Urban Meyer and Zach Smith broke their silence Friday afternoon — a college football giant and a fired assistant coach trying to restore their reputations.
Meyer, who is on paid leave as Ohio State’s head coach, said in a statement that he “failed” during interviews at Big Ten media days in Chicago when he claimed he had no knowledge of Smith’s 2015 domestic-violence allegations.
“My intention was not to say anything inaccurate or misleading,” Meyer said in the statement. “However, I was not adequately prepared to discuss these sensitive personnel issues with the media, and I apologize for the way I handled those questions.”
More important, Meyer insisted he “followed proper reporting protocols and procedures” regarding the 2015 incident and made it clear he will not resign from Ohio State, where he is 73-8 over six seasons with a national title and two Big Ten championships.
“I ask that you continue to support the incredible coaches and student-athletes in our program, and I look forward to rejoining them soon,” Meyer said in the statement addressed to “Buckeye Nation.”
Smith, meanwhile, in an interview with ESPN denied committing acts of domestic violence against then-wife Courtney, even though an extensive report by veteran college football reporter Brett McMurphy included seemingly damning photos and text messages between Courtney Smith and Shelley Meyer, Urban’s wife.
Zach Smith — whom Meyer fired July 23 as his wide receivers coach after a charge in May of criminal trespassing for driving to his ex-wife’s residence — told ESPN that athletic director Gene Smith called him to campus in 2015 after Courtney Smith said she had been assaulted by her husband.
Zach Smith said Urban Meyer confronted him, saying, “What the hell’s going on? What is this?”
Smith said he told Meyer: “Apparently my ex-wife is trying to get me charged with domestic abuse from incidents that happened years ago and some more recent. (Meyer) looked at me (and said), ‘If you hit her, you’re fired immediately.’
“I said, ‘Coach, if I hit her, I wouldn’t even come to work. I would know it was over.’ ”
Regarding the photos that show bruises and blood on Courtney Smith, Zach Smith said Friday during an interview on Columbus, Ohio, radio station WXZX: “I’m not discounting that (they are authentic). I don’t know where or what they are from. I have no idea. There were several times things got out of hand between us, and I may have restrained her to get out of the house.”
Courtney Smith told McMurphy: “He took me and shoved me up against the wall, with his hands around my neck — something he did very often. My (then-3-year-old) daughter was clinging to my leg. It obviously registered with him what he was doing, so he took my (then-5-year-old) son and left. So I called the police.”
Regarding Meyer’s statement, Sports Illustrated legal analyst Michael McCann tweeted: “Urban Meyer’s statement seems written with contract law in mind. It denies any grounds that Ohio State could use to fire him with cause. At the same time, it acknowledges his answers to journalists’ questions were inadequate — a personal failing that doesn’t violate his contract.”
tgreenstein@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein
