Meyer. Gene Smith gets canned, at most Meyer gets a suspension, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Meyer made a huge donation to some domestic violence charities and he is back coaching in about 2 weeks. Just fucking insane. I would be every dollar I have that Meyer will not be fired.
Why should he be fired?
He shouldn’t. And I hope he isn’t. The bad pres OSU will get by keeping Meyer will be toxic. Why send your kid to Wife Beater U?
Because it was alleged abuse by an assistant coach who has since been fired. How will this affect recruits decision to play football there?
Yeah it only took three years an arrest and media exposure to remove him from the program. Let's completely ignore Smith's initial arrest in 2009 for physically assaulting his pregnant wife.
They are on the same page man (Urban-Smith-AD). What's going to bring down their united front is the texts that are currently being released showing that Smith admits to the DV.
The amount of pressure that will be put on the OSU president and others outside of the AD will be what moves the needle now.
This makes no sense to me. If he did report, then OSU must have been aware of that and why would they pick six people to investigate the fact?
Yep, that’s part of reporting. There should be a report somewhere right???
The speculative frenzy is insane.
So Urban learns of the 2009 incident and reports it up the chain as he was supposed to do. Why wouldn't he do the same with the 2015 incident? There are many problems with domestic violence. First and foremost, there's the abuse. However, there still is this American notion of due process. So Urban hears about the 2015 incident, from Shelley or others. He reports it up the chain again. He has someone check with the police on his behalf, but there are no reports because they are sealed and names redacted. Despite the Smiths and their toxic, volatile marriage, neither want Zach fired. The other problem with DV is the victim psychology. She believes Zach when he says it will never happen again or she believes that he will get fired and how can she support her kids, etc. etc. So she drops the charges, but they remain under seal. Urban confronts Zach. Hell the whole staff, including Ed, know the Smiths are bat shit crazy. Zach lies and denies anything happens. He also knows the incident reports are sealed. What can Urban do? What can Gene do? What can the university do? Come on Urban, fire the guy at least for being a shitty WR coach, but he's Earl's grandson. That's why you don't eat where you shit. In her interview Courtney said something very interesting - she hid the physical abuse from the wives and others. She told them about the emotional abuse, but she stated she didn't want to tell about the physical because she didn't want him to get fired. Victim psychology again. Finally in 2015 she says she told the wives about the physical, but then she dropped the charges and those damn records are sealed (remained sealed until at least last week, but still the police won't release the entire reports). The other problem with DV - the police investigate, but the victim stops cooperating, so no arrest. Stops cooperating for a variety of reasons already stated. There's no arrest. Zach lies and denies. What can be done? I'm speculating that counseling was encouraged, required. That's what's done in these situations because everyone, including Urban and Ed, knew the marriage was a toxic, volatile bat shit crazy mess. And that's what you do. You can't prove anything else. The police can't prove anything else. And the guy is a hell of a recruiter or he's a hell of a sales man or he's a terrific surgeon or he's a terrific Michigan law grad. And you know, but do you really know? Well they are getting counseling. Well they just got divorced. Thank God. We all knew it would end up there. But then you find out he's done it again or is accused of doing it again, but he hasn't been convicted. Enough already. You're fired. And then you go to Big Ten Media Days and that's all about the media right. And you are unprepared but think you can bullshit your way through the questions. And you checked into what happened in 2015 and remember you couldn't find out anything (because you later learn the records were sealed until they weren't the next day (and that's the odd coincidence that no one is reporting about)). But instead of "no comment, we are investigating" you think you can bullshit because you are a hot shot coach. And here we are.
I love the statement. He's going to fight. He's not going down without a fight. I hope Gene followed protocol too, because that's all that you actually need to know. And he's going to coach The Ohio State University, and we are going to absolutely kick Michigan's ass again this November in Columbus and it will be beautiful. And the Buckeyes are going to win their 9th national championship this year. And we could care less whether you and the world hate us.
You seem like a quality individual
He's part of that cult of trailer trash that derives the entirety of its self worth from the accomplishments of a football team. They'll protect those who give them that self worth at all costs.
Couldn’t care less you fucking dumb, toothless troll.
Not sure if this is satire or not...
It’s not satire - it’s a deeply held belief and response to bad news. Scioto cannot separate the utter failing of his idols from his own self worth. Better to fight the truth and basic ethical standards than admit he might have followed a person and program with wrong intentions.
Tribalism is a strong force - certainly stronger than the egos of most people.
Your last sentence is the problem. You don't care what anyone thinks. All that matters is that you win a game. Terrific. I have news for you: most of us don't hate you because you win; we hate you because you are horrible.
Here's a man with his priorities in order. What a pack of rednecks.
Lol imagine being this triggered. Pathetic.
My guess is that you also don't care if someone abuses his wife as long as you win. Because, you know, winning.
I love the statement as well. It will blazen #MeToo. Do you realize what you are facing? Urban Meyer enabled one of his coaches to beat his wife for 3 years. She was mentally tortured and physically abused ... with her children clinging to her leg. Meyer’s statement shows no remorse and is just more self-serving bullshit. Face it, Urban Meyer is a total dirt-bag. President Drake is going to fry his ass and put Gene on the rack as well. Soon, very soon. Like maybe Monday.
August 3rd, 2018 at 11:13 PM ^
Nice victim blaming. Just say that Courtney is "bat shit crazy" or it's her fault for being afraid to press charges, and you can make Urban's appalling lack of action look like a reasonable response. No, it's NOT a reasonable response. It's slimy.
Who's more valuable to OSU, Gene Smith or Meyer? Gene Smith's the fall guy, easy choice for them.
So let me get this straight he can suspend JT hours after he found out being busted for a DUI, can fire Warrinner for being shut out 31-0 by Clemson, but waits three years and says he took the proper channels to fire Zach Smith...
OSU will get a 2 for 1 deal on getting away with school scandals all at once.
Meyer misspoke and r reported it all so he’s a saint and nothing to see here all while the Wrestling scandal was going on and no one is talking about it. News cycle moves along and both get swept under the rug.
If Ohio does not fire Meyer, they will have to apologize to Jim Tressell
The more I think about this, the more inclined I am to think Meyer lied last week AND today.
It's just too convenient that suddenly he remembers that he made "appropriate notification" in 2015. Too easy. He had plenty of time to "clarify" this; why wait until now (and obviously after conferring with lawyers)?
It seems pretty clear that he lied at the presser; I'm not buying his response today either.
Urban Meyer is a big fat liar. This statement is all about making sure he isn't fired for cause, can collect as much of the $38M owed to him and ensure he can coach somewhere else in the future.
If he actually followed procedure and reported this, don't you think a major university like OSU would conduct some form of formal investigation that is well documented? I figure that if somebody were conducting an investigation into DV, they might try to talk to the alleged victim. Only problem is that Courtney Smith said nobody from OSU ever contacted her regarding the issue. So it sounds like an investigation most likely never happened. If it did, then there would be a report and Meyer would not be on paid administrative lead right now.
So now Meyer has admitted that 1) he knew his assistant was an accused wife beater who he kept on his staff since 2015 (or 2009 if you go back to the first incident), 2) his bosses knew he had an accused wife beater on his staff since 2015 and they were ok with it and 3) he lied about this last week.
"If you intentionally lie about committing violations, your career is over. You're not suspended for two games [or] some of the silly penalties you have -- you can't talk to a recruit for a week and a half or something like that. No. You're finished. That will clean up some things." Urban Meyer - September 28, 2017.
I laugh every time this sign is shown: No drugs, stealing, weapons. Why do OSU athletes need this reminder? Perhaps they should vet recruits before bringing them to Columbus ... and vet coaches before employing them for 6 years.
Obviously in no particular order like any good game show.
1/3 ain't bad.
So you are saying OSU should have contacted the alleged victim of DV? That’s not how it works and it damn sure never should work that way. Have you ever heard of Art Briles? Google it. The last thing a victim needs in those circumstances are AD’s or anyone else questioning them that isn’t 1. A law enforcement official 2. A trained counselor.
There are several good points to your post but this part was just wrong, no offense.
Edit: PS. He didn’t lie about committing violations as citied in your closing paragraph. He blatantly lied to reporters, we will find out what else he may have lied about, but no lies were about NCAA rules which is the context of that statement. Not justifying lying, providing context.
I wouldn't expect the AD to question her, but if they really did an investigation, then yes I would expect somebody from the University who is trained to handle such things (such as a counselor) would have reached out to her.
Thanks for your response, as wrong as it may be. Nobody from the university should ever have contacted her, period. If you don’t believe me, and you clearly don’t, contact your local women’s shelter and ask them. The desire of the university to know does NOT outweigh the victim’s rights. Can we at least agree that the victim shouldn’t have been contacted by a party that is vested in the outcome of what she said? An independent body, trained in investigations, such as the police should contact her. The police need to release the full files to the university but OSU has no damn business talking to her. Put aside your bloodlust and remember what is important here. Hint, it isn’t football programs.
I'm not an expert on the protocol - the point I was trying to make is that I find it doubtful that the University took any kind meaningful steps to conduct a thorough inquiry.
I’m not an expert on protocol, I just know that the victim had to be the priority and no party vested in the outcome should be asking the questions. I don’t feel like anyone wants to hear it but the police department is the proper entity to investigate, not the university. They are hiding behind BS about the case being open three years later.
I think both fanbases could agree that the mayor and/or city council need to apply the pressure it takes to release the records, all of them, no redactions. In OH, if the police are called for DV, the primary aggressor leaves in cuffs. They were called, why was there no arrest? Every reporter in the country has descended on Columbus. I am trying to stay optimistic that all of the facts will come out and it will take a response from the police about what their investigation revealed.
osu.edu
Title IX compliance (Buckeyes ACT Reference Guide) Listen, Support, Report
Step 3, who to contact: Report incident to Title IX coordinator (Kellie Brennan) or Deputy Coordinator (Kristi Hoge for faculty and staff, Janine Oman for athletics).
Title IX Coordinator role should be independent to avoid any potential conflicts of interest and the Title IX Coordinator should report directly to senior leadership, such as the district superintendent or college/university president. (United States Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights)
If they followed protocol like they said, and something as serious as a domestic violence case fell on one of their assistant coaches of their flagship sports program, you better damn well believe that the president would know about it.
All of this information is available on osu.edu
Zach Smith claimed he found out about the allegation in Oct. of 2015, one month after president Michael Drake announced Buckeyes ACT on Sept 14th, 2015, the universities comprehensive plan and response to sexual misconduct on campus
August 4th, 2018 at 12:16 AM ^
Shelley Meyer was legally bound to reporting the incident to the police under Ohio State's Confidentiality Clause because of her RN position at Ohio State, without the victim having to press charges. She knew before Urban did, so where is her police report?
August 3rd, 2018 at 11:51 PM ^
Schools have title IX compliance offices to deal with this. Urban is contractually obligated to report anything involving students or faculty.
Look, it's not the most unbelievable thing in the world that Urban did kick this thing up the ladder and was vetoed on firing Smith due to nepotism and the good ol' boy network. I'm not saying oh yeah definitely, but I've heard less believable defenses in my life.
It's easier to wrap my head around the good ol' boy network protecting the grandson of one of their own than it is to understand why Urban would jeopardize his career for shitty wide receiver coach.
Bottom line, there's now a zero percent chance Urban and their AD end up staying at Ohio State. One or both has to go now.