Well, it appears Ohio State has found themselves to be the topic of all sports media right now and it’s not for announcing Dwayne Haskins as the starting quarterback. In fact, it’s more along the lines of switching up Ryan Day’s title from quarterback coach to interim head football coach. That’s right folks, Urban Meyer has been placed on paid administrative leave for allegedly knowing his assistant coach, Zach Smith, had domestic abuse charges made against him by his ex-wife, Courtney, dating back to 2015.
Smith is the grandson of former OSU Coach, Earl Bruce and has had connections to Meyer since he was a kid. He was a football walk on at Bowling Green State University while Meyer was head coach, served as an assistant coach at Florida and then multiple years at Ohio State as a wide receivers coach and strong recruiter. Meyer has released a statement and while his statement shows cooperation to resolve the issue at hand, it leaves many reporters and fans in doubt of him returning as the Buckeyes’ head coach.
“Gene and I agree that being on leave during this inquiry will facilitate its completion,” Meyer said. “This allows the team to conduct training camp with minimal distraction. I eagerly look forward to the resolution of this matter.”
Courtney Smith states she texted Shelley Meyer multiple times with photos of the abuse and Shelley informed her she would need to tell Urban. Courtney was fine with knowing what it would do to her ex-husband’s name and how much light it would bring to her personal life. As there is no proof that Shelley shared this information with Meyer, being a head coach’s wife myself (at the high school level, nothing under a microscope like the Meyer’s life) I know I would share this information with my husband if it pertained to someone on his staff.
So has Meyer been lying? Will Shelley fall on the sword for her husband and take full credit for the knowledge and not sharing it with her husband? These questions and more will all be discovered as an investigation is underway. In the mean time, Ryan Day and Company will head the Buckeye football program while trying to block out all distractions as we are approaching just four weeks from the Buckeyes taking the field against Oregon State.
