Summary of OSU Investigators' Findings Now Online

It really was a sham investigation.  Not sure how any rational human can conclude that Meyer shows sincere respect for women and didn't deliberately lie at media days.

Pretty amazing that he claims he knew nothing about Courtney and Shelley’s text messages. I hear from my wife within the hour if she runs over a bump in the road. He is the true example of a D Bag. 

First parts that are good:

AD Gene Smith also told Zach Smith that if charges were filed, he would be fired;

During and after his divorce proceedings in 2015 and early 2016,3 Zach Smith’s job performance suffered, and he was regularly late to practice and workouts; on other occasions, Zach Smith failed to appear at scheduled recruiting visits at various high schools, despite reporting internally that he had; Coach Meyer was made aware of these issues and Zach Smith recalls that Meyer warned him that if he continued to be late and otherwise unreliable, he would be fired; AD Smith, who was generally aware of Zach Smith’s performance issues during this time period, suggested that Coach Meyer consider replacing him; Coach Meyer decided not to do so.

In June 2016, based on medical advice and direction from Coach Meyer, Zach Smith was admitted to a drug treatment facility for addiction to a stimulant prescription drug used to treat ADHD; AD Smith was unaware of this incident.

In speaking with University leadership on July 23rd, Gene Smith and Urban Meyer explained that Zach Smith’s termination was based on the football program’s zero tolerance policy relating to domestic violence, and a violation of a core value of the program, respect for women; AD Smith also commented that this wasn’t the first time “we’ve had this,” although there was no specific mention of the events of either 2009 or 2015, and it is unclear what the intended reference by AD Smith was; there was also no mention that there had been a media report from earlier that morning that discussed Zach Smith’s 2009 arrest for aggravated battery and the entry of the domestic violence civil protection order. In the course of the conversation, Coach Meyer said that his decision to fire Zach Smith was difficult because Zach was Earle Bruce’s grandson and Bruce had been a close mentor to Meyer.

Basically, the MJW report just assumes Urban and Shelley Meyer never discussed Courntey's text messages and photos.   Shame on them.  Where is the poly test under oath?  Garbage investigation for $500K ... OSU was bilked again.  OSU is like a toilet - shit in it and then flush it yet again.  Mouth open, breath in the stench. 

Next good part:

Thereafter, still during the evening of July 23, 2018, Meyer received additional media reports discussing Zach Smith’s 2009 arrest and a “felony arrest” involving Zach Smith in 2015; at 10:25 p.m., Coach Meyer sent a message to Gene Smith, Jerry Emig, the Assistant Director, Athletic Communications, Brian Voltolini, Director of Football Operations, and Ryan Stamper, Director, Player Development, stating “I know nothing about this”; he asked “Is there a way to find out exactly what his issues were. I know about 2009 [it was dropped] and last week. That’s it. Need some guidance here so when I speak to media I’m not wrong.” Later that evening, Stamper reported to Meyer that there was no record of Zach Smith being arrested in 2015, only records of a divorce. Meyer acknowledged this, stating “Stamp just confirmed there was no arrest in 2015.” As the same text chain continued into the morning of July 24, 2018, AD Smith cautioned “I would be careful. Do not get too detailed.” He went on to advise that whatever Coach Meyer says on this subject at Big Ten Media Days should be said in his opening statement “and take no more questions on it.” Gene Smith also suggested the following remarks for Meyer for Big Ten Media Days: “As you are aware through our release, we have made a change in our wide receivers coaching position. As Zach dealt with his personal challenge I was aware of two legal instances in 2009 and 2015. This most recent issue is inconsistent with our values. . . . Needs to be cleaned up in your words…..just a thought.” Meyer responds “Thx.” Emig, the Athletic Communications Director, followed up at 7:26 a.m. on July 24th saying “[t]hose are good points” and recommending that Meyer, with respect to the events of 2015, state “[t]here were no charges in 2015 and I really don’t even recall any details.” Meyer does not respond.
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(d) In text messages with his agent, also on the morning of July 24, 2018, Meyer says that it was the “[r]ight thing to do” to fire Zach Smith. Meyer also indicated that he was fired for “cumulative stuff” and stated “I will not tell media.” The agent responded that “[f]or sure it was the totality of his choices,” and that it was “[o]nly a matter of time before he did something that did substantial harm to you or the program.”

Next good part:

(iv) The lack of clarity surrounding this issue is compounded by the failure of OSU personnel to respond promptly to two July 25, 2018 records requests from the school paper, “The Lantern,” for emails and text messages, as well as any call history, between Urban Meyer and Zach Smith from July 18, 2018 through July 24, 2018 and between Oct. 25, 2015 and Dec. 1, 2015, and the same communications between AD Gene Smith and Coach Meyer for the same dates for any materials “pertaining to Zach Smith.” On July 25, 2018, these requests were forwarded to Julie Vannatta, Senior Associate General Counsel, who, on July 25th, emailed AD Smith, and Diana Sabau, Senior Associate Athletics Director, and instructed them to retrieve responsive emails and texts from Coach Meyer’s phone. On July 26th, Vannatta asked Amy Nicol, Director, Internal Operations for Football, and Brian Voltolini to “go get [Coach Meyer’s] phone and check his texts with Zach.” Although all of these individuals were aware of the requests – and indeed both AD Smith and Sabau responded that they had no documents on their end – no one appears to have actually checked Coach Meyer’s phone or even approached him about the requests. Had Coach Meyer’s phone been examined and processed promptly at that time, we would know definitively that the August 1 article’s revelations had no impact on the evidence we received for July 23rd and dates in 2015. While the absence of prompt and effective follow-up is problematic and frustrating, we want to be clear that we have found no evidence suggesting that Coach Meyer was aware of the records request before we brought it to his attention during the Independent Investigation.

Next good part:

1. Under his employment contract with OSU, Urban Meyer had at all relevant times an obligation to “immediately report to the [Athletic] Director and to the Department’s Office of Compliance Services in writing if any person or entity, including without limitation, representatives of Ohio State's athletic interests, has violated or is likely to violate or may potentially have violated any [applicable] laws,” including all federal, state and local laws. (Meyer Employment Contract §4.1.d)
2. Gene Smith had an obligation to “immediately report to the Department’s Office of Athletic Compliance and the Office of University Compliance and Integrity if the Director had reasonable cause to believe that any person or entity, including without limitation, representatives of Ohio State’s athletic interests, has violated or is likely to violate or may potentially have violated any [applicable] laws, policies, rules or regulations.” (Smith Employment Contract §4.1.e)

One of the best parts (my bolding):

We accept that in July 2018 Coach Meyer was deeply absorbed in football season and wanted to focus on football at Big Ten Media Days. The firing of Zach Smith the day before – the first time Coach Meyer had fired a coach – was also on his mind, as was the erroneous media report of a felony arrest of Zach Smith in 2015. We also learned during the investigation that Coach Meyer has sometimes had significant memory issues in other situations where he had prior extensive knowledge of events. He has also periodically taken medicine that can negatively impair his memory, concentration, and focus. All of these factors also need to be considered and weighed in assessing Coach Meyer’s mindset on July 24th.

The biggest farce:

A. Overall, Coach Meyer impressed us with a sincere commitment to the Respect for Women core value that he espouses and tries to instill in his players. We believe that AD Smith shares that commitment. Zach Smith, however, did not live up to the Respect for Women core value and other core values. And Coach Meyer and AD Smith did not try to determine whether Courtney Smith might have been right in accusing Zach of domestic violence. They both believed Zach’s denials and relied on law enforcement or court action to rebut those denials. To be sure, as Coach Meyer and AD Smith told us, they do not themselves investigate allegations of wrongdoing; they appropriately leave that to the experts, including law enforcement. But their responsibilities do not end there.

Whoa. Per report, Zach Smith's 2009 arrest did not come up in Ohio State's background check when he was hired. Urban Meyer didn't tell anyone at Ohio State about it. Gene Smith learned of it for the first time last month.

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) August 23, 2018

The fix was in

I'm not surprised about the suspension, I'm not surprised the investigation came to the conclusions it did as, "Shitshow relationship and I didn't know who to believe." was obviously the plan for the defense from the beginning and the committee didn't seem inclined to dig around it.  

What I am surprised by and continue to be surprised by is how a coach like Meyer who mostly seems to have this shot together put up with this complete clown show of a human being for as long as he did, no matter who's grandson the guy is.  This report almost feels unreal in describing what a slimeball Zachary Smith is.  Urban showed seriously bad judgment here and it makes me wonder what the next surprise is going to be as something like this does not happen in a vacuum.

I thought maybe 3 games was reasonable until I watched Urban on TV and read this whole report. This is simply another huge embarrassment for our conference (don't forget they aren't just our shithead rivals but an equal representative of our conference) and for college football as a whole. We have a major cultural problem at hand with college football. I think this sport is dying.

My favorite is from page 4:

OSU performed a standard background check on Zach Smith prior to his being hired as an Assistant Coach at OSU in December 2011 by Coach Meyer; the background check did not call for or return arrest information, and Zach Smith’s arrest in 2009 wastherefore unknown to others at OSU at the time he was hired.

Isn't that.. sort of the point of a background check?

I understand that arrests and convictions are separate things, but, you'd think if you were really interested in evaluating someone's character, you'd pay the extra $50 for the report that includes recent arrests.  If there's a good explanation for the arrest, then fine -- you don't have to exclude somebody from being hired due to an arrest.  But it seems negligent not even to try to find out...