Ohio State puts Urban Meyer on administrative leave

[joseephuss]

http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...keyes-places-urban-meyer-administrative-leave

Ohio State puts Urban Meyer on administrative leave

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer was placed on paid administrative leave Wednesday as the school announced it is investigating Courtney Smith's claims that several people close to the head coach knew of a 2015 allegation of domestic violence against her ex-husband, former Ohio State assistant football coach Zach Smith, who was fired in July.

Offensive coordinator Ryan Day will be the team's acting head coach during the investigation.

"We are focused on supporting our players and on getting to the truth as expeditiously as possible," the school said in a statement.

 

[Silver Surfer]

So what's the bigger outrage to the "Great Collective"?

A) The fact that he lied about not knowing about the incident in 2015 ..... or B) That he wasn't sufficiently outraged when he learned of his assistant coach's behavior that he fired him back then.

It appears that the new measure for compliance to the Great Collective is: "No matter how long ago some infraction may or may not have occurred, you were responsible to be as outraged about it as we are at this very moment, and you should have doled out the punishment we deem appropriate today when you learned of it back then. If you do otherwise, you are obviously not worthy of maintaining your current employment".

Please note, I am NOT defending spousal abuse. I'm defending the individual against the collective mentality that seeks to retroactively punish/ostracize a person for not behaving in a way they deem appropriate today.

 

[Biggems]

So what's the bigger outrage to the "Great Collective"?

A) The fact that he lied about not knowing about the incident in 2015 ..... or B) That he wasn't sufficiently outraged when he learned of his assistant coach's behavior that he fired him back then.

It appears that the new measure for compliance to the Great Collective is: "No matter how long ago some infraction may or may not have occurred, you were responsible to be as outraged about it as we are at this very moment, and you should have doled out the punishment we deem appropriate today when you learned of it back then. If you do otherwise, you are obviously not worthy of maintaining your current employment".

Please note, I am NOT defending spousal abuse. I'm defending the individual against the collective mentality that seeks to retroactively punish/ostracize a person for not behaving in a way they deem appropriate today.

I think the issue is that he knew of the abuse the entire time, but stood by her husband, instead of helping her escape the torment.

Either way, Urban is running out of lives. He isn't on the level of Paterno and Briles, but he is definitely living was some serious skeletons in his closet.

 

[Silver Surfer]

I think the issue is that he knew of the abuse the entire time, but stood by her husband, instead of helping her escape the torment.

Either way, Urban is running out of lives. He isn't on the level of Paterno and Briles, but he is definitely living was some serious skeletons in his closet.

I'm no fan of Meyer. But I do remember a time when people assumed adult couples should be allowed to work through their "issues" without their employer intervening. If this guy is beating his wife, then throw his butt in jail. If he's in jail, then his problem is out there for the whole world to see it. At that point, if Meyer does nothing, then its on him. Absent that, Meyer is setting himself and the university up for criticism for denial of due process among other things.

Do we know if his former wife wanted him to be fired in 2015? How would that have been helpful to either of them at that time? Would his loss of job/status/income caused more friction between them or ended the marriage or put her more at risk?

Its real easy with the benefit of hindsight to say what should or should not have been done. It pisses me off that people are getting hammered because the armchair quarterbacks are passing judgement on witnesses rather than the perpetrators.

 

[TWOK11]

Meyer is clear from a legal standpoint. This doesn't qualify as a Title IX violation and there is no Ohio law requiring one to report suspected spousal abuse. Unless he actually witnessed the abuse or the accused confessed to him directly he would not be on the hook for misprison of a felon. He didn't expose the university to any potential litigation.

The question is did he violate tOSU employee code of conduct/ethics policy? I don't think they'll fire someone that successful solely because of moral ambiguity or social outrage.

Personally I find Meyer a slimely individual but once you start punishing people for not reporting second hand allegations levied against co-workers you enter a dangerous arena where heresay is given A LOT of power. As we saw with Zeke (where at least SOME of the allegations and photos were fabricated) it isn't hard to try and frame someone for abuse in this day and age.

 

[Silver Surfer]

From an ESPN commentary: "This whole time, it has been up to administrators to hold Meyer accountable. Nobody ever did until Courtney Smith decided to speak up. In this rare instance, she provided not only photos but also text messages to back up her claims that at least Shelley Meyer knew what happened to her in 2015, despite Urban Meyer's denials."

I don't claim to understand the entirety of this matter, but this makes the victim look really bad to me. She's outed a confidant and by extension, Coach Meyer. Is she trying to get money from OSU? I hope its worth it, because she's burning bridges all over the place....at least her husband, Urban Meyer and his wife Shelley..... not to mention anyone who is a fan of the OSU program (however shallow that may seem due to the nature of the infractions).

How's her "friend" Shelley going to feel about her after she's been thrown under the bus? How about the fact that Smith may have destroyed her husband's career/earning power? Is it Meyer's fault her husband was beating her? The best person to put an end to the whole thing is the person she sees when she looks in the mirror. If she had handled this in 2009, just a guess.... but I'm thinking the incident in 2015 wouldn't have happened.

I've learned over time that there are some people who are best described as whirlpools. They're circling the drain; and if you get near them, they'll suck you down too.

 

[atlantacowboy]

I think the issue is that he knew of the abuse the entire time, but stood by her husband, instead of helping her escape the torment.

Either way, Urban is running out of lives. He isn't on the level of Paterno and Briles, but he is definitely living was some serious skeletons in his closet.

That is pure conjecture. There is no evidence at this point that he knew anything and even if he did, so what? The wife did not press charges and no crime was prosecuted. This is not a Penn State situation.

 

[atlantacowboy]

From an ESPN commentary: "This whole time, it has been up to administrators to hold Meyer accountable. Nobody ever did until Courtney Smith decided to speak up. In this rare instance, she provided not only photos but also text messages to back up her claims that at least Shelley Meyer knew what happened to her in 2015, despite Urban Meyer's denials."

I don't claim to understand the entirety of this matter, but this makes the victim look really bad to me. She's outed a confidant and by extension, Coach Meyer. Is she trying to get money from OSU? I hope its worth it, because she's burning bridges all over the place....at least her husband, Urban Meyer and his wife Shelley..... not to mention anyone who is a fan of the OSU program (however shallow that may seem due to the nature of the infractions).

How's her "friend" Shelley going to feel about her after she's been thrown under the bus? How about the fact that Smith may have destroyed her husband's career/earning power? Is it Meyer's fault her husband was beating her? The best person to put an end to the whole thing is the person she sees when she looks in the mirror. If she had handled this in 2009, just a guess.... but I'm thinking the incident in 2015 wouldn't have happened.

I've learned over time that there are some people who are best described as whirlpools. They're circling the drain; and if you get near them, they'll suck you down too.

She decided to speak up about an incident that occurred 3 years ago b/c she is now divorced and quite bitter about it.

 

[atlantacowboy]

Meyer is clear from a legal standpoint. This doesn't qualify as a Title IX violation and there is no Ohio law requiring one to report suspected spousal abuse. Unless he actually witnessed the abuse or the accused confessed to him directly he would not be on the hook for misprison of a felon. He didn't expose the university to any potential litigation.

The question is did he violate tOSU employee code of conduct/ethics policy? I don't think they'll fire someone that successful solely because of moral ambiguity or social outrage.

Personally I find Meyer a slimely individual but once you start punishing people for not reporting second hand allegations levied against co-workers you enter a dangerous arena where heresay is given A LOT of power. As we saw with Zeke (where at least SOME of the allegations and photos were fabricated) it isn't hard to try and frame someone for abuse in this day and age.

I think you underestimate the uber sensitive culture on most college campuses. Social outrage trumps truth. They'll be people from all over piling onto that university not the least of which is ESPN which has already taken a very negative position on him.

The problem the university is going to have is trying not to pay him the 30 million they still owe him.

 

[jrumann59]

And who said the Witch Trials ended in the 17th century...

 

[Birch_Wood]

So he may be available? W 117 L 31
Bowling Green
Utah
Florida Gators
Ohio State
-----
Dallas Cowboys

 

[Silver Surfer]

So he may be available? W 117 L 31
Bowling Green
Utah
Florida Gators
Ohio State
-----
Dallas Cowboys

You forgot Penn State and Baylor......

 

[Birch_Wood]

From an ESPN commentary: "This whole time, it has been up to administrators to hold Meyer accountable. Nobody ever did until Courtney Smith decided to speak up. In this rare instance, she provided not only photos but also text messages to back up her claims that at least Shelley Meyer knew what happened to her in 2015, despite Urban Meyer's denials."

I don't claim to understand the entirety of this matter, but this makes the victim look really bad to me. She's outed a confidant and by extension, Coach Meyer. Is she trying to get money from OSU? I hope its worth it, because she's burning bridges all over the place....at least her husband, Urban Meyer and his wife Shelley..... not to mention anyone who is a fan of the OSU program (however shallow that may seem due to the nature of the infractions).

How's her "friend" Shelley going to feel about her after she's been thrown under the bus? How about the fact that Smith may have destroyed her husband's career/earning power? Is it Meyer's fault her husband was beating her? The best person to put an end to the whole thing is the person she sees when she looks in the mirror. If she had handled this in 2009, just a guess.... but I'm thinking the incident in 2015 wouldn't have happened.

I've learned over time that there are some people who are best described as whirlpools. They're circling the drain; and if you get near them, they'll suck you down too.

An acquaintance of mine and Michigan fan is literally celebrating over this latest news of Urban Meyer. The jubilee is rippling through the Michigan campus as we type.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

So what's the bigger outrage to the "Great Collective"?

A) The fact that he lied about not knowing about the incident in 2015 ..... or B) That he wasn't sufficiently outraged when he learned of his assistant coach's behavior that he fired him back then.

It appears that the new measure for compliance to the Great Collective is: "No matter how long ago some infraction may or may not have occurred, you were responsible to be as outraged about it as we are at this very moment, and you should have doled out the punishment we deem appropriate today when you learned of it back then. If you do otherwise, you are obviously not worthy of maintaining your current employment".

Please note, I am NOT defending spousal abuse. I'm defending the individual against the collective mentality that seeks to retroactively punish/ostracize a person for not behaving in a way they deem appropriate today.

Yeah..... Group Think sucks, for sure.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I think the issue is that he knew of the abuse the entire time, but stood by her husband, instead of helping her escape the torment.

Either way, Urban is running out of lives. He isn't on the level of Paterno and Briles, but he is definitely living was some serious skeletons in his closet.

Briles? Really?

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Meyer is clear from a legal standpoint. This doesn't qualify as a Title IX violation and there is no Ohio law requiring one to report suspected spousal abuse. Unless he actually witnessed the abuse or the accused confessed to him directly he would not be on the hook for misprison of a felon. He didn't expose the university to any potential litigation.

The question is did he violate tOSU employee code of conduct/ethics policy? I don't think they'll fire someone that successful solely because of moral ambiguity or social outrage.

Personally I find Meyer a slimely individual but once you start punishing people for not reporting second hand allegations levied against co-workers you enter a dangerous arena where heresay is given A LOT of power. As we saw with Zeke (where at least SOME of the allegations and photos were fabricated) it isn't hard to try and frame someone for abuse in this day and age.

The other question would be, what (if any) were the conduct policies that were in place in 2015 and were they changed, between now and then?

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

So he may be available? W 117 L 31
Bowling Green
Utah
Florida Gators
Ohio State
-----
Dallas Cowboys

Seriously. You don't have to like him but there is no denying that he is one hell of a good Football Coach. He was the first Coach to take a none power conference school to the BCS. He has one of the best winning percentage of any active coach with at least 5 seasons or more. He has two National Championships at two different schools and almost had a third in 2004 with an undefeated Utah team.

Meyer is a seriously great coach. Any big time program would be stupid not to be interested in that guy IMO.

 

[cowboy_ron]

ATTENTION PLEASE, The whole world has been put on administrative league until we get to the bottom of all these accusations floating around all over the place.

Did you ever have a date at the drive in theater back in your youth? Be forwarned you may be hearing from her lawyer soon whether you remember it or not.......if she said you did, you're automatically guilty.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

I'm no fan of Meyer. But I do remember a time when people assumed adult couples should be allowed to work through their "issues" without their employer intervening. If this guy is beating his wife, then throw his butt in jail. If he's in jail, then his problem is out there for the whole world to see it. At that point, if Meyer does nothing, then its on him. Absent that, Meyer is setting himself and the university up for criticism for denial of due process among other things.

Do we know if his former wife wanted him to be fired in 2015? How would that have been helpful to either of them at that time? Would his loss of job/status/income caused more friction between them or ended the marriage or put her more at risk?

Its real easy with the benefit of hindsight to say what should or should not have been done. It pisses me off that people are getting hammered because the armchair quarterbacks are passing judgement on witnesses rather than the perpetrators.

I agree overall but from what I understand, it is your Title IX that might get him. As an employee of OSU, both he and his wife supposedly had a duty to report the allegations of abuse to the authorities. I understand he asked the coach if he were beating his wife, Smith denied it and that apparently is not enough. I agree it is way too easy to sit back and say "he should have done more". Unless his wife throws him under the bus, not sure how they can say he actually knew of the allegations. Anyway, if the guy denies them, what is Meyer supposed to do,say "oh well you deny it but tough, I am reporting you anyway"?

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

I think you underestimate the uber sensitive culture on most college campuses. Social outrage trumps truth. They'll be people from all over piling onto that university not the least of which is ESPN which has already taken a very negative position on him.

The problem the university is going to have is trying not to pay him the 30 million they still owe him.

yep

I read a book last year called the campus rape frenzy, it was scary. Basically just an accusation, even if shown to be baseless, can get a guy kicked off campus because the accuser can say, well just knowing he is here triggers me.