Ohio State trustees hold marathon debate on UrbanMeyer’s future
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — With the eyes of college football watching, Ohio State trustees huddled privately Wednesday to determine the future of head coach Urban Meyer, crafting a judgment of Meyer’s handling of domestic violence allegations against an assistant in the latest abuse scandal for the school and the sport.
Meyer and his wife Shelley Meyer waited out the decisions at Longaberger Alumni House, where university leaders were pitching Ohio State President Michael V. Drake on whether to fire, suspend or otherwise punish their national title-winning coach less than two weeks before the team’s season opener.
While the 20 trustees were getting their say, the decision is ultimately Drake’s on whether Meyer responded properly to accusations from Courtney Smith, who alleged her husband Zach Smith shoved her against a wall and put his hands around her neck in 2015, one of several domestic incidents involving the couple.
Zach Smith has never been charged or convicted of abuse but a judge granted his ex-wife a protective order that prompted his firing in July.
The surreal scene played out more like jury deliberations than a personnel decision.
Meyer arrived at Longaberger Alumni House at midmorning and his wife, a nurse and instructor at the university whom Courtney Smith says she texted about the abuse, entered the building about five hours later as the marathon meeting stretched into the afternoon.
Athletic director Gene Smith eight hours after the meeting began, accompanied by his wife.
The Smiths separated in June 2015, divorced in 2016 and still have a court case pending.