Good SI article on Urban Statement
I found a good SI article (link) on the Urban statement from yesterday. It's a Rosenberg article for those who care, but he brings up a few good points that most defending Urban ignore.
- Why do we believe Urban about properly reporting? If he lied at media days, why wouldn't he lie now? If he didn't report the incident he's done regardless so why not lie to try and save his job?
- If Urban knew in 2015, why was Smith not fired or disciplined then?
- If they had a reason to keep Smith in 2015, why was he fired in July? He wasn't fired immediately after his trespassing charge (a statement was released the day after by OSU and he wasn't fired), only after the 2015 stuff went public. The timeline there doesn't work out.
- This is more my point, but Smith also hasn't been found guilty for 2015 or the trespassing incidents. So why would a trespassing arrest be enough to fire him without guilt but that wasn't the case in 09 or 15?
August 4th, 2018 at 12:19 PM ^
I feel like this is intended, above all, to remove the possibility of him being fired with cause. It hardly exonerates him morally (it opens up more questions, if anything) but might do so legally.
But in turn that might also end up saving his job, as his buyout is Charlie Weis-esque. OSU would be paying through the nose if they fire him without cause. OSU could be in a tight spot. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a big internal debate going on there right now.
August 4th, 2018 at 12:30 PM ^
This of course is assuming that he did do the right thing which they should be able to verify easily.
Maybe....but his responsibility is to report to Title IX office, not the AD. That may, emphasis on may, allow OSU to fire with cause. I feel like this move was made to publicly pressure OSU into a full buyout or maybe a firing of the AD and a suspension for Meyer.
Bad look all around either way.
August 4th, 2018 at 12:54 PM ^
Thanks for posting the link. Fair points and seems to be no way back for Urban. I’m pissed, I wanted to beat them at there best...?
To me, the third point is the key one. Firing Smith in July is not the move of an organization that is confident they made the right decision in 2015 (or earlier this year). And in that case, if Meyer truly believes that Smith didn't deserve to be fired, then he's a coward.
Best case scenario (for OSU) - Meyer is still a domestic abuse enabler. Yeah, never convicted. But there's "an argument got of hand once and everyone decided to move on when things calmed down" and then there's "Has 9 reported incidents with the police". At some point you've clearly demonstrated poor judgement at best to end up in that situation, and the much more likely scenario is a serial abuser who manages to stay just below the level where the police will convict without victim cooperation.
I'm all for due process, but at some point you shouldn't need "convinced 12 people beyond a reasonable doubt of actual criminality" to determine that it's time to move on from a guy who has that many run-ins with the cops. Especially when it would have been very easy to just not renew his contract. If they'd simply not re-upped him for 2016, this is a minor scandal that blows over.
Another question that begs asking. It appears that Smith's behavior was not the problem. As you already noted, if it was he would have been fired a long time ago. It was the negative publicity that Smith's behavior caused that was the problem. That's why Smith was only fired when the accusations became public. So, if the bad publicity is what led to Smith's dismissal why wouldn't the same hold true for Meyer? Clearly him not reporting it was not the problem. At least not internally. The public knowing about him not reporting it and causing a storm of negative publicity and digging is the problem. So, if the negative PR for the program was enough to dismiss Smith why wouldn't the same hold true for Meyer?
Interested to know what info will still come out. McMurphy alluded to having more information to support the dv incidents. Does it correlate with the nine other reports? What do the other texts reveal? Sounds like the local police/prosecutor run in the same circles as MSU/Ingham County where they choose not to prosecute certain individuals in order to protect the team or school. What a bunch of bs.
He has been a scum since his days at Florida at least. Don't matter, he wins. If they can with stand this any way shape or form they wont let him go.
I think they need to fire Urbie Meijer and bring in Rich Rodriquez
Fuke lickel!
I'm shocked, shocked I say. Not sure if this has been brought up, but 1. How was he unprepared for the questions at B1G media day if he'd just fired ZS. He and the HR Dept had to have gone over Z's personnel file and DV history in pretty scrutinous detail. 2. If he indeed had reported the 2015 incident and lied only to the media, then all of the coaches, his wife, the athletic department knew he was lying at Media Day. Not just lying but making up a story that he'd just heard about the incident the night before. It's one thing to lie when nobody knows you're lying, but it's really brazen to lie when people close to you know that you are. Shelley Meyer at breakfast the next morning. "Hey honey, you really pulled one over on those media guys yesterday. I'm so proud of you." Finally, 3. It's disturbing how good a liar he is, adding little details to reinforce the lie. Not that I ever believed anything Urban has said before, but man is he arrogant.
And what about the wrestling issue? Why no news or frustrations about that? Why no protests against sex abuse?
Oh, people only care when it affects the football program.
Just like the MSU incident, if you want people to give a damn, you hit where it hurts.
Ball hugger & wife beater U