Ohio State trustees hold marathon debate on coach Meyer’s future
COLUMBUS, Ohio — 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 exwife 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.
“Countless hours have gone into conducting and supporting this comprehensive review,” Board Chairman Michael Gasser said as the meeting opened about 9 a.m., stretching all day with reporters outside closed doors hanging on every movement and left guessing on when a decision would be reached.
An Ohio State spokesman said there was no guarantee a resolution would be announced right after the meeting, even as the saga overshadowed the team’s preparation for its 2018 season. Neither Meyer nor his wife commented. During a break, trustee and former Ohio State basketball star Clark Kellogg told dozens of gathered reporters that progress was being made and Meyer was not in the room where trustees were discussing the investigation.
Factfinders briefed the board on Monday. The trustees hired an outside law firm for $500,000 to do the investigation, which took two weeks.
Meyer has said he handled accusations properly when he found out about them, but acknowledged he lied to reporters at first when he said he hadn’t heard of the 2015 incident. Ohio State put Meyer under investigation after Courtney Smith went public, giving a reporter text messages and pictures she traded with Shelley Meyer in 2015.
Ohio State is also dealing with a scandal involving alleged sexual misconduct by an athletic doctor in the 1980s and 1990s, and allegations that a former diving coach sexually abused young divers several years ago.
On Tuesday, the university announced the creation of a new center to handle and respond to complaints by students, faculty and staff involving sexual harassment and domestic violence.