On Wednesday night, the Ohio State football program announced that head coach Urban Meyer was suspended for three games for failing to take appropriate action relating to domestic violence allegations against former wide receivers coach Zach Smith.
Following the big news, the situation was addressed on ESPN’s Outside the Lines.
Bob Ley used his opening to address the situation and expressed the disappointing reality that the news of Meyer’s suspension has distracted from the real issue — domestic abuse — and directed it to the football field.
Check out the video below:
I'm losing count in the ways the Ohio State response is both feckless and beyond tone-deaf… pic.twitter.com/fFu92xgb9m
— Bob Ley (@BobLeyESPN) August 23, 2018
“So the Ohio State Board of Trustees spent 12 hours behind closed doors, then the principles in this drama emerge, and this is their response?
If a report from yesterday is accurate, that the trustees wanted no suspension of Urban Meyer, and the president Michael Drake did want a suspension, ultimately he got his way.
Dr. Drake, it is time to buy some new golf clubs, because you sir, are likely on borrowed time. The story, which should be about Zach and Courtney Smith, is instead about power and money—the power of a major college football coach, and the money generated when that program wins, even when it is led in practice next month for games two and three by a coach serving an unpaid suspension.
I am losing count in the ways the Ohio State is both feckless and beyond tone-deaf, but I fear that counting has just begun.”
The Buckeyes kick off their 2018 campaign on Saturday, Sept. 1 against Oregon State.