Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you should all be aware of the controversy at The Ohio State University. But let us begin with some background: on July 23, 2018, Urban Meyer fired wide receivers coach Zach Smith due to facing a charge of criminal trespassing. Then at Big Ten Media Days, Urban Meyer denied knowing of any domestic violence allegations against his former wide receivers coach Zach Smith until someone had informed him the night prior through a text. This is only just the beginning of a complicated story.
Jump to August 2, 2018: an interview with Courtney Smith (Zach Smith's Ex-Wife) was published and skyrocketed to the news headlines all across the country. In this interview, she describes the details of the alleged assault against her from her husband in 2015. She then also goes on to say that she had told Urban Meyer's wife Shelley Meyer about all of the events that had taken place. Shelley Meyer was quick to support Courtney once she had shown Shelley the pictures of the assault. Later this day Ohio State announced that it would be putting Urban Meyer on administrative leave immediately.
This now leads us to August 3, 2018; Zach Smith decided to do an interview with ESPN. During this interview, he denied any abuse towards his ex-wife and says that the relationship was just extremely toxic. Also during this interview, he said that he first found out of these allegations from the Athletic Director Gene Smith who was told from the Powell Police Department. Zach also goes into the conversation he had with Urban Meyer about the incident. According to Zach, he reassured Urban that the Powell Police Department was already involved and that Gene Smith had already known as well. During this interview, Urban Meyer also released a statement on the issue where he said he was aware of the incident which had taken place in 2015 and had taken the appropriate steps after hearing about the allegations of domestic violence.
Now, this is where I have an issue with all of the events. Once Urban Meyer became aware of the situation he said he reported it. To whom he reported it to, we do not know, but we can assume it was Athletic Director Gene Smith. Urban took the appropriate steps to report this matter, but his name is being shamed and plastered all over the media. So why is everyone portraying Urban Meyer as the bad guy? The media is more concerned with Urban Meyer's actions rather than the alleged abuser Zach Smith and alleged victim Courtney Smith. Urban Meyer has been a scapegoat for Ohio State; he has taken the most backlash and heat from this incident. Why isn't Gene Smith talked about like Urban Meyer is? Urban Meyer did everything he was called to do and took the appropriate steps of reporting what had happened to his bosses. The only mistake Urban has made at this point was lying to the media but which coach hasn't lied to the media? We have multiple presidents that have lied to the media, and frankly, sometimes the media lies to the public.
Many people have called for the firing of Urban Meyer, which is complete and utter nonsense. Urban Meyer honestly did nothing wrong. The media needs to change their focus to the alleged abuser Zach Smith and also Athletic Director Gene Smith.
After all, Urban Meyer was hired at Ohio State to coach football and win football games. He was not hired to be the marriage counselor for coaches or become a top investigator; he was there to coach, and that is what he did. Urban Meyer fulfilled his duties as coach and as well as reporting any incidents that he is required to report. Urban Meyer will have unwavering support from me and thousands of other Ohio State fans all across the world. Coach Meyer should not be the scapegoat for this scandal.
Go Buckeyes and bring back Coach Meyer.
