Herman denies leaking info in Ohio State scandal
AUSTIN — Texas football coach Tom Herman said a report on Facebook that he was responsible for alerting a sports reporter about domestic abuse allegations against a fired Ohio State assistant coach was untrue.
Herman responded to a story posted Saturday by Jeff Snook, a former sports writer who has written 11 books on college football, who posted a somewhat cryptic teaser on his Facebook page.
“I have confirmed that Texas Coach Tom Herman was the tipster who initiated Brett McMurphy’s reporting, which led to this investigation at Ohio State — details to follow,” wrote Snook, linking Herman to the domesticabuse situation at Ohio State that involves former assistant coach Zach Smith.
Smith allegedly physically abused Courtney Smith, his exwife, on multiple occasions. He was fired by Ohio State after Courtney Smith revealed to McMurphy how several members of the coaching staff knew of her husband’s maltreatment and did nothing to help.
Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer was placed on paid administrative leave starting Aug. 1 after McMurphy’s report.
Snook also alleged that Herman — apparently on a quest for revenge against Meyer, his former boss at Ohio State — and his wife Michelle paid a portion of Courtney Smith’s legal fees.
Herman, who was the offensive coordinator under Meyer at Ohio State from 2012-14 before becoming head coach at Houston, has denied all of Snook’s claims.
“It is absolutely untrue,” Herman said through a UT spokesman. “Neither I, nor anybody in my family, has ever communicated with Brett McMurphy about the situation at Ohio State.”
Added Herman: “In March of 2017, my wife assisted her friend Courtney Smith during a time of financial need. We have not provided any financial assistance since then.”
McMurphy issued a statement of his own, via Twitter: “For those who have asked for my response to Jeff Snook’s claim Saturday: ‘I have never revealed my sources in my nearly four decade journalistic career & I am not going to start now. However, I will say unequivocally that Tom Herman was not my source.’ ”
When asked last week about the ongoing situation at Ohio State, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte said the university is taking every step possible to make sure a similar controversy doesn’t ensnare UT.
“Every time there’s something that goes along these lines anywhere in the country, the first thing is you go back and assess within your own staff of what you do to education,” Del Conte said. “You’re constantly doing education and having discussions about it.
“News broke this week and the first thing I did right afterward was get our Title IX training, put all that stuff in a compilation email and send that right back out to our staff. We constantly train and educate. You just never know when the shoe’s going to drop, but you’ve got to constantly educate.”