The school’s decision comes in the fallout of the situation involving wide receivers coach Zach Smith, who Meyer fired last week.
Ohio State has placed head coach Urban Meyer on paid administrative leave.
The school’s decision comes in the fallout of the situation involving wide receivers coach Zach Smith, who Meyer fired last week. Smith was accused of domestic violence multiple times over a six-year period by his then-wife, Courtney, dating back to Zach’s time on Meyer’s staff at Florida. How much Meyer knew about the accusations against his longtime assistant has come into question.
In a press release, Ohio State said it is “conducting an investigation into these allegations.” Ryan Day, the team’s offensive coordinator, will serve as acting head coach.
“We are focused on supporting our players and on getting to the truth as expeditiously as possible,” the release said.
Meyer also released a statement: “(AD) Gene (Smith) and I agree that being on leave during this inquiry will facilitate its completion. This allows the team to conduct training camp with minimal distraction. I eagerly look forward to the resolution of this matter.”
At Big Ten Media Days last week, Meyer acknowledged he was aware of a 2009 incident — when Meyer was the head coach at Florida and Smith was a staff intern — but was quick to deny any knowledge about incident from 2015. However, text messages obtained by veteran college football reporter Brett McMurphy, plus an on-camera interview given by Courtney Smith, painted a different picture.
Text messages exchanged between Courtney and other wives of Ohio State football staff members, including Shelley Meyer, the wife of Urban Meyer, show the widespread knowledge of the abuse Courtney was suffering at the hands of Zach, according to McMurphy’s reporting, which also included images of a bruised Courtney.
Among the exchanges in McMurphy’s report is a Nov. 5,2015 conversation between Courtney and Lindsey Voltolini, the wife of Brian Voltolini, OSU’s director of football operations and a longtime colleague of Meyer. The exchange makes it seem that Meyer was aware of a 2015 incident where Courtney accused Zach of domestic violence.
Here is that exchange, via McMurphy:
Other text messages viewed by McMurphy showed correspondence between Courtney and Shelley Meyer.
In an interview with Stadium, Courtney detailed those interactions.
“In 2015, I spoke to Shelley. I sent her some pictures. I spoke to her on the phone,” she said. “Shelley said she was going to have to tell Urban. I said, ‘That’s fine. You should tell Urban. We can’t have somebody like this coaching young men.’”
From there, Shelley would check in on her. However, Courtney said she does not know if Shelley ever relayed the specifics of their conversations to Urban.
“She would reach out to me, ask me how I’m doing, tell me she’s worried and that if I needed anything she was there,” Courtney said. “When somebody is crying out for help, I believe the coach and the coach’s wife have a duty. They have a duty to do something. To help.”
Courtney said she believes Urban was aware of the abuse.
“I hope in the future he never turns his head away again. I know Shelley did everything she could. I firmly believe that. She was very supportive. She never made me feel uncomfortable. She never made me feel like I was a threat by telling her these things,” Courtney said.
She continued, “I believe (Urban) knew. Instead he chose to help the abuser. Nobody from the university came to me and asked me for my side of the story. That’s a problem. It needs to change.”
The years of abuse came to light after Zach Smith was charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass in May. That charge led to Courtney Smith obtaining a protection order against Zach. The order prohibits Zach from being within 500 feet of Courtney.
In the ruling, the court said Courtney is “in immediate and present danger of domestic violence” and the conditions of the protection order are “necessary to protect” Courtney and her children “from domestic violence.” Courtney filed for divorce in Nov. 2015.
