NYCBlue

August 31st, 2018 at 12:20 PM ^

From the ESPN article on this:  "Acting coach Ryan Day said last week that he has never witnessed Meyer's memory issues affect his coaching ability."

My thought:  "Urban has an acting coach?  Wow, considering how bad he is at acting, I am shocked."

CLion

August 31st, 2018 at 12:21 PM ^

Completely pointless statement. Not sure what he thought he was accomplishing except to make it more clear he is only concerned about his own image and that he is furious he has been subjected to all of this.

Heywood_Jablome

August 31st, 2018 at 12:21 PM ^

Probably feels the need to reiterate the committee's findings since the fake news media has totally distorted this story to fit their agenda. 

He was suspended for cumulative stuff regarding Zach Smith, not the domestic violence itself.

bacon1431

August 31st, 2018 at 12:27 PM ^

I have not seen many saying he was suspended for covering up domestic violence. In fact, I’m not really sure I’ve seen anybody say that in the media. Some believe he did cover up domestic violence, which is their opinion. The only people that read that report and thought Urban was suited to keep his job were OSU fans and the BOT and administration. 

Ghost of Fritz…

August 31st, 2018 at 1:23 PM ^

Bottom line:  When an outside firm is hired to do this sort of thing the purpose is to give the client (here OSU) some plausible credibility.  So report has to be at least to the level where those who want to believe what is says can say 'see they did an independent legit report.'

But it is also true that the firms that get hired know that they will not get this kind of lucrative business going forward if they dig very deeply and/or return a scathing report.

So these outside law firm investigation reports end up not being a total joke.  But they are sort of a joke. 

The outside firm usually ends of giving all benefit of doubt and ambiguity to the hiring entity, and a lot of nefarious wrongdoing that actually did happen ends up not making it into such reports and/or being soft pedaled. 

OSU got what they paid for--enough of a fig leaf of 'outside and objective' to use it as the reason to keep Meyer. 

The law firm got what it wanted--billables plus issuance of the kind of report that won't scare off potential future business.

Section 1.8

August 31st, 2018 at 12:38 PM ^

I must say; looking at the revealed text messages behind that aspect of the investigation, I have a much greater appreciation for Meyer's version of those events.

Have all of you read that part of the document disclosure?  Specifically the redacted group text at p. 475?

I actually agree with the Meyer defenders who say that that particular document supports the notion that Meyer knew nothing about any "felony" (which was a reporting error).

Section 1.8

August 31st, 2018 at 3:05 PM ^

Meyer knew about the 2015 events.  Meyer did not know about a 2015 "felony", or any other felony, because there hadn't been any felonies.

I think that what Meyer said was clumsy and stupid, in retrospect.  But the question in reviewing Meyer was whether there was a kind of mens rea and whether it was a lie warranting dismissal.

Just like Brady Hoke.

ijohnb

August 31st, 2018 at 1:06 PM ^

He did not take a very good piece of advice in that string of texts.  He should have said all he was going to say about Zach Smith in his opening statement at media days and then said he wasn't going to take any questions about it after that.  It looks like the people prepping him were aware of how much of a time-bomb the situation was but that Meyer was not treating it with that level of urgency. 

Section 1.8

August 31st, 2018 at 2:13 PM ^

I actually agree with your comment.  That would have been a much smarter play on Meyer's part.  You're right.

But it didn't happen that way.  Meyer spoke, and misspoke, and what happened, happened.  All that I am saying is that the way that Meyer's Media Days comments were subsequently explained, was consistent with what we saw in that text page.

 

bacon1431

August 31st, 2018 at 5:05 PM ^

This is bullshit. He had 9 opportunities to clear things up, plus he could have come out and gave statements before he was even asked about it. Instead he accused the press of making stuff up when they hadn’t even said anything beyond questions. It was asinine. Why does he deserve any benefit of the doubt when he has been untruthful this entire process? 

Ron Utah

August 31st, 2018 at 1:25 PM ^

How does this help Meyer's case?  He specifically ignored the direction of his PR team and AD.  Meyer did not ever mention the 2009 incident (as prompted to do so) or the 2015 incident (as prompted to do so) and certainly never conceded that there had been any issues with Zach and his ex-wife (as prompted to do so).

He lied.  Terribly.  But that's not even the worst part.  The worst part remains that in a DV issue (whether the DV is provable in court or not) Meyer's reaction was to protect the reputation of Zach Smith instead of to address the issue.  "Respect for Women" is just marketing for Urbz.

grumbler

August 31st, 2018 at 6:09 PM ^

Meyer did precisely what Title IX was designed to prevent:  he went with GSmith to "investigate" reported domestic abuse, asked the alleged perp if he did it, was told "no," and so decided that there was nothing to the story.  US law, university regulations, and his own contract state that he cannot do this; he has to report even the suspicion of violence against women committed by OSU employees or students, or against OSU employees or students, to the Title IX coordinator.  He is forbidden to make any judgements regarding violence against women on his own.

The report was clear that he was in violation of all these obligations.

Hoke told a white lie to cover for a player who was on his way home to tell his parents he had been kicked out of school.  Remember that there were only three days between the expulsion and Hoke's comment.  Hoke shouldn't have lied (should have cited student privacy instead), but it was nothing on the scale of Meyers's offenses.

Ghost of Fritz…

August 31st, 2018 at 1:38 PM ^

Even if Meyer did not know that it was a "felony," so what? 

First, Meyer is not credible.

But even if it were true that Meyer did not know this detail, he absolutely knew that Z Smith was a terrible employee in a dozen different ways. 

So even if Meyer did not some some narrow and particular detail (and let's be honest, Meyer DID know most the the details), he absolutely knew that Smith was just an irresponsible Jerry Springer Show guest since forever.  And yet he kept renewing Smith and giving him big raises.

And so when Meyer got wind of the DV issues (and no, I do not believe that Shelly hid this from him), there is no way that he could possibly have thought 'oh, but this cannot be true BC Z Smith is a man of high integrity, trust, etc., etc....'

This whole thing very simple.  Here is what happened:  Meyer knew since forever that Z Smith repeatedly did things that would and should get just about anyone with a paycheck fired.  And he also knew of DV allegations (at least).  And Meyer extended him and gave him huge raises repeatedly.  And when it went public, then and only then did Meyer fire him.  Had it not gone public, Z Smith would still be OSU's receivers coach.

--The End.

JR3410

August 31st, 2018 at 2:09 PM ^

Give me a break.  If Urban wasn't lying at media day because he was only discussing the false arrest report, then he did something just as bad by withholding some pretty important information about something else that happened in 2015 regarding Zach Smith: the actual police investigation.  Maybe the arrest report was wrong, but that police investigation was significant enough that it should have been addressed, (and in that link you just provided Gene Smith specifically tells him to mention the 2009 and 2015 "legal instances").  

 

You take that in conjunction with him withholding the 2009 incident from OSU and deleting text messages once this whole story broke, here is a guy that is willing to go to great lengths to cover up information and it looks like his actions at media day fall in line with that.

 

Urban is full of shit, OSU is full of shit and so is anyone else defending them in how they have handled this whole situation.  

UM Fan from Sydney

August 31st, 2018 at 12:23 PM ^

I'd like to know the names of the lawyers who put that spin job together. There is no chance in hell Meyer made that himself.