No matter what the final decision was from the Ohio State Buckeyes regarding the domestic violence issue with head coach Urban Meyer, they knew that they would take plenty of heat from the fans for being too harsh, or the public for not giving him enough. Currently, they're taking the not enough rout, as they announced that Meyer has been suspended three games after lying about his knowledge of the domestic violence issue involving his former assistant coach Zach Smith from 2015. They also suspended athletic director Gene Smith without pay for over two weeks. That will go from August 31st-September 16th.
Meyer will be eligible to return for the fourth game, after his team faces Oregon State, Rutgers, and No. 16 TCU. The AD, Smith, could be affected even more by this as he is currently one of 13 members on the CFP Selection Committee.
The coach said in a statement following the announcement of the suspension that he "thought with my heart and not my head." That is referencing him ignoring the red flags about Smith due to his relationship with his mentor Earl Bruce, who is Smith's grandfather.
There is no specific evidence showing Meyer intentionally covering up Smith's actions, although, a report about all of the findings in the investigations speculates that their may be text messages that we will never know about. At the time of these allegations, the media attempted to get to Meyer's phone, and according to the report, discussed "how to adjust settings on Meyer's phone so that text messages older than one year would be deleted." When the investigative team received his phone, there were no text messages older than one year.
Meyer was placed on paid administrative leave on August 1st and was said to have no interaction with his team through September 2nd. This came after the victim, Courtney Smith, claimed that Meyer and his wife knew about the domestic violence issue at the time. Smith did not answer phone calls from ESPN on Wednesday to respond to Meyer's suspension.
The head coach will return to the sidelines at home on September 22nd when his fifth-ranked team hosts Tulane.
Meyer will be eligible to return for the fourth game, after his team faces Oregon State, Rutgers, and No. 16 TCU. The AD, Smith, could be affected even more by this as he is currently one of 13 members on the CFP Selection Committee.
The coach said in a statement following the announcement of the suspension that he "thought with my heart and not my head." That is referencing him ignoring the red flags about Smith due to his relationship with his mentor Earl Bruce, who is Smith's grandfather.
There is no specific evidence showing Meyer intentionally covering up Smith's actions, although, a report about all of the findings in the investigations speculates that their may be text messages that we will never know about. At the time of these allegations, the media attempted to get to Meyer's phone, and according to the report, discussed "how to adjust settings on Meyer's phone so that text messages older than one year would be deleted." When the investigative team received his phone, there were no text messages older than one year.
Meyer was placed on paid administrative leave on August 1st and was said to have no interaction with his team through September 2nd. This came after the victim, Courtney Smith, claimed that Meyer and his wife knew about the domestic violence issue at the time. Smith did not answer phone calls from ESPN on Wednesday to respond to Meyer's suspension.
The head coach will return to the sidelines at home on September 22nd when his fifth-ranked team hosts Tulane.
