Ohio State has suspended football coach Urban Meyer for the first three games of the season because of his handling of an assistant coach’s alleged domestic violence, the university announced Wednesday night after hours of deliberation and meetings.
The university also suspended athletic director Gene Smith for two weeks without pay.
A university investigation found that Meyer and Smith failed to inform the school’s compliance department about assistant Zach Smith’s (no relation) alleged domestic violence, which was under an active criminal investigation. Zach Smith was fired in July after media reports surfaced about past accusations of domestic violence, some of which Meyer falsely denied knowing about during his appearance at Big Ten media days in Chicago.
Meyer has been on paid leave since Aug. 1. Smith’s ex-wife Courtney Smith provided to reporters text messages that seemed to refute Meyer’s statement that he didn’t know about the domestic violence allegations against Smith in 2015. Charges never were filed against Smith in that incident.
“I want to apologize to Buckeye Nation. I followed my heart and not my head,” Meyer said in a news conference Wednesday night, acknowledging that he allowed a personal relationship with Smith to cloud his decisions.
Smith is the grandson of former Buckeyes coach Earle Bruce, who was a mentor to Meyer. Meyer worked under Bruce as a grad assistant at Ohio State and an assistant coach at Colorado State.
Ohio State President Michael Drake and the school’s board of trustees elected to keep Meyer after weeks of speculation about his tenure. They met for more than 11 hours Wednesday as media and fans gathered outside the building awaiting a decision.
The investigation’s report noted: “Although neither Urban Meyer nor Gene Smith condoned or covered up the alleged domestic abuse by Zach Smith, they failed to take sufficient management action relating to Zach Smith’s misconduct and retained an assistant coach who was not performing as an appropriate role model for OSU student-athletes. Permitting such misconduct to continue is not consistent with the values of the university and reflects poorly on Coach Meyer, Athletic Director Smith and the university. Their handling of this matter did not exhibit the kind of leadership and high standards that we expect of our athletic director, head coach, assistant coaches and all on the football staff.”
Meyer is suspended without pay through Sept. 2 and will miss the season opener Sept. 1 against Oregon State. He can return to the program after that, but he will be suspended from coaching in games against Rutgers and TCU on Sept. 8 and 15. His first game back will be Sept. 22 against Tulane.
Meyer seemed to tolerate Smith’s alleged transgressions for years, including a 2009 arrest for domestic violence while Smith was on Meyer’s staff at Florida. Meyer said he handled allegations appropriately, reporting the incidents to higher-ups.
Smith was arrested again in May for criminal trespass and his wife filed for a domestic violence civil protection order against him.
Before this summer Meyer had seemed to be one of the most secure coaches in college football. He owns a 73-8 record in six seasons as the Buckeyes coach, including a 2014 College Football Playoff championship.
This isn’t the first time, however, that he has faced controversy.
At Florida, where Meyer won national championships in 2006 and 2008, 31 of his players were arrested during his tenure from 2005 to 2010.
Ohio State hired him in 2011. Meyer’s contract, which was extended in April, runs through 2022 and he was set to be paid $7.6 million this season.
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