Abuse Claims Paint Bleak Picture For Meyer, Ohio State

Ohio State coaches certainly have a flair for the dramatic.

Woody Hayes punched a Clemson player in a bowl game, Jim Tressel lied to the NCAA and now Urban Meyer -- we think -- kept a coach on staff who appeared to have multiple incidents of domestic abuse against his now ex-wife.

There has been a rush to judgment, nothing new about that. That's the way the (social media) world works these days. A bunch of seemingly strong evidence, but nothing 100 percent certain that ties Meyer to this sordid mess.

When did Urban Meyer know about abuse claims? (Garrett Stepien)

Ohio State has plastered its practice facilities with all kinds of life mantras, among them TREAT WOMEN WITH RESPECT. Former assistant coach Zach Smith apparently didn't heed those words, physically abusing his former wife, Courtney. Theirs was undoubtedly a troubled marriage, one that Meyer felt he might be able to save after a 2009 incident when Smith was an intern at the University of Florida. A 2009 incident -- which no one is denying, including Meyer -- took place, and Meyer and his wife, Shelley, attempted to counsel the young couple, married just a year. Courtney Smith alleges that Meyer sent someone to coerce her to drop the charges against her then-husband, the person stating "he was drunk, he's never hit you before, he probably won't do it again." Not a foundation to build a marriage on, but not impossible, either.

I have a friend who went through much the same issue, over 25 years ago -- went out one night, had a bit too much to drink, got into a shouting match with his wife, pushed and slapped her before retreating to another place in the house. He chalked it up to alcohol, and after some thought she decided that he deserved a second chance. She gave him one, and there has never been a hint of another incident.

So to me there is zero problem with Meyer reacting to the 2009 incident as he did.

It's 2015 where things get dicey.

There were conflicting reports about whether an incident ever took place, at least until the bombshell Brett McMurphy story that contained texts and photos of a visibly battered and bruised Courtney. It's pretty evident that something happened. Courtney Smith says she told Shelley Meyer, who told her that she though Zach was dangerous and that she would have to tell Urban. Courtney was fine with that, but also admitted she doesn't know for sure whether or not Shelley actually did that.

And that COULD be where Urban Meyer can use the plausible deniability angle.

If Shelley intended to tell him but didn't, how was he to know? Sure, he and Smith discussed the incident, with Smith saying that everything he's heard isn't true. According to text messages, Urban Meyer didn't know whom or what to believe. He seemed to have knowledge that maybe something happened, but do we know for sure? This is one instance where it might be wise to let the facts bear themselves out, because firing a person on suppositions and allegations is not a good look.

Nor is the way Meyer attempted to assassinate McMurphy's character recently, when asked about the 2015 incident.

"We found nothing. There's nothing there. I don't know who makes up a story like that."

There are precious few coaches who have directly challenged the media and won, and this is likely not going to be one of them.

Had Meyer issued a mea culpa along the lines of  "when it came to my attention that something might have happened between Zach and Courtney, I should have done a better job getting to the bottom of things. I failed in that aspect. This is not who I am and this is not what Ohio State is. Once we found about the incident we took the proper steps, but I regret not doing more."

That would have made for roughly 24 hours of choppy waters, but it would have gone away.

Now Meyer is the one who might be going away -- at least from Ohio State.

This was the one guy who many felt would leave Ohio State on his own terms. None of the others did, but Urban won so much that he seemed to have carte blanche to step down whenever he felt like it.

The decision now may be made for him. If the allegations are true that he did indeed know in 2015 and kept Smith on staff for two more seasons, then the school has no choice. Meyer has to go.

But unlike many, I am not quite ready to call for his ouster. While this isn't going to a courtroom, the court of public opinion seems to have already fried Meyer -- save for the occasional irrational OSU fan trying to impugn Courtney Smith's character.

The incidents happened. This is certain. Zach Smith has major issues. This is certain. He needed to be removed from Ohio State. This is certain. Meyer has handled this poorly. This is certain.

Some have said that Meyer should be gone simply for having a serial abuser on his staff. But if he truly didn't know about how the incident actually unfolded, he could have been under the impression that Smith still had just the one strike against him. Violating the order of protection would have been what Meyer acted on. Is someone really a serial abuser if you only know about one incident? So far that's the all the proof anyone has, that Meyer knew about one incident.

So pardon me for waiting for a bit more concrete evidence to come in about Meyer and a timeline before deciding to cast him aside. Do I believe Meyer knew? Yeah, I do. But believing something and proving it are two different things, so count me as someone who doesn't mind waiting for more facts to come in instead of relying on suppositions and who told what to whom and when.