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

[scout]

I mistyped. What I meant was the molesting took place at the work facility. The assistant coach didn't beat his wife at the OSU practice field. Or did he?

Most of the outrage I'm assuming is coming from OSU haters. Is your favorite college football program free from sin?

Penn State grad here. Sports does not ethics.

 

[Deus Irae]

Justifying keeping him when the police looked into it and found no reason to press charges? In a he said/she said domestic dispute? His big “cover up” is allowing the police to decide whether or not to press charges, while allowing the process to play out? Seems kind of weak to me.

You're getting in the way of some high level virtue signalling. How dare you, sir?

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

 

[PittPatriot]

I mistyped. What I meant was the molesting took place at the work facility. The assistant coach didn't beat his wife at the OSU practice field. Or did he?

Most of the outrage I'm assuming is coming from OSU haters. Is your favorite college football program free from sin?

I am pretty ambivalent to college Football.
My favorite college basketball program was accused of sham classes but no evidence was found to support those allegations.

 

[supafly]

Penn State grad here. Sports does not ethics.

Penn St grad here, as well. Sports shouldn’t ethics, but at the same time we should have a reasonable expectation for what our coaches represent. They should help to guide and shape these players in what should be seen as something of their formative years (especially for men), but they aren’t going to be cut out images of the pope, either. Too many people want to place the responsibility of raising their kids upon a stranger.

Urban Meyer was a highly sought after coach due to his success on the football field, not because of his ethics. I realize the two go hand in hand to some degree, but I’m simply clarifying his priorities and his position. If he followed through on a highly questionable case with both his boss and the criminal justice authorities, then it would seem as though he fulfilled his obligations, just not to the level that we’d all have liked. As a society, many wanted to see a more proactive approach in reaching a definitive conclusion, but I’m not exactly sure what that would mean from the football coach. That could be a question better answered by his superiors, as well as the criminal justice system. Last I had checked, he wasn’t a professional marriage counselor, nor did he have a crystal ball that can tell him which side is right and which points to believe. You can’t really attempt to arrive at a fair and reasonable conclusion just because someone played the “he pushed me up against the wall and grabbed my arm” card. It’s obvious to many that Courtney Smith is a questionable source, at best.

I most certainly think he’s guilty of keeping Zack Smith on the staff too long by giving him too many chances. It’s safe to say that was due to him being Earl Bruce’s grandson. I don’t equate that to condoning domestic violence, or purposefully looking the other way knowing that there were clear cut signs of abuse— or whatever it is that people are saying. I think it’s simply a sign of poor office management or hiring practices, as well as attempting to do his mentor a favor by putting up with his jackass grandson. In the end, for this mistake, he will forfeit a total of six weeks pay, miss more than a quarter of the season, have his name and practices questioned, and yet we still don’t have any idea as to whether or not Courtney Smith is telling the truth. There's still a presumption of innocence, and that presumption seemed to be shared by multiple parties who had investigated it further and advised Meyer as to what their opinion was.

 

[DarrylS]

Sins of omission are usually greater than sins of commission.... If you in a position of power and do nothing it can be a more egregious event.

An aside the Bishop of Providence was formerly an Auxiliary in Pittsburgh, he admitted that he was “aware of incidents of sexual abuse” there but it was essentially not his job to report or deal with.. so he did not report it, stay tuned developing story at 6:00 PM or maybe not.

Providence Bishop Tobin defends his time in Pittsburgh

 

[Froob]

Penn St grad here, as well. Sports shouldn’t ethics, but at the same time we should have a reasonable expectation for what our coaches represent. They should help to guide and shape these players in what should be seen as something of their formative years (especially for men), but they aren’t going to be cut out images of the pope, either. Too many people want to place the responsibility of raising their kids upon a stranger.

Urban Meyer was a highly sought after coach due to his success on the football field, not because of his ethics. I realize the two go hand in hand to some degree, but I’m simply clarifying his priorities and his position. If he followed through on a highly questionable case with both his boss and the criminal justice authorities, then it would seem as though he fulfilled his obligations, just not to the level that we’d all have liked. As a society, many wanted to see a more proactive approach in reaching a definitive conclusion, but I’m not exactly sure what that would mean from the football coach. That could be a question better answered by his superiors, as well as the criminal justice system. Last I had checked, he wasn’t a professional marriage counselor, nor did he have a crystal ball that can tell him which side is right and which points to believe. You can’t really attempt to arrive at a fair and reasonable conclusion just because someone played the “he pushed me up against the wall and grabbed my arm” card. It’s obvious to many that Courtney Smith is a questionable source, at best.

I most certainly think he’s guilty of keeping Zack Smith on the staff too long by giving him too many chances. It’s safe to say that was due to him being Earl Bruce’s grandson. I don’t equate that to condoning domestic violence, or purposefully looking the other way knowing that there were clear cut signs of abuse— or whatever it is that people are saying. I think it’s simply a sign of poor office management or hiring practices, as well as attempting to do his mentor a favor by putting up with his jackass grandson. In the end, for this mistake, he will forfeit a total of six weeks pay, miss more than a quarter of the season, have his name and practices questioned, and yet we still don’t have any idea as to whether or not Courtney Smith is telling the truth. There's still a presumption of innocence, and that presumption seemed to be shared by multiple parties who had investigated it further and advised Meyer as to what their opinion was.

Might be missing bits of the story, but is keeping Smith on the staff post domestic violence really different than keeping James Harrison or Terrell Suggs on your roster?

 

[LaterGator]

I mistyped. What I meant was the molesting took place at the work facility. The assistant coach didn't beat his wife at the OSU practice field. Or did he?

Most of the outrage I'm assuming is coming from OSU haters. Is your favorite college football program free from sin?

Wrong is wrong. I couldn't care less about Ohio State, Penn State, Baylor, Louisville and so on, all of those programs ignored various egregious violations. All deserved severe punishment.

I hope the NCAA takes this up. It's his legal responsibility as mandated in his contract to pass information to proper authorities not sit on it and play dumb.

 

[supafly]

Wrong is wrong. I couldn't care less about Ohio State, Penn State, Baylor, Louisville and so on, all of those programs ignored various egregious violations. All deserved severe punishment.

I hope the NCAA takes this up. It's his legal responsibility as mandated in his contract to pass information to proper authorities not sit on it and play dumb.

First off, the Title IX officer and compliance officers have already been involved, and Ohio State has already gone through the process of putting together a blue chip team of investigators, where they took their recommendations and imposed sanctions, so I don’t know where some are getting the idea of “the NCAA taking this up.” The NCAA has already technically been involved. That’s why they have the system in place that they do.

Secondly, his boss (AD Gene Smith) is the one who shared the information with him, so he didn’t “sit on it and play dumb.” Both the AD and head coach were aware, and they kept in constant communication with the authorities throughout the investigation. Again—no charges were filed and nothing was pursued at a higher level. Where AD Gene Smith and Meyer likely failed was not taking it to their compliance officer and that’s why they are both suspended and forfeiting pay. Their excuse was reasonable enough in stating that the police were involved and never found evidence that would warrant bringing charges forth, but the school still used caution by suspending them, docking their pay, and making this an example of how to improve the system going forward. They stated that from now on, you cannot rely on just the police dept before bringing it to the compliance officer, so they made examples out of both Meyer and AD Gene Smith. If you’re looking for some type of smoking gun, you’re not going to find it.

 

[LaterGator]

Blue Ribbon.... There is one recurring theme. Granted they all seem to be very respectable people. Still seems like an internal investigation. I do know the NCAA was directly involved with Penn State, Michigan State (Nassar), and Baylor.

Ohio State trustees have appointed a special committee to investigate coach Urban
The university released a statement Thursday night announcing the formation of the six-member “independent board working group.”

“This group includes current trustees Alex Fischer, Janet Porter and Alex Shumate. Also on the panel are former Ohio House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson, former acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Craig Morford and former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Carter Stewart,” read a statement from Ohio State spokesperson Chris Davey.

"Where AD Gene Smith and Meyer likely failed was not taking it to their compliance officer and that’s why they are both suspended and forfeiting pay."

Yup that's the violation. I supposed you can argue Meyer only has to take it to his boss, who played dumb.


" If you’re looking for some type of smoking gun, you’re not going to find it."

The text with her covered in bruises. Meyers deleted texts?

 

[BradyFTW!]

Might be missing bits of the story, but is keeping Smith on the staff post domestic violence really different than keeping James Harrison or Terrell Suggs on your roster?

That's more or less where I land on this. I just don't see how this is a worse offense than what we see from pretty much every organization in D1A football and the NFL. Which isn't to say that it's okay and that these guys aren't assholes, I'm just puzzled at how selectively we seem to care about this stuff.

By all means though, I would love to see all of the many professions that welcome domestic abusers adopt a much harsher approach, and that includes (but is nowhere near limited to) football organizations.

 

[LaterGator]

Separating out the domestic abuse issue, it is violating NCAA regulations in their contracts.

 

[Jackson 2]

Might be missing bits of the story, but is keeping Smith on the staff post domestic violence really different than keeping James Harrison or Terrell Suggs on your roster?

In my opinion, it is different. Ohio State University is funded by taxpayers and coaches at colleges are generally considered to have an ethical responsibility to influence student- athletes as their professors are expected to do.

 

[supafly]

" If you’re looking for some type of smoking gun, you’re not going to find it."

The text with her covered in bruises. Meyers deleted texts?

That text was sent from Courtney Smith to Urban Meyer’s wife, Shelley, and sent as a group message to all of the other wives.

 

[1960Pats]

When the boss has signed a contract saying he has to report things like that. And when federal law (Title IX) says he has to, as well.

I thought that he did report what he knew. Is that wrong?

 

[supafly]

In my opinion, it is different. Ohio State University is funded by taxpayers and coaches at colleges are generally considered to have an ethical responsibility to influence student- athletes as their professors are expected to do.

One can also also argue that it’s different due to the fact that Zach Smith was never charged or convicted of these accusations. James Harrison admitted it to the authorities, although I’m not as sure about Suggs’ participation.

 

[1960Pats]

People like Urban Meyer care about one thing - football. Anything else is a bother to him.
He looked disinterested at last night's press conference almost as if he were saying"why am I here?" When asked by a reporter if he had anything to say to Courtney Smith, he merely said "I am sorry to everyone we are in this situation." In other words, "I am sorry I got caught."

I think the reason that Meyer cares about football is because his bosses care.

What did he "get caught" doing?

 

[1960Pats]

He should have been suspended for the season.

For what?

 

[supafly]

I thought that he did report what he knew. Is that wrong?

There were no Title IX violations. Meyer had actually received the news from his boss, so they were both aware. Where they messed up was choosing to wait to report it to their compliance officer until after the police had brought forth charges. When that never happened, they stated that they agreed that they should continue to let the process play out before outing him. For that mistake, they are both suspended.

 

[Jackson 2]

One can also also argue that it’s different due to the fact that Zach Smith was never charged or convicted of these accusations. James Harrison admitted it to the authorities, although I’m not as sure about Suggs’ participation.

Except Zach Smith apologized by revealed text messages to his wife for choking her multiple times. He also admitted spending state funds on a recruiting trip on a strip club evening out on a high school coach.