On July 25, the Ohio State student newspaper requested emails and text messages between Meyer and Zach Smith, and between Meyer and Gene Smith relating to Zach Smith.

McMurphy's first report on this story was published on August 1.

On August 2, Meyer handed his phone over to be checked -- and all text messages more than one year old had been deleted. The report of the investigation says that Meyer set his phone to delete messages more than a year old, and investigators couldn't prove whether Meyer set his phone to delete old messages after the student newspaper request, or after the McMurphy report, or before then.

The Ohio State administration asked Meyer's staff to turn Urban's phone over on July 26, but it wasn't handed over until August 2. The staff member who was asked to get Meyer's phone on July 26 was Amy Nicol, the woman who Zach Smith had brought home with him in Gainesville on the night of his first wedding anniversary when, according to Courtney Smith, Zach ended up throwing Courtney (who was pregnant) against the bedroom wall.

Wow.

https://twitter.com/YahooSportsCFB/statu...7027248129

So, Ohio State is covering up a coach who tried to protect an assistant coach who is an abuser? Wait for pitchforks protesters coming out that the board members and Meyer to resign. All Ohio state cares about is winning.

Did anybody really expect anything serious to come of this for Meyer/OSU?

This statement belongs on the 'Spin Room' page.

"Other than their misunderstanding of the requirements triggering reporting obligations, neither Coach Meyer nor Athletic Director Smith violated any policy, rules, law or contractual obligation in connection with the alleged domestic abuse claims against Zach Smith."

This is proof that it's getting worse before it gets better. In the face of serious, awful incidents, in a structure like higher ed where the hierarchy is supposedly everything, but really isn't, this is the result you get: the university's top leadership refuse to make top officials and leaders truly accountable. This is about an assistant coach; those above him, coach and AD, could have done more, but that's apparently not a crime.

Foxes watching the hen house. Only in higher ed does quality assurance roll down. Heck, at these schools, it's the candy's fault it didn't get wrapped.

(08-23-2018 06:20 AM)bearcatfan Wrote:  Did anybody really expect anything serious to come of this for Meyer/OSU?

A lot of us did. Look back two to three weeks ago and many of us said "he's gone".

We were wrong. We underestimated tOSU's desire to win football games.

Can anyone articulate what the difference is between "lying" and "deliberately lying"? The report read like Urban did not speak the truth (but believed what he said?); however, from the response from Drake and Smith, it most definitely does not sound like that was/is the case. The report also alludes to "memory issues" as to reason why Urban "did not deliberately lie" at the B1G media days, as well as taking medication that can "impair his memory, concentration and focus".

That quote is only interesting because Meyer was quoted in 2014 that "he remembers every single snap from the two SEC title games against Alabama". It certainly sounds like Meyer only "forgets" things when it is potentially damaging and/or harmful to him.

https://thespun.com/big-ten/ohio-state-f...at-florida

If I'm Jim Tressel, I'd be furious - as he, too, did not forward "relevant" information to his superiors either (and he was asked to resign). Interesting that you have two different scandals involving a head coach, yet similar in terms of professional responsibility/notification, and two different punishments.

(08-23-2018 08:18 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(08-23-2018 06:20 AM)bearcatfan Wrote:  Did anybody really expect anything serious to come of this for Meyer/OSU?

A lot of us did. Look back two to three weeks ago and many of us said "he's gone".

We were wrong. We underestimated tOSU's desire to win football games.

Honestly I think timing saved Meyer's ass. This happened at the very end of July, give two weeks for the school to figure how bad the problem is and you are looking at mid-August with the season to start in a couple weeks. With $150M tied up in Athletics and the most important sport starting up in two weeks, they really didn't have time to make the full sweep getting rid of Meyer would entail. When you push out Meyer others will go or have to be pushed out. It would be chaos. Ten years ago when the football operation was more like a 20 people it was doable, but now that it's over 100 it's difficult.

Had this broke in November through May time frame I think they would have fired Meyer outright (if during the football season they'd have suspended him, then fired after the season). There would have been time to get a replacement staff before the next football cycle/season.

But coming at the very end of July and the decision time in August made it nearly impossible to fire Meyer without sacrificing the season. Simply too much tied up in that for tOSU to trash even one year.

*****************

As cover ups go this is typical. It was not anything planned, just protecting an incompetent relative of a close friend. Everything was there to fall through the cracks. The picture I get is he skated on the edge of being fired for years, with bad move after bad move, but Meyer held back. There were red flags in his treatment of his wife, but what is not said by all is his wife was considered to also be unreliable also (it shows up in Shelley and Urban Meyer's minimizing or not fully believing her). Worse these things happened mostly far enough apart that he recovered his performance enough that it was forgotten. It was just enough for Meyer to use judgement on what to report when he should have reported it all. Had he done so, he probably would have terminated him back in 2015 or 2016.

But this is what conspiracy looks like. An amateur hour effort. Always believing it will clear itself up. Not fully following procedure, not recording events that should be recorded. Had the incidents been properly recorded, compliance and HR would have flagged it, 'hey this guy has too many demerits' maybe three years ago.

https://www.wralsportsfan.com/osu-decisi.../17790223/

I find it hard to argue with anything in this opinion piece.

Now we just have to wait, wait and see if he can stay out of trouble in the future.

(08-23-2018 05:53 PM)sierrajip Wrote:  Now we just have to wait, wait and see if he can stay out of trouble in the future.

I think it’s more a matter of what he’s already done that will also get exposed.

And that is what makes Ohio State look so bad for this. Get ahead if it so others don’t beat you to it. And it was done for them and they STILL managed to bungle the response.

Sports media are saying Ohio State did the wrong thing. He should have been fired.

As an Ohio State guy, I have tried to stay neutral until the results/report were out.
I honestly feel like Urban Meyer should have been fired. Reading this report just shows how much he covered for Zach. If this was a player they would have been dismissed a long time ago. Can't have a higher standard for a player than you do for a coach, just my honest opinion.

Sent from my SM-G920V using CSNbbs mobile app

(08-22-2018 10:24 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  I don't get it - the girl's own mother says she made it up. That there was no domestic violence.

So Urban gets suspended 3 games for lying to the press? Sounds like overkill to me.

He gets suspended for 3 games because of the environment.

I don't think he had any business getting involved in domestic disputes. Both sides have a tendency to lie about a lot of stuff in marital disputes. Seems probable he did at least some of what was claimed, but it is a personal situation, not on the job behavior. The police knew about it. They are the ones to handle it, not the employer to decide guilty until proven innocent.