Jacob Manley

Has the situation gotten all that better?

Unless you have been living under a rock, everyone should know about the mess that was Ohio State’s offseason. I think I have published five or six articles about the entire thing. Following Urban’s suspension being handed down, I felt like the meat of the story was done, and took a break from “the Urban beat”. I was obviously wrong.

In light of the new details (among other things) that have cropped up, I am jumping back on the story. The story branches way past Meyer now, and we have several reports and videos to sort through. So follow along with me as I continue to lose faith in college athletics.

Zach Smith

So Zach Smith posted a video through some form of social media this week, I personally caught it through twitter. It’s…. a thing. 

I have many questions here. Who is the woman? Why does his bitmoji still have a headset on? WHAT IS HE DOING WITH HIS MOUTH??? He does seem to be doing well for a guy who didn’t get a severance package. Shoutout to the twitter commenters who said, “I got nervous every time he raised his fist”, and “I kept thinking she was going to flash me”.

The Police Report

Okay, now we actually have to get somewhat serious. ElevenWarriors.com obtained the photos from the 2009 incident in which Zach Smith was originally charged. The charge, which was later dropped by Courtney Smith, was identified as aggravated battery. The photos do not show a whole lot of evidence either way, and does add at least some context to Urban not firing Smith in 2009. Courtney Smith’s left eye does look a tad bit swollen, but it is very hard to tell what occurred that night, and we ultimately have nothing to go on but the police report that was released in August. The Eleven Warriors article can be found here. https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/the-zach-smith-investigation/2018/09/96601/gainesville-police-department-releases-photos-of-domestic-violence-incident-involving

The Rinaldi Interview

Oh boy, this went poorly. Tom Rinaldi had an exclusive sit down with Urban Meyer before the TCU game, and of course, grilled him about the Zach Smith situation. Urban probably could have handled it better. He did, honestly, a horrific job of maintaining innocence. Yes, you can argue that he was being attacked throughout the entire interview, but that is something he should have been prepared for. I don’t often agree with anything Clay Travis says, but he was pretty spot on here. 

It was painful to watch, and it honestly seemed as though he was continually digging himself deeper and deeper. He maintained that his wife never shared anything with him, which sure, I guess that could be true. But her whole Hippocratic oath thing would likely make that very difficult, so let’s hope he isn’t throwing his wife under the bus. Whoever his PR person is needs to find a new career path, that is for sure.

Also, why even do this if you’re Urban? You weren’t really gonna gain any sympathy, and the court of public opinion has declared you guilty, if anything you just made it worse for yourself. Also this:

That’s not a good look.

Ohio State Did Not Attempt to Recover the Deleted Text Messages.

OH COME ON. We knew that Meyer had, despite his denials, likely been deleting text messages, but then Gene Smith says that he routinely deletes text messages. And the probe just didn’t look into that? They apparently thought they had all the evidence they needed, but why not search that? You might find something. So yes, the whole thing still comes off incredibly fishy.

I don’t doubt that Urban Meyer is staunchly against domestic abuse. I do think his hubris may have gotten the best of him, and left a black mark on his career. This whole thing could have been avoided in 2009, all he had to do was fire a guy, for who all accounts, wasn’t even a good coach. But what does it matter in the end? Urban is back, The Buckeyes just beat TCU, and look to be one of the four best teams in the nation with a playoff spot in reach. And Courtney Smith can just watch. I imagine this is far from over.