Zach Smith lashes out in Twitter posts

Zach Smith criticized an advocate against domestic violence and selected members of the media in a series of Twitter posts Wednesday.

Smith, the Ohio State wide receivers coach until his July firing amid 2015 domestic abuse allegations by his exwife, had been quiet on social media in recent days. That silence ended Wednesday afternoon.

Smith repeated his denials of abusing Courtney Smith, said that Ohio State had “botched the investigation and worse off the ‘punishment,’” and said that his children are suffering because of the attention on the case.

He later tweeted about Courtney, “She is NO victim,” and said in another tweet that he found it hard to be silent when “falsehoods and half-truths are said about you and there is no way to defend yourself.”

Smith spoke out against the media, especially Brett McMurphy, whose story about Courtney Smith’s allegations sparked the ordeal that resulted in Smith’s firing and head coach Urban Meyer’s three-game suspension.

Smith’s tweets caught the attention of Brenda Tracy, who was gang-raped 20 years ago at Oregon State and has since become an activist against sexual assault. Tracy spoke to Ohio State football and men’s basketball teams July 26 — three days after Smith’s firing — about her experiences and urged them to treat women properly.

Tracy saw Smith’s texts and replied that he was “showing us exactly what kind of disgusting, manipulative, unhinged, abuser he is.”

Smith then responded that Tracy was a “one sided clown” and said that he used to be a fan and supporter of hers, “but you just proved you’re not a truth seeker.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Lynn Bruce, Zach Smith’s mother and the daughter of Earle Bruce — the late Ohio State coach who was a mentor to Meyer — wrote a post on Facebook in which she criticized Meyer.

Bruce said that Meyer “IF he were honest … IF he had integrity … IF he were truly a Christian” would have defended Smith. She said she was aware of her son’s personal problems, which she largely attributed to Courtney.

“Most people believe that the university required Urban to say the things he did,” Bruce wrote. “I’m just wondering where his mentor was in his thinking. The Earle Bruce I know would be disappointed at best.”

She said, as she has before, that Smith did not commit domestic abuse.

“HE IS NOT A WIFEBEATER,” she wrote. “He made mistakes and I don’t condone his behavior, but I understand it.”

Smith said that he is awaiting his day in court. He is to appear in separate cases contesting a protection order and a criminal trespass charge. Those appearances have been moved back to October.

“I’ve made mistakes in my life,” Smith said in one of the tweets, “but being a domestic abuser is not one of them! I’ll answer every question in court and under oath when the time comes & cant WAIT!”