A Football Decision at Ohio State

Urban Meyer's don't grow on tree's.  It's not hard to figure out how Michigan struggled after Lloyd retired or what type of program Alabama had before Saban arrived.    College Football long term success is greatly dependent on recruiting and the man that is leading your program.    It's clear that Ohio State took the path to continue to win football games over their core values as an educational institution.

Urban looked pissed and completely lacked remorse or compassion for Courtney Smith in the press conference yesterday.   There were leaks prior to Wednesday, that Urban was going to fight a suspension and it was clear last night those reports were accurate.   He apologized to Buckeye Nation but not the victim of abuse?  Urban clearly feels he did nothing wrong and should be back with his team today.

Why Urban only got suspended 3 games:

OSU has 38 Million reasons not to fire Urban Meyer.  They knew they would be on the hook for most of his salary and clearly didn't want to do that buy out.   It was also clear they spent 11 hours yesterday finding a way to keep one of the best coaches in college football in his role.

The investigation also provided guidance that Urban didn't do anything at Big Ten Media Day to knowingly deceive the media.  That he takes medication that effects his memory and focus.

In 2015, Gene Smith the AD took the information on Zach Smith to Urban Meyer and it was Gene Smith's responsibility to take it to compliance, which didn't happen.

Why Urban should have been fired:

The book on Urban Meyer for folks that personally know him is that is laser focused on recruiting and winning football games.  He doesn't have time for anything outside of that, which includes his family.  Remember, he left Florida because of health reasons and needing to spend more time with his family.  That makes him a good football coach but not a very good person outside of the Woody Hayes Center.   Urban said during the press conference that he didn't talk to his wife Shelly about one of his employees abusing his wife.  It's on record that Shelly was texting Courtney Smith about the abuse from Zach.    The night Urban fired Zach, Shelly texted him that she was concerned that Zach isn't stable and might do something dangerous.  Urban, didn't respond to his wife text message.

The issue for me is that Urban Meyer hired Zach Smith at Ohio State after he physically abused his pregnant wife while reportedly having an affair with Meyer's assistant while on staff at Florida.

Zach then continues his terrible behavior at Ohio State and Urban is shocked.   Many people around Ohio State's program knew Zach was a bad guy and I'm 100% certain Urban knew it as well.   In 2016, Urban even asked Zach to enter rehab.  Zach stayed 4 days in in a 10 day program.

Ohio State has wording in his contract about reporting any type of sexual assault to Compliance immediately.  If they wanted to make a case for termination for cause, they could have.

The not "lying" at Big Ten Media days is the one opinion during the investigation that doesn't hold any water.   Urban fired Zach Smith not because of the restraining order, but because Brett McMurphy found out what a bad guy Smith was.   Urban then starts the cover up by lying about the events in 2015 and deleting old text messages.   How the investigation concluded that wasn't a cover-up is just wrong and seems very inaccurate.

Here are the reasons why he should have been fired:

1. Urban hired Zach Smith at Ohio State knowing his past abuse
2. He continued to ignore Zach's terrible behavior at Ohio State 
3. Urban and Gene Smith seemly conspired to keep the 2015 information from Compliance 
4. Urban Meyer fires Zach Smith 3 years after the 2015 incident.  After the media finds out. 
5. Urban starts the cover-up at the Big Ten Media Day by lying about the 2015 incident 
6. Urban then deletes text messages that were older then one year before turning over his phone

The investigation report says that Urban Meyer fired Zach because he didn't let Urban know about the trespassing charge and the order of protection.  That since Zach didn't come forward on those incidents violated the core value of honesty, is just laughable.

If there is one sentence in that 23 page document that shows Urban Meyer doesn't get it and is lost.   It's that one.

It's very clear OSU made a football decision yesterday, now lets see what the parents of 2019+ class recruits thinks about sending their son to a guy that doesn't honor the core value of honesty.  

from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2018/08/a-football-decision-at-ohio-state.html