OT: Urban Meyer put on paid leave by Ohio State.

[Kontradiction]

I'm listening to the radio this morning. It's BS. Like Urban Meyer is the reason this woman was supposedly beat up by her husband.

Like you said, wives, close friends and family are not losing their jobs, Urban Meyer supposedly allowed this domestic violence to happen. It's ridiculous.

My opinion here, this is the Me Too movement. Fight the patriarchy, and even better if you can blame a white male at the top. Don't blame this woman's close family and friends that would actually know the truth and details for not reporting this to authorities.

If she was beat, it's her job to go to the cops. And it's her friends job to make her do it. Putting this on Urban Meyer is stupid.

As ridiculous as that movement is, Title IX has been around since before that movement even started. The issue itself is Title IX here. But, while it's in place, Meyer had a duty to report it. He'll take the fall for this because A) he's a public figurehead and the university will need a head to roll to quell the constantly offended and B) because he set himself up for failure by not reporting it in the first place. I agree that he shouldn't be the one to take the fall for this after reading the text message exchange between Smith and her friends. But he certainly didn't do himself any favors. IF he is fired, I'd expect there to be a lot of interest in him.

 

[Boogs]

As ridiculous as that movement is, Title IX has been around since before that movement even started. The issue itself is Title IX here. But, while it's in place, Meyer had a duty to report it. He'll take the fall for this because A) he's a public figurehead and the university will need a head to roll to quell the constantly offended and B) because he set himself up for failure by not reporting it in the first place. I agree that he shouldn't be the one to take the fall for this after reading the text message exchange between Smith and her friends. But he certainly didn't do himself any favors. IF he is fired, I'd expect there to be a lot of interest in him.

Then Title IX is way, way too overreaching if this is what we get from it.

 

[GoBlue]

I like everyone else has no knowledge of what happened and who knew what when. But if the coach absued his wife on multiple occassions is he the kind of guy universities should have coaching and teaching young kids how to be grown men. And the part that may undo Meyer is the fact that Urbie makes respecting women one of his core values and its displayed all over his factility. And he seemed to lie about the fact that he knew anything about Smith hitting his wife. Some people trying to make it she hit him first. That doesn't fly.

 

[Crazy Patriot Guy]

I like everyone else has no knowledge of what happened and who knew what when. But if the coach absued his wife on multiple occassions is he the kind of guy universities should have coaching and teaching young kids how to be grown men. And the part that may undo Meyer is the fact that Urbie makes respecting women one of his core values and its displayed all over his factility. And he seemed to lie about the fact that he knew anything about Smith hitting his wife. Some people trying to make it she hit him first. That doesn't fly.

Urban Meyer is certainly not innocent in all this, far from it. But this morning I tested my theory of what I've been saying in this thread. I approached a group of 5 guys at work earlier and asked if they had heard about the Urban Meyer story. All 5 had, and started discussing it. I stopped them to ask the name of the assistant coach that was beating his wife. 5 blank stares.

That is my problem with all of this. Meyer will become the villian and Smith will be forgotten. This happens all the time. We have to start blaming the right people.

 

[TB_Helmet]

Urban Meyer is certainly not innocent in all this, far from it. But this morning I tested my theory of what I've been saying in this thread. I approached a group of 5 guys at work earlier and asked if they had heard about the Urban Meyer story. All 5 had, and started discussing it. I stopped them to ask the name of the assistant coach that was beating his wife. 5 blank stares.

That is my problem with all of this. Meyer will become the villian and Smith will be forgotten. This happens all the time. We have to start blaming the right people.

I get your point, but I think that's just because nobody knew who Smith was *before* this all started, but they all knew who Meyer was.

Smith has been named in every article, he's getting just as much attention as Meyer is. It's not like he's getting let off the hook; he's toxic now and will probably never coach again at a high level (Meyer certainly will assuming he still wants to).

Nobody knew who Sandusky was before the Penn State fiasco, and Paterno was getting all the heat initially (I'm not comparing the two situations whatsoever, just addressing your point). Now Sandusky's name is known far and wide.

And if Josh McDaniels were involved in a domestic dispute, people would all be asking if Belichick knew about it, but McDaniels would certainly be the villain. That's because McDaniels is known by the general public. Again, not a similar situation (because there's no university funding that confers a legal obligation to make a report). But it just underscores the point that Meyer's getting a lot of attention because he's only person the public knows about. Let's see how that changes as the story unfolds.

 

[TB_Helmet]

I wonder if some of this is another thing with the "Me Too" movement.

Do you fire your assistant coach for allegations? There's 2 sides to every story. I'd have to have all the details over this to make a judgment on whether Urban should be fired because he didn't fire an assistant over allegations. You don't know if she hit him first. And also, if she did, hit him first, should she lose her job? However, if the assistant was a wife beater, yeah I'd not want him around. I wouldn't feel right with him being around.

Hey Boogs! Question, this is a hypothetical, but what if Meyer's wife had witnessed Smith hitting his wife? (And it wasn't a case where she hit first, it was straight up unprovoked woman-beating). So if Urban's wife told him she saw it, should he then be obligated to report it to the University? Should he be obligated to fire Smith?

 

[Boogs]

Hey Boogs! Question, this is a hypothetical, but what if Meyer's wife had witnessed Smith hitting his wife? (And it wasn't a case where she hit first, it was straight up unprovoked woman-beating). So if Urban's wife told him she saw it, should he then be obligated to report it to the University? Should he be obligated to fire Smith?

If my wife saw that actually happen, I'd go to the woman, ask her what's up with that. Does this happen regularly? Is this something that's happened once and has he apologized, and does she want to stay with him? If there are kids this gets trickier too. Tell her it's her right to turn him in to the cops.

In my church, it would get reported to the pastor and elders. The guy would have to repent of this, and there would be counseling. If he didn't repent of beating his wife, then he's kicked out of the church and the woman would be advised to separate from the husband.

If he does repent (a change in his mind, turning from his sin and turning to God), he'd need counseling, and he would be accepted still in the church.

 

[TB_Helmet]

If my wife saw that actually happen, I'd go to the woman, ask her what's up with that. Does this happen regularly? Is this something that's happened once and has he apologized, and does she want to stay with him? If there are kids this gets trickier too. Tell her it's her right to turn him in to the cops.

In my church, it would get reported. The guy would have to repent of this, and there would be counseling. If he didn't repent of beating his wife, then he's kicked out of the church and the woman would be advised to separate from the husband.

If he does repent (a change in his mind, turning from his sin and turning to God), he'd need counseling, and he would be accepted still in the church.

Well, I guess my question is whether Meyer, who is Smith's boss, be obligated to report it to the University? And should he be obligated to fire Smith? There's a different set of circumstances relative to the church.

I'm only asking because I wonder how people feel when, if you take 'allegation' and 'rumor' out of the equation, whether Meyer's moral responsibilities to report and / or discipline Smith are different than they are in the current situation.

 

[Boogs]

Well, I guess my question is whether Meyer, who is Smith's boss, be obligated to report it to the University? And should he be obligated to fire Smith? There's a different set of circumstances relative to the church.

I'm only asking because I wonder how people feel when, if you take 'allegation' and 'rumor' out of the equation, whether Meyer's moral responsibilities to report and / or discipline Smith are different than they are in the current situation.

I think if my wife saw it happen, going to the University to report it or confronting the guy himself and/or questioning the wife would be fine also. Depends how bad it was, if he's not apologetic for his action, and how the wife feels about it all.

The Smith guy gets whatever he deserves if he did it. I'm just thinking this is an overreach by the University if Urban doesn't have good enough proof. I've never known a married man who beat his wife, but I've heard some of these beaten girlfriends defend their boyfriends. If Urban goes to the university and the wife lies and backs her wife beating husband, then Urban Meyer is in a real bad spot for not having enough proof. And can the couple sue Urban for false allegations if there's no proof? I don't know.

 

[Boogs]

Well, I guess my question is whether Meyer, who is Smith's boss, be obligated to report it to the University? And should he be obligated to fire Smith? There's a different set of circumstances relative to the church.

I'm only asking because I wonder how people feel when, if you take 'allegation' and 'rumor' out of the equation, whether Meyer's moral responsibilities to report and / or discipline Smith are different than they are in the current situation.

You remember this probably. Ray Rice's girlfriend stood up for him after this knockout. Rice drags her around afterwords! I think they even got married after this.

 

[TB_Helmet]

I think if my wife saw it happen, going to the University to report it or confronting the guy himself and/or questioning the wife would be fine also. Depends how bad it was, if he's not apologetic for his action, and how the wife feels about it all.

The Smith guy gets whatever he deserves if he did it. I'm just thinking this is an overreach by the University if Urban doesn't have good enough proof. I've never known a married man who beat his wife, but I've heard some of these beaten girlfriends defend their boyfriends. If Urban goes to the university and the wife lies and backs her wife beating husband, then Urban Meyer is in a real bad spot for not having enough proof. And can the couple sue Urban for false allegations if there's no proof? I don't know.

Gotcha. I agree. Yeah it's tough when the woman "stands by her man" even after repeated abuse and doesn't press charges. There's even a condition named after it, "battered woman syndrome".

OK enough of this, back to the training camp thread!

 

[LaterGator]

Meyer is contractually obligated to report it. Just as Briles, Pitino and Paterno etc were contractually obligated to report the various violations.

It appears he had good reason to suspect as the woman was covered with bruises. He probably could have fired Smith, but reporting was his only obligation.

The University would handle the investigation and could turn it over to civil authorities.

 

[catent]

Just to elaborate a bit, Smith's wife was pregnant in 2009 when the first instance of (reported) physical abuse occurred. ****ing pregnant.

Meyer should've been on top of the 2015 incident as soon as freakin' possible; or, at the very least, reported it up the chain of command as per his contract.

 

[supafly]

Meyer will almost certainly be fired because they aren’t going to play around with this (OSU never does—they fire everyone), but both Courtney Smith and the author of the report claim that they have absolutely no evidence whatsoever that suggests that Meyer knew, aside from the “connection of the dots” which suggests that he must have known since his wife did.

Again, he’ll be canned because they don’t play around with controversy, and even if there’s a lack of proof that his wife shared that info he’ll still be fired, but I’m not ready to damn him to hell just yet, either.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Love how UM says he “failed in denying that he heard allegations” in 2015. I guess that sounds better than saying I lied when questioned If I knew of these allegations.

 

[supafly]

Love how UM says he “failed in denying that he heard allegations” in 2015. I guess that sounds better than saying I lied when questioned If I knew of these allegations.

Yeah, I just saw the comments made by Meyer after my last response. He claims that he did, in fact, report the 2015 incident to his superiors, so that’s kind of big.

As far as him lying to the reporter, he should’ve just pulled a Belichick and said “I can’t speak on that,” or “we’re just focused on the opener” or something to that effect. Unfortunately, the Smith story was big at the time so he felt compelled to answer, but he should have kept his mouth shut. At any rate, lying to a reporter is a much more forgivable offense. If he did report it, then maybe there’s hope for him after all.

 

[supafly]

ESPN running with the story as its lead at 6:00. This paints Meyer in a much more favorable light.

Meyer: 'Failed' in denying I heard allegations

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

ESPN running with the story as its lead at 6:00. This paints Meyer in a much more favorable light.

Meyer: 'Failed' in denying I heard allegations

This sounds like the AD may be in much deeper water that UM.

 

[LaterGator]

That's why they investigate. If the AD is in deeper trouble that means the info was passed on and UM did his due diligence.

 

[catent]

ESPN running with the story as its lead at 6:00. This paints Meyer in a much more favorable light.

Meyer: 'Failed' in denying I heard allegations

I just read the article. There seem to be several contradictions coming from both Smith and Meyer and nothing said did much to move the needle in my opinion.

Smith denied he ever assaulted his wife, yet he was ultimately fired and did nothing to address the pictures of his wife's bruised and battered arm. Meyer stated that if he was made aware of physical abuse, Smith would be fired immediately; he was fired, but not immediately. And outside of "I screwed up", Meyer gave no legitimate reason for lying about his knowledge of the Smith abuse allegations during the now infamous press conference.

I suppose the article could come across as a well-produced defense of Meyer via Smith (and Meyer himself to an extent), but a critical reader would conclude that very little actually meaningful evidence was produced. To me the article just seems to be one massive presentation of rhetorical niceties.

The only truly relevant bit is Meyer claiming he reported the incident in 2015, which should be easy enough to corroborate if true. It's still disturbing that he told a boldfaced lie about the situation at the recent press conference and I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around why it took an additional three years for Smith to be fired.

If Meyer did indeed report the issue then I end up with a question and a conclusion: 1.) why did he lie about the incident recently? -- and -- 2.) someone higher on the chain of command completely screwed up and should be held ethically and legally accountable.