McmurphY: Tom Herman was not my source

Submitted by SugarShane on

For those who have asked for my response to Jeff Snook’s claim Saturday: “I have never revealed my sources in my nearly four decade journalistic career & I am not going to start now. However, I will say unequivocally that Tom Herman was not my source.”

 

https://twitter.com/brett_mcmurphy/status/1028354854656327681?s=21

Bambi

August 11th, 2018 at 3:59 PM ^

In general no. In this case it did because Snook was trying to create the narrative that Herman did this to make up for recruiting loses against OSU so they could so it's not true, just people (Courtney and Herman) who are vindictive against OSU.

Esssentially Urban's flinging shit at the wall hoping something will stick, using Snook as his mouth piece.

Joined: 10/12/2013

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Mr Miggle

August 11th, 2018 at 4:40 PM ^

I wonder.

They want to believe Courtney and McMurphy are the liars. Someone else like Herman or Warinner to blame too is fine. They'd like nothing more than to tie Harbaugh into it somehow.

Here's the problem. If they move on from Herman, that means Snook was telling outright lies. He's their guy. And if they don't believe him, who will? Snook is also quoted saying Courtney and Herman's wife are very close and talk every day. It will be interesting to see if Buckeye fans let this go or move on to blame Herman's wife.

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MGoStrength

August 11th, 2018 at 3:32 PM ^

This story just never goes away.  I have don't know if anyone broke the law or deserves to be fired.  What is clear is there are a lot people being disingenuous.  And, that screams to me that they are doing things they don't want others to know about, which means they are probably not trustworthy.

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LDNfan

August 11th, 2018 at 3:43 PM ^

Does that mean the desperate Bucknuts are back to blaming Ed Warinner? Blame the victim, blame McMurphy, blame Warinner, blame Herman, blame Gene Smith, blame Obama, blame Santa....

Gene is the only one that makes sense...he along with Zach and Urban should be bounced. But my guess is that only Gene will get the slip. 

 

 

 

Joined: 09/28/2014

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Leaders And Best

August 11th, 2018 at 3:53 PM ^

Buckeye fans are going off the rails. They are now digging to see if Tom Herman and his wife helped Courtney Smith with financial assistance or legal fees. The horror of actually helping the alleged victim of a former douchebag co-worker!

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1VaBlue1

August 11th, 2018 at 4:03 PM ^

What was the deal with people whining about Courtney's mom saying she wanted to bring down all of OSU?  I mean, so what?  She was let down by the entire football operation - from the AD down to the water boy that overheard something in the locker room at some point.  Meyer, especially, harbored a serial abuser - and let her down. 

Why the hell wouldn't she want to bring down the entire operation?

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Mr Miggle

August 11th, 2018 at 4:11 PM ^

I don't want to lend any credence to Snook's story, but I'll just throw this out there.

McMurphy's primary source is Courtney Smith. She is giving her accounts of what happened and supporting them with physical evidence where it exists. Obviously both she and McMurphy would like others to corroborate her story. He's gotten police records. She would probably start with the people she directly communicated with. Not only does she know them, but she has texts to support their memories.

So who were those people? The wives of coaches and staffers were mentioned prominently. That's a pretty good reason they are more likely sources than the coaches.

EDIT - Well, Tom Herman just shot down the idea that his wife was a source. It sounding more like Snook stumbled upon their financial help and ran with an invented story from there. One thing is sure, no way everyone is telling the truth. 

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Steeveebr

August 11th, 2018 at 4:37 PM ^

And Mr. Miggle.  Courtney is not his initial primary source.  Check out this SBNation article.  It's actual journalism.

https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2018/8/11/17679126/tom-herman-urban-meyer-zach-smith

His primary source initially was public records and multiple on-the-record interviews.

"Anonymous sources are common in reporting about alleged athletic department misconduct, as sources fear retribution for speaking out. McMurphy’s reporting on Ohio State has drawn heavily on public records and multiple on-the-record interviews, including with Courtney Smith, Zach Smith’s ex-wife who has accused him of serial abuse.

McMurphy recently explained to Deadspin how he got started on the story in July:

I heard Zach Smith had some domestic violence issues so I did a public records request in Florida and Ohio and found information that hadn’t been reported. I found it out on the Friday before Big Ten Media Days.

It’s not clear how Snook has reached the conclusion that Herman was the tipster."

This is not a case of him taking Courtney Smith at her word.

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Mr Miggle

August 11th, 2018 at 4:50 PM ^

I agree that he has gathered a lot of independent evidence. It looks like thorough reporting.

By no means is he just relying on her word. I'd still call her his primary source though. She has supplied him evidence to back up her claims. She might have also helped lead to some of those police records in Ohio.

We don't know how much he's holding back that he got from her. That text exchange between her and Zach was something he held back for the right time.

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kehnonymous

August 11th, 2018 at 4:53 PM ^

I mean, it clearly beggars belief that people connected to this case might be hesitant to come forward because they fear retribution and/or harassment from rabid Ohio State fans.

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Bambam

August 11th, 2018 at 5:55 PM ^

So this Jeff Snook is full of shit. I wonder if his "report" on Courtney Smith's mom being on Zach's side was fabricated? 

Not that anyone outside of OSUs fanbase believed that anyways. 

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Steeveebr

August 11th, 2018 at 7:19 PM ^

Which would be the exact thing that Jeff Snook claimed he had evidence of.  Of course, he'll provide that later.  Unless he already did, which in that case his only evidence is that in 2017 Herman and his wife urged their friend, Courtney to go public and provided financial assistance to a woman going through a divorce.  

Oh and let's not forget the damning evidence that Herman was "furious" when a recruit chose OSU over Texas.  

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Section 1.8

August 12th, 2018 at 10:21 AM ^

It's curious to me why anybody thinks that a leak or a source of McMurphy's "investigation" is a big deal at all in these circumstances.

Matt McMurphy is not exactly Bob Woodward or Sy Hersh in this case.  Somebody told him to check on Zach Smith's public record in Delaware County, and the moment that Zach Smith was fired (and Courtney had nothing to lose by publicly claiming "abuse" and her victim status), McMurphy got to see Courtney's text messages.  And that is just about all that McMurphy has done.

I truly don't see anything important about McMurphy's reportorial methods since his reporting hasn't been so remarkable in any event.  I have a particular disdain for the way that he has teased the story, and selectively released bits of text conversations here and there.

A serious news organization -- and not a douchebag sports guy like Matt McMurphy -- would not treat Courtney Smith as a kind of a client; they would take all of the information from all of her text messages and create a file for posting online, redacting any personal/protected information in the process.

  

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