Meyer might be too much of a liability for Ohio State

The investigation into what Urban Meyer knew or didn’t know about alleged domestic violence concerning former assistant Zach Smith is at the halfway mark.

Here’s what we know:

• On July 24, the Ohio State football coach — a day after he fired Smith amid a Brett McMurphy report — said at Big Ten media day he did not know about a 2015 alleged incident between Smith and his wife Courtney.

• On Aug. 1, the University puts Meyer on administrative leave.

• On Aug. 2, OSU announces a six-person investigative team to look into the matter.

• On Aug. 3, Smith is interview on TV by ESPN, and denies abusing his exwife. That same evening, Meyer releases a statement admitting he didn’t tell the truth at media days, and that he did inform OSU about Smith. After Smith’s ESPN interview, McMurphy releases a text from his Smith’s ex-wife revealing an exchange between the former married couple indicating possible domestic violence. There’s more: • On Aug. 6, a scattering of fans rally in front of Ohio Stadium in support of Meyer. The fallout from national and local critics does more harm than good — at least from this perspective.

• On Aug. 9, author/reporter Jeff Snook posts on social media a story with comments from the mother of Courtney Smith

and daughter of the late Earle Bruce saying Zach is not guilty of domestic violence against his ex-wife.

• On Aug. 11, the story takes an odd turn when Snook reports Texas coach and former Meyer assistant at OSU Tom Herman was the whistle blower to McMurphy about the Zach Smith situation. Later in the day, Herman and McMurphy deny the report.

Meanwhile, the investigation about what Meyer knew and what he didn’t continues on.

The truth might be the last thing this investigation reveals because at this point too much has been tossed into the ring of public opinion. It’s a wild fire, and plenty of luck to those sifting through the ashes.

There have been accusations, denials, sources, police reports, text messages, statements, TV interviews, Facebook posts ... you name it, the story has it.

What it needs is the truth, which right now

is impossible for anyone on the outside to claim to know.

The trick is sweeping away the wreckage, and preserving the image of The Ohio State University — which in these tumultuous times might be the most trickiest trick of all.

That might be the reason why the higher-ups at the institution might be asking themselves this:

Is our football coach — even one with a 73-8 record, a 6-0 mark vs. Michigan and the 2014 national championship — too much a liability to keep?

It’s a reasonable question these days the longer this plays out in the media. Big-time college football coaches wield a powerful stick, and Meyer’s stick is arguably the nation’s second-most powerful to Alabama’s Nick Saban.

That power only goes so far when the university’s name is at stake. As for Meyer’s name, without question this scandal

will follow the coach for a while.

Some say public perception should not matter, and that’s fine.

In this case especially, people are believing what they want to believe — mostly because there are so many rumors and not enough facts.

There is this fact: Meyer lied about what he knew in this case, but in his defense he owned up to it. Other than that, the truth is in that middle gray area of a polarizing topic.

The investigative team might never find out beyond a reasonable doubt what Meyer knew and when he knew it. We should find out soon.

OSU’s decision on Meyer could come down to this: No one — not a coach or an athletic program — is bigger than The Ohio State University.

Mark Podolski