Spoliation is the Word of the Day
Word of the day: spoliation (n) - the action of ruining or destroying something.
When you intentionally destroy evidence relevant to a legal proceeding, you are spoliating evidence. In general, if a court finds that you spoliated evidence, it will sanction you with a "negative inference." That is to say that the court or jury will be allowed to assume that whatever was in that evidence, was unfavorable to you.
We will never know what was in the text messages that Urban Meyer deleted. Ohio State should have done the right thing and terminated Meyer for knowingly employing and retaining a coach who was a known abuser and an all around bad guy. If they had, they would have held a strong hand going into any wrongful termination suit: spoliation. The judge and the jury would likely have been able to infer that Urban Meyer had deleted text messages because he knew that they contained facts which would have been unfavorable to him.
August 23rd, 2018 at 10:12 AM ^
Though likely infuriating if you are in Ohio, where I understand they are totally buying this BS.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:26 AM ^
I really, really, REALLY don't mean this as a politically provocative comment, but I was wondering this morning...
I wonder how many of the Urban supporters in Ohio are perfectly fine with the fact that Urban deleted all his texts the minute this thing started unfolding, but yell "LOCK HER UP!" whenever someone mentions Hillary Clinton's email server? I'll bet that number is pretty large. ;-)
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:10 PM ^
There was a large number of Buckeye fans attacking McMurphy and his "motives" for releasing his report. I'm guessing the overlap between those people and the "fake news" crowd is pretty high
August 23rd, 2018 at 10:13 AM ^
OSU deserves to have Urban, he's the perfect Buckeye coach, lying scum bag. Tressel was a weasel and we knew but the rest of the country didn't till the end.
I like the "Death from a thousand paper cuts" that someone on here motioned. If they fired him they would bring in another questionable coach and they could hide behind the fact that they did the right thing. Fuck that.
The country now knows what we've known all along, let them be the laughing stock that they are, let Urban go to every press conference and not talk about it. Game Day signs will be epic, nut lifters, butt plugs all over the place. Gene "one isolated incident" Smith is perfect for those Morons as well.
Dorktonio at MSU is perfect. Meyer at OSU, perfect. I'm enjoying the teeth mashing at both. Bring on the season.
"The man in black pajamas, Dude. Worthy fucking adversary."
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:04 AM ^
What's the difference between Tressel and Meyer? One is an intentional liar and the other is an unintentional liar (according to OSO.) That's the difference between losing one's job and being suspended 3 games. They are, in fact, both liars. Kudos, OSU.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:48 AM ^
Tressel had "the Vest" persona going and no one knew he was a liar till the end. Urban bullshit was baked in the cake when the hired him.
August 23rd, 2018 at 10:13 AM ^
Urban Meyer looks like such a horrible human being. It's clear from the report that he knew all about everything but also that he doesn't care at all about the trauma he helped facilitate. What a loser.
August 23rd, 2018 at 10:46 AM ^
I'm sure that Ohio State helped him delete the text messages.
Probably did it for him.
August 23rd, 2018 at 10:52 AM ^
+1 for baseless and reckless speculation
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^
I wish it was baseless.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:12 AM ^
Wasn’t it the director of football operations that helped him do it? I thought that was in the report.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:27 AM ^
yes, the director of football operations discussed it with him. but the report does not indicate whose idea it was or suggest that anyone beyond the two of them were involved such that one could plausibly say that the school writ large was part of it or had a plan to delete the messages. (and yes, this reads like legalese because i am a lawyer)
August 23rd, 2018 at 2:41 PM ^
The director of football operations helped him.
August 23rd, 2018 at 10:46 AM ^
Could any of these older and now deleted texts be 1) recovered and 2) obtained via FOIA?
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:01 AM ^
Depends on if they're considered public records as defined by OSU and State of Ohio. Some messages may reach that status but I'm doubtful.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:08 AM ^
the definition of a "public record" under the ohio open records act is pretty broad - "'Public record' means records kept by any public office, including, but not limited to, state, county, city, village, township, and school district units . . . ." There are a bunch of exceptions that don't appear to apply here.
Meyer is a public employee, so he falls within the purview of the act. And from what I understand of how the school had begun processing the open records act for his text messages, it appears to have believed that his messages were responsive to the request. otherwise i imagine they simply would have issued a blanket denial of the request, and not asked meyer for his phone.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^
1) most likely, but i leave that to the tech experts to confirm.
2) unclear without a better understanding of the ohio open records act, but i'm guessing its unlikely. i assume that the open records act requires a public entity/agency to make a reasonable search for records in its possession that are responsive to a request - meaning not burdensome. thus, i also expect that it is unlikely that an entity/agency would be required to recreate records that have been destroyed, even if it is possible and not terribly difficult.
August 23rd, 2018 at 10:48 AM ^
Pardon my French: urban is a f*cking scumbag
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:15 AM ^
I could watch that all day.
August 23rd, 2018 at 10:48 AM ^
I'm wondering what Ohio State was avoiding more: firing Urban and maybe losing a few more games over the next couple years, or firing Urban and being subject to a wrongful termination suit from Urban, and a long expensive fight over the $38M buyout. Undoubtedly both played a factor into the ultimate decision.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:26 AM ^
I don't think so. The facts in the report gave them more than enough grounds to fire Meyer for cause. If that's what they wanted to do, all those excuses for Meyer wouldn't have been featured in the report. They would have agreed to a buyout to keep Meyer from suing. It wouldn't have to be near $38M.
August 23rd, 2018 at 10:51 AM ^
Urban is getting destroyed by every single media outlet today. And this will never let up, and will be a cloud over his head going forward. He will quit within 2 years tops, another "focus on my health" type thing.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:06 AM ^
Ohio State is the Big Ten's resident SEC team.
And they are perfectly fine with that.
They have no shame, so they are not going to care one bit about being shamed.
They know they just got away with something and they think that's awesome.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:11 AM ^
OSU is treating the media as if they're stupid, so yes, this will continue to be the proverbial "2 day" story. Had there been any kind of honest statement, or remorse, apology, something... that could have helped mitigate some of the blowback being heard this morning.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:30 AM ^
Damn you for making me turn on ESPN for a non football game.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:36 AM ^
Sorry pal, but this will die down. Especially once football season starts, or if another MSU discovery pops up. Yeah people will still say Meyer is a sleaze, but they won't be writing or commentating about it.
This is how today's media cycle works. Scandal happens, everyone expresses personal outrage and "thoughts and prayers" until the next scandal/controversy happens, and then everyone shifts their attention to that next controversy and the cycle then starts all over again.
Its the same reason that no one is talking about MSU anymore. They're old news.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:21 AM ^
When Urban said last night he never knew about the text messages between Courtney and Shelley in 2015, I swear, you could actually see his nose growing.
And, seriously, what is the rationale behind Gene Smith's 17-day suspension? I can't believe they didn't make him the sacrificial lamb. The investigation, report and press conference were all so very amateur hour.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:33 AM ^
We didn't learn anything about Meyer that we haven't already known for the last 10-12 years. He's a great coach but a win-at-all-costs sleazeball who doesn't care about taking the high road if it costs him a game or two. Again, great coach, but an arrogant POS who knows he has the AD, BoT, and whole fanbase wrapped up in his pocket. They're all unequivocally in his corner, blindly going down with him to the bitter end if necessary.
We also didn't learn anything about OSU that we haven't already known since Tressel-gate. It's an institution that values its football team's success over anything and everything else. I've said this at least 10 times in other threads, but if this had happened to John Cooper, he wouldn't have been retained. OSU would've fired his ass before he could even get back from media day in Chicago. But its Urban Fucking Meyer so OSU will burn the whole damn state to the ground before it gets rid of him. They'll fire every other employee at that university, from the janitor working the graveyard shift up to the president, before they fire him.
August 23rd, 2018 at 11:35 AM ^
Watching the ESPN "Get Up" and Greeny (not doing Mike and Mike anymore?) is hammering them. Interviewing Jay Bilas who is in Ohio and he is saying the same things on this board.
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^
Everyone is focusing on Urban deleting all texts over a year old, yet the crack 'investigative' team was 'unable to retrieve' any of AD Smith's and Brian Voltolini's texts...Not a single text? Nothing to see here...
"The Scope of the Investigative Work1.
General Description: Over 40 witnesses were interviewed in the Independent Investigation, many more than once, in person and over the phone. More than 60,000 electronic documents and 10,000 pages of Coach Meyer’s text messages from the past year were accessed and reviewed, in addition to relevant media statements, police reports, court filings, the employment contracts of Coach Meyer and AD Smith, other documents,relevant OSU and NCAA rules and policies, and applicable state and federal laws. We also reviewed photos and text messages provided by Courtney Smith, Coach Meyer’s calendar entries, and other materials provided by witnesses. We attempted to, but were unable to retrieve text messages for certain witnesses, including AD Smith, Brian Voltolini, Chief of Football Operations, and Zach Smith"
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:16 PM ^
Here's a fun read from 2013:
http://www.news-herald.com/sports/20131203/column-urban-meyer-represent…;
August 23rd, 2018 at 12:34 PM ^
How is him deleting text messages different from Tom Brady destroying his phone? Both actions seem to be red flags in an investigation.
August 23rd, 2018 at 1:28 PM ^
My two cents... if this is kept loud enough, then maybe it can turn into the glue that keeps our program focused and needing to now beat them... much like sparty little brother comment... that unified them and got them on track, and we know the results since. maybe with now ALL three rivals skating on bad stuff, maybe the players unconsciously think that we MUST beat them...
August 23rd, 2018 at 1:49 PM ^
Any chance the NCAA steps in to conduct their own review - especially after reading everything that came to surface in the 23 page report?
August 23rd, 2018 at 1:58 PM ^
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith has been suspended along with Urban Meyer for his missteps in handing allegations against a former assistant football coach, but it will apparently not cost him his spot on the College Football Playoff Selection Committee
August 23rd, 2018 at 2:17 PM ^
Even some posters at 11W are feeling a little uneasy about the details in the report, and that tells you a lot!