Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer has found himself in some hot water. On Wednesday, Aug. 1, a bombshell report from former ESPN college football reporter Brett McMurphy claimed that Meyer had previous knowledge of domestic abuse allegations against former wide receiver coach Zach Smith, something that Meyer has previously denied.
The report included text messages between Smith’s ex-wife and Shelley Meyer, Urban’s wife, discussing abuse from the former assistant.
After the allegations came to light, Ohio State announced that Meyer had been placed on paid administrative leave while they investigate the report about Meyer’s previous knowledge.
“The university is conducting an investigation into these allegations,” Ohio State associate vice president for university communications Chris Davey said in the statement. “During the inquiry, Urban Meyer will be on paid administrative leave. Ryan Day will serve as acting head football coach during the investigation. We are focused on supporting our players and on getting to the truth as expeditiously as possible.”
They are troubling allegations against the head coach and they come at a time Ohio State should be focusing on its Sept. 1 season-opener against Oregon State.
But there could also be more trouble for the Buckeyes: will Urban Meyer be fired?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q3UiCjV9O0
From the moment the allegations were reported, people were calling for Meyer to be fired. Others were discussing just how troubling the report is and how damaging it is to the head coach’s reputation. Could he ever come back from something like this that comes across as turning a blind eye to abuse in order to protect his own reputation?
Often times, the cover-up is worse than the crime. We have seen over and over that those who ignore troubling behavior ultimately end up being ousted for being complicit and enabling the unsavory behavior. We will just have to see if Meyer ends up falling on his sword.
[polldaddy poll=10070784]
