Meyer releases statement:
Gene Smith never beat Nick Saban in a playoff game, so I know where my money is . . .
If urbans obligation was to inform his superior, Gene Smith, And he did, then urban will survive I believe.
if Gene Smith Satisfied his obligation by investigating with the police department and dropping it after no charges were filed, then I can see how he keeps his job as well.
The over arching question is whether or not the president and the powers at be at Ohio State want this type of a look at their institution. If they are OK with it then I can see how everyone survives.
August 3rd, 2018 at 10:37 PM ^
I completely agree with that vast majority of your post. It will come down to what the committee finds and the look that the university is willing to accept.
Where I find pause is the interview with Zach today on ESPN. He said the Powell police department contacted Gene and Gene called him back to Columbus from a recruiting trip. In that case Gene would have notified Urban, not the other way around so Gene was definitely in the loop. Gene is the same guy that fired Tressel, why didn’t he fire Zach if there was merit? I really want to hear his statement and I want the police department to say what they told him. What they told him isn’t protected by their BS “open case” excuse.
My guess is that, as he claims in his twitter post, Meyer did in fact technically comply with OSU internal policies in 2015 and inform (perhaps his AD) about the Zach Smith incident.
Of course Meyer knew that nothing would happen and he would not have to rock the program's boat by dismissing Smith.
Meyer's letter on his twitter today was a shot across the bow at OSU Pres Drake. Drake (not Gene Smith) is the guy that will decide how this all ends.
Meyer's basic message to Drake: 'I told my AD back in 2015. So you can't fire me for cause. Either keep me or fire me and pay me my $38 million.'
Drake is probably not as much of a push over as Gordon Gee. But it is not easy to swallow a $38 million liability.
I'm starting to wonder about contagion
Maybe the question isn't 'is it Urban or Gene who gets thrown under the bus', but rather 'in addition to those two, who else knew? Broom them all!'
Maybe Day was selected to coach because he is the least likely to be infected among the staff.
I hope this is the case, and if so I applaud Drake's prescience
I'm to the point where I hope Meyer keeps his job so Harbaugh can turn the tables on him. This has to hurt his recruiting spiel with parents.
Yikes, I am going to get roasted for being a Buckeye but I hope your post is just venting with frustration at the entire situation, just as we are. I hope you’re not advocating for keeping a coach, IF he enabled, simply to help your program recruit. That is pretty messed up. For the record, I am going to wait until the investigation is complete before I grab my pitchfork.
No, it's more I'd just like to see Jim Harbaugh get to see things through and beat your slimey coach. Take your capitalized IF and stick it. I do think Meyer should be fired, just don't trust it will happen.
I respect your opinion that he should be fired. If abuse was known, I do as well. But again, this is a breaking story and the facts need to come out, starting with the complete police reports.
I would tell you to take your horribly misspelled “slimey” (it’s spelled slimy) and stick it, but I’d prefer to keep this civil.
August 4th, 2018 at 10:01 AM ^
"The facts need to come out."
That is exactly why Drake put Meyer on leave and then appointed a group from outside the AD to oversee the investigation. The idea is to channel things into an investigation, stop the media event, and provide a credible foundation for whatever decision Drake will ultimately make.
From the OSU Pres. perspective, that is the way to deal with this kind of thing. But both Meyer and Zach Smith's moves yesterday go against all of that.
Both Meyer and Smith are looking out for their own interests. OSU's interest is to have no one issuing statements (other than the University itself through official University channels), and letting the commission do its work.
Meyer just kicked Pres Drakes legs out from under him. At this point it is a question of whether Drake wants to establish that he is bigger than Meyer at OSU, or in the alternative allow Meyer to act in ways that the Pres of the damn University cannot control.
Gordon Gee was fine with than. Unclear whether Drake will tolerate it. Could go either way.
Right now Drake is thinking "Holy crap I am the Pres of OSU and I am the one who is supposed to decide how to control the process and the narrative, not Urban Meyer. Meyer just moved his chess piece to protect himself and prevent firing for cause. And he did it publicly."
And Drake has to decide whether he can live with that, or whether he has is going to re-establish himself as the real boss at OSU, which means getting rid of Meyer and his self serving public power moves.
Ah dammit I agree with the buckeye.
You would think so. But if there's one thing we've learned it's that Meyer is very good at lying and manipulating.
If in fact OSU keeps Meyer based on even thinnest barely plausible argument, it will have no impact on recruiting at all.
Perhaps, but Urban lied on B1G Media Day and he's blaming Gene Smith in this BS statement. If Gene is fired, some parents and recruits might view this as the old blame the black guy trick, especially since Urban should've fired Zach at Florida, and Meyer shouldn't need a lot of prep to be truthful.
Look at Penn State, and now MSU. No evidence that their recruiting suffered at all. OSU will have a nice story to explain it all and Meyer explain how many guys got drafted etc...
No reason to believe Gene Smith will be dismissed (at least not yet). Just BC Meyer claims he informed in 2015 does not mean Gene Smith gets fired. Smith can very plausibly say he looked into it and it was too uncertain to require that Zach Smith be fired.
August 3rd, 2018 at 10:19 PM ^
I think that if it is found that they knew he abused his wife, recruiting will suffer if they keep Meyer. PSU brought in a new coach and MSU is MSU. If however, it is found that the university relied on the police and had no evidence to fire Smith, the hit may not be as bad.
Crucify me of you choose, I have tried to put myself in a similar position and asked what I would have done. If the wife of a good friend called the police and claimed DV, there was no arrest, he swore it never happened, who would I believe? If I knew him well and the police didn’t find anything and he swore it never happened, there is a reasonable chance I would think we was not guilty. Maybe I’m just an immoral mysoginist.
As a head football coach however, after the first time it was alleged in 09 and I thought it would never happen again, I would have fired him at the first whisper of it the second time for not being able to represent the university regardless if it was true or not. The university is bigger than any one person, Meyer or a second rate position coach.
August 3rd, 2018 at 10:36 PM ^
In this case, however, Zach Smith had a lot of incidents. Not really the same as one incident with an arguably plausible denial/"well is was a complicated situation" excuse.
Arrests or not, I believe that head coaches find out when their staff gets involved in stuff.
At any rate, if Meyer is retained I do not believe recruiting will suffer at all.
August 3rd, 2018 at 10:44 PM ^
I could not agree more, there were several incidents and he should have been fired. I can semi-understand a second chance in ‘09, but I can’t understand retaining him after that regardless of his guilt. You represent the university and if you can’t keep your personal life from impacting the university, you have to go. As cold hearted as it may sound, you HAVE to do this even if you think firing him will make it worse for the victim.
Incidents not incisdents, as well.
August 3rd, 2018 at 11:30 PM ^
If you're gonna play spelling cop around this blog, you'd better watch your own p's and q's. It's "misogynist", bucko.
Only calling you out because you did it to someone else.
August 4th, 2018 at 12:02 AM ^
Lol, fair point
Did Meyer ever report the 2009 abuse at UF to OSU as required in his contract?
It will make very little difference at all in recruiting.
August 3rd, 2018 at 11:17 PM ^
This is true, unfortunately. On the list of things that recruits consider when picking a university, past scandals are not a highly prioritized item.
Only people defending Urban is their fan base, everybody else thinks you’re all morons for sticking up for that sorry pile of dog shit. Let’s hope O$U does the right thing for once and fires Gene and Urban. I doubt it seeing how they have no morals and only care about winning. It’s crazy that Courtney Smith has undeniable proof that she was abused and yet OSU fans still defend Urban to the fullest. What a sorry excuse for a university.
This was probably what Smith and Urban's meeting covered. Smith probably told him to lie and direct towards him to create an out.
Edit: After a second look it kind of reads like a farewell.
August 3rd, 2018 at 10:18 PM ^
Great coach but a habitual sleaze.
Some people never change. Urbz is one of them.
August 3rd, 2018 at 11:45 PM ^
Self-righteous lying piece of trash
August 3rd, 2018 at 11:46 PM ^
Gene Smith is screwed.
My bet is that Urban and that POS Zach Smith spent some time on burner phones yesterday getting this story straight, OSU lawyers drafted that weasel-ass statement, and in the end all the shit is going to land on Gene Smith's lap. He'll be fired, Meyer will get a BS 3 game sorta-suspension, Zach Smith has been well paid off by the bag men. Problem solved.
And I could have puked when I read the statement "I never punched my wife".
This is a farce. The President & Regents of OSU will show no integrity. OSU really is a shitstain institution. I could be wrong. But I'm not.
August 4th, 2018 at 12:10 AM ^
That is quite a leap but easily proven false if you’re Gene Smith. According to ZS, the Powell police department contacted Gene. If Gene was never told, the phone records would easily prove that call never happened and the call from Gene to ZS, calling him back from a recruiting trip would easily be disproven as well.
August 3rd, 2018 at 11:57 PM ^
First reaction: Lawyers earned their money in drafting that statement. If facts asserted are true, it's unlikely Meyer gets fired for cause. After reading the statement a second time: Even now, the guy is self-righteous, and reluctant to admit blame, which is at least partially what got him into trouble in the first place. Up next: Meyer and Smith throw the ex-wife under the bus. I know these things are messy and Meyer deserves the right to tell his side of the story, but I have a feeling his actions will again fail to live up to his rhetoric.
I want to sell swamp land via network marketing. Can I hire Meyer's PR guy? That was some great sales copy.
Great tweet from John Kryk.
If Urban Meyer reported the 2015 incident to his superiors, then why did Santiago have to be transferred off the base?