Strip clubs, drugs, memory loss: Bulleted list of Urban Meyer investigation
The long await for Urban Meyer’s fate has finally ended: 3-game suspension. Gene Smith joins Meyer on the time-out bench with an unpaid leave from Gene Smith from August 31 to September 16.
Since the repercussion for mishandling former assistant coach Zach Smith’s domestic abuse allegations have been handed down, more details about the investigation have hit the fan.
Here are some key findings, per The Dispatch:
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- Zach Smith took high school coaches and an unnamed Buckeyes coach to a strip club, spending upwards of $600 of his personal funds, while on an OSU recruiting trip in Florida in May 2014.
- Meyer heard about the incident but did not know how much was spent at the club and failed to report it to the compliance department.
- Meyer threatened Smith to fire him if it happened again and required a “morality claus” to be put in coaches’ contracts.
- Powell police investigated Zach Smith for 15 months regarding domestic violence and cyber offenses against his then wife Courtney Smith that lasted through 2016.
- OSU’s Title IX compliance officer got wind of the investigation and notified Gene Smith who then notified Meyer at a practice. Upset, Meyer and Gene Smith ordered Zach Smith return from a recruiting trip.
- Meyer and Gene Smith confronted Zach Smith and told him, “if you hit her, you are fired.”
- Shelley Meyer said she never told Urban Meyer about the text messages Courtney Smith sent to her about Zach Smith’s abuse in 2015 because she doubted the allegations.
- Investigators’ reaction: “Given the closeness of their relationship and Shelley’s concerns, we believe it is likely that Shelley and Urban Meyer had at least some communication about these allegations in late 2015 and were concerned about them.”
- In the midst of the divorce in 2016, Zach Smith went off the deep end—showing up late for practices and workouts and lying about attending high school recruiting trips.
- Zach Smith had sex with a secretary of the football program which went unreported.
- He took sexually explicit photos of himself while at the White House and the football facilities in April 2015 after the team won a national championship.
- He also had had sex toys delivered to athletics facilities. Meyer and Gene Smith were aware of this.
- Zach Smith checked into a drug treatment facility in June 2016 for an addiction to a prescription drug to treat ADHD. Meyer advised Smith to check into the facility.
- Meyer’s lie about knowledge of the 2015 domestic abuse allegations against Zach Smith was likely a result of his health, incorrect media report, and confusing text messages from staff.
- Texts show Meyer was told there was no record of any arrest in 2015, contradicting a media report.
- He told reporters at the Big Ten Media Day that he was not aware of any incident in 2015, though he actually was.
- Investigators discovered that Meyer has memory issues and sometimes takes medications that impairs his memory.
- Upon learning of the initial report from Brett Murphy that Shelley had become aware of Courtney Smith’s allegations, staff member Brian Voltolini linked up with Meyer and together, they worked to delete text messages older than a year from Meyer’s phone.
- When Meyer turned over his phone on August 2, there were only texts from the last year on it.
- Investigators found the action of deleting messages “concerning.”
- The report detailed that Meyer and Gene Smith were both required to report issues such as the allegations against Zach Smith to the compliance department. Meyer simply reporting to Gene Smith was not good enough.
- Meyer and Smith said that the lack of law enforcement or court action played a part in their decision to not take the Zach Smith allegations to the compliance department.
- Per the report: “Repeatedly, Zach Smith’s conduct was met with reprimands and warnings by Coach Meyer, but never a written report, never an investigation and no disciplinary action until July 23, 2018. While we do not doubt that Coach Meyer respects women and is dedicated to fostering an environment of respect for women in his program, his apparent blind spot for Zach Smith seems to have impaired his judgment and his management of the behavior of at least one of his assistants.”
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