Summary of OSU Investigators' Findings Now Online
August 23rd, 2018 at 8:59 AM ^
I'm mostly disappointed President Drake did not resign over the BoT keeping Meyer. That would've created maximum chaos at OSU.
August 23rd, 2018 at 9:22 AM ^
I think people are missing the big picture here. Truth is, there was no way they could fire Meyer. To do so would have triggered a very long and very ugly legal battle, as OSU would have either to eat $38 million or terminate for cause, which Meyer would have clearly fought. The university figured it was better to take a short-term PR hit now than have this thing drag out in the legal system. The university-sponsored report makes sense when you understand that the outcome the university wanted to avoid was having to fire Meyer. $500,000 for that is still cheaper than either buying out his contract or the legal fees involved in his wrongful dismissal suit. His performance last night made it clear he can’t be reasoned with.
I think it’s easy to express moral outrage here, but the university really was in a bind, at the center of which was the incredibly messy Smith marriage, and had to make judgments not simply on the basis of moral absolutes but on prudential concerns.
Look, I loathe OSU, but when you are running a massive enterprise like that you run into difficult decisions that have no clear moral parameters. Could Drake in good faith tell donors that he paid out $38 million under ambiguous circumstances? Can’t we at least acknowledge that he was in a tough position and that it’s easy to be outraged from the sidelines when we are not the ones who have to balance all the things - alumni, boosters, players, the well-being of the program including recruiting, due process, donors, publicity, and so forth - that impose often competing and occasionally clashing claims on the decision-maker? Put yourself in Drake’s shoes and think about all the different stakeholders he has to deal with, and then tell me it was an easy call. I don’t buy it.
August 23rd, 2018 at 9:51 AM ^
The report itself makes clear that they had the right to fire Urban for cause, because his contract allows the university to fire him for actions that cause disrepute to the university. So I don't think that was a factor at all in this.
August 23rd, 2018 at 9:56 AM ^
Meyer would certainly have fought it in court, and I’m confident OSU’s general counsel had many conversations with Drake about the school’s prospects of winning. This is a tricky area of labor law.
August 23rd, 2018 at 9:51 AM ^
[double post deleted]
August 23rd, 2018 at 10:13 AM ^
Just because doing the right thing would be hard or cause alot of headaches doesn't excuse you from doing the right thing. The investigation didn't even go that deep. They could have looked further into it and found more evidence of Urban's blind eye toward staff transgressions. If the phone was a university phone, they have every right to go and get the records from the phone company. Wouldn't have been that hard.
If they fired him, I'm sure they'd settle. He wouldn't get his full buyout though. They might give him a portion just to get it over with, but they weren't going to be on the hook for the full amount.
August 23rd, 2018 at 10:28 AM ^
If “doing the right thing” is perfectly obvious, which it isn’t in this case, when you’re probably trying to do the least bad thing. Drake had a lot of competing demands he had to deal with. Thinking that it was an easy decision for him because — wife-beating — is virtue-signaling.
I’ll agree that, based on the report (and remember it’s an internal investigation, which is always a problem) the deletion of text messages ought to have been dealt with more seriously.
August 23rd, 2018 at 10:47 AM ^
I think it's perfectly obvious what the right thing to do in this case was. Any other conclusion is just ignoring reality or trying to avoid a drawn out legal battle over compensation. The investigation laid out what a piece of crap Urban was in dealing with this and then dismissed it as "focused on football and forgetful due to medication." They admit that Meyer and Smith didn't follow their contract. But they did so "in good faith." This is not me virtue signaling so get out of here with that bullshit. I'm on a freaking message board with an anonymous user name. Nobody is going to care one iota if I think myself to be morally superior to OSU.
Drake had just as much reason, if not more so, to fire Meyer than he did for the band director. The only arguable reason he didn't fire him is because of money or brand protection. Neither of which are valid reasons to not do the right thing for an institution with the size and resources of OSU. He's the president of the university. He deals with tough decisions every single day of his life and gets paid handsomely for it. And he fucked this one up.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:57 AM ^
You'll care if you think yourself morally superior.
And evidently you've never run anything or had to make personnel decisions. If you did, you'd know that saving the university $38 million is also a right thing to do. A president does, after all, have fiduciary obligations.
You're ignoring the question as to whether the school was prepared to fight a long and ugly lawsuit it had poor prospects of winning. I might not like the law, and you might not like the law, but the school knew what the law would allow.
I think Meyer is slimy and a liar, but in court it's about what you can prove.
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:42 PM ^
THEY FUCKING ADMITTED HE DIDN'T ADHERE TO HIS CONTRACT. That alone can knock some money off the buyout. I think you can argue that they could fire him with cause. Then Urban would have to sue to scratch some money off them, in which case they'd probably throw a few million his way (and they have one of the five biggest ADs in the country, so they got money to push around) to speed up legal procedures.
I have employees that work under me. I work in nonprofit. I know that if I don't make good decisions, my grants don't get renewed. I lose my job and the jobs of others. It's obviously not a multimillion dollar venture, but we have several grants in the hundreds of thousands. So fuck you in your virtue signaling.
August 23rd, 2018 at 1:48 PM ^
Ah yes, the old "fuck you" argument. Very convincing.
You don't think that OSU's lawyers went over all the permutations of this with Drake and the BoT? You think you have a better grasp of the legal issues from a distance?
August 23rd, 2018 at 9:29 AM ^
Am quite surprised that there wasn't a bigger public backlash.. maybe because strategically they had the press conference in the evening? Either way, if there were ever a time for the good guys to gain strength being in the moral high ground over MSU, OSU, even PSU, then the time is now. Hope the team gets strength from this, and theirs subconsicoulsy gets weaker, as they should.
August 23rd, 2018 at 9:36 AM ^
I think this firm got paid 500k, in part, due to the eventual hit on their credibility. Putting unsupported opinions in this "facual" report is the first large red flag.
The first of three stated actions of the investigation involved circumstances surrounding Smith's actions while at OSU, and the departments decisions in respect to these actions (in brief). As a result the sleeping with a low level football employee and her subsequent reassignment was one of the most important things to investigate.
The report confirms they were aware of the situation as they indicate it was a football secretary but not Smith's secretary. Ergo theretis no excuse for not fully investigating this. However they indicate no subordinate relationship and while some other employees were aware of the relationship, that they don't feel Meyer or the ad were.- end of discussion. No mention of the reassignment or if this lady was interviewed or if they looked into her reassignment at all. Elephants in the room, all.
Additionally there isn't a good way to justify how Meyer would not be aware of two of his employees sleeping together as others knew, and this is the stuff that everyone finds out about if/when some people do, especially the head coach that everyone wants to curry favor with. You didn't tell me about that??? Right.
Assuming arguendo that Meyer wasn't aware of scandal in his program, that speaks directly to his lack of leadership. This also was not discussed even though you cannot have one (lack of knowledge), without the other (lack of leadership). This report is simply a poor attemp at justifying his continued employment.
Finally, their statement of lack of subordinate relationship isn't credible. It doesn't sound like Smith had a secretary. This lady did whatever work needed in this highly fluid environment, and only "reported" to a certain person, maybe Meyer, though many likely gave her tasks. Did Smith have the ability to influence her performance in saying she was doing a lot to help him? What happens if he asked her to get him a coffee. Can she say no? Would it maybe impact her likability/ promotion potential if she often refuses his requests? This type of subordinate relationship is very common in smaller deparents like this. For this firm to pretend to not be aware of employment nuances and fully ignore them is laughable. For them to not even mention who had her reassigned is simply another indication this report was not intended to bring forth the truth.
August 23rd, 2018 at 10:42 AM ^
Also: Shelly Meyer is a licensed healthcare professional, whose code of conduct requires her to report incidents such as this. If she doesn't lose her license, there's an issue.
I'll also say this: there is NO chance that reports were filed with the police and they did not contact Meyer. It is SOP for the police to contact the coach in all such incidents.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:30 AM ^
This shouldn’t be over and hopefully it’s not. I hope he has to deal with this all season...is asked questions at every interview and game presser. Maybe he’ll develop ‘health’ problems again. And who is gonna make sure he’s not coaching in these 1st 3 games via texts or phone calls? The school??? I wouldn’t doubt he’ll still be making in game decisions through some form of communication. They are truely SEC north.