I’ll be curious to see what the grounds for suspension are. Lying to the media? That should go unpunished as far as I’m concerned. If he really was just unprepared for that line of questioning at media day, the university should have made damn sure he was prepped. Failure to live up to his obligations in reporting domestic abuse? That should be fireable. It’s hard for me to see a scenario where Urban made a small mistake. He either did the right thing, or he screwed it up big time.
He is already suspended for lying so it’s now just how a matter of how long that suspension lasts . It’s not like he lied about a player’s injury to throw off the other team or something like that. He lied about something more serious.
If, like Trump, you see the free press as an enemy and not as representatives of the public, maybe. If instead you see the sports media as an ideally sycophantic part of the PR mechanism that keeps the business of the football program operating, but won’t if it’s mistreated, well, the university has to (and will) remember that this is ultimately a business decision and must take corrective action if its business is being impaired, as it is.
Yes, and keeping him around is going to hurt the image and business of the football program (see above). Regardless of his legal obligations, which seem a bit unclear, there is little doubt of his moral obligations and that he didn’t meet them. This won’t just blow over, and trying to let it will only make it look worse. The university has to get all this behind it. There are plenty of other good coaches available to come to a premier program.
these days a lot of good coaches don’t change jobs if they are secure and winning . They may pretend to want another job to boost their pay. Meyer was different because he quit Florida and was not coaching for a year so he had little risk by going there. He could have taken a lot of other jobs but chose OSU.
As previously mentioned “HONESTY” tops the list of rules posted on a wall at O.S.U. for football players (just ahead of RESPECT FOR WOMEN).
It doesn’t say “HONESTY - except when dealing with the media or some other person/group who don’t really count”.
If selective violations of standards are OK, then maybe players should be able to commit robberies or use drugs if there are extenuating circumstances (like being essential starters).
Is there a precedent for coaches or athletes being suspended for lying to the media? Lying to their university, lying to the NCAA, yes of course, suspension or firing is warranted. If he’s suspended for lying on media day, even though he (allegedly) did the right thing at the time of the incident, I think it sets a questionable precedent.
BOT taking all day to talk about Meyer. Maybe they have a few spin doctors on hand to help explain to the public how he only gets 1 game off.
It is questionable. How many times have coaches lied about their future job plans? Should coach X be suspended because he lies that he’s not considering the more prestigious job with a top football school when he’s exceeded expectations with a mid major program? That happens all the time.
Boston College fired their FB coach a few years back because he interviewed for another job after they asked him not to . It was the Jets job and he did not get it , they hired Rex Ryan. He did a good job at BC too which is not an easy place to win at. His ACC record was 11-5.
Suspended for 3 games. Will miss two layups and an away game to TCU.
It’s enough to fend off the mob without hurting the team too bad.
Fired coach’s lawyer comments on the suspension of Meyer
Zach Smith married a woman he should not have married. Vengeance against her ex-husband regrettably resulted in collateral damage to Urban Meyer, Gene Smith & The Ohio State University.
That is pretty disgusting.
yes it is bad but par for the course. Everything else is supposed to bow down to OSU FB.
Meanwhile, players get four games for selling sneakers. Nice little industry you got there, college football.
Urban Meyer earns huge money for that university that comes from really excited and well heeled alumni and from television and endorsement deals that result from them being a very high profile and successful team. OSU isn’t going to fire him unless the university is literally cornered into doing so.
I stand by what I said earlier, he should have either been fired or not punished at all. The three game suspension and some of the explanations for it are laughable. ESPN is bashing Urban, one article says he still doesn’t “get it” because he has still not apologized to, or even mentioned, the alleged battered wife this situation. There is some other good info in this article.
Sometime after the allegations came out, Urban looked into deleting old text messages. A staff member showed him how to change his phone settings so that only texts from within the last year could be seen. In the investigation, only texts from within the last year were on his phone. Investigators “were unable to tell when Meyer adjusted the settings on his phone to get rid of older messages.” Indeed, who could know?
“Gene Smith explicitly told Meyer to acknowledge what he knew about the 2015 incident in a text message before Meyer spoke to reporters. Meyer acknowledged receiving that message…” I think if Urban had followed those directions, admitted to knowing about the incident and that he reported it at that time, this would have never become what it is. However, investigators don’t think Urban “deliberately lied” to the media.
If they think Urban did the right thing along the way, he should not have been punished. That case could have been made, and that it was Urban’s superiors who messed up at OSU. If they think Urban enabled or hid an abusive situation, he should have been fired.
3 games is pretty much a PR move. It means the nutjob fans won’t burn down the town and it also allows the media to be happy he got punished.
BTW I heard today that Meyer is all for other coaches being fired for minor NCAA problems. For example a coach was using a second burner phone to call recruits beyond the phone call limits. In that case Meyer thought that merited a firing.
What an injustice to Urban Meyer. His supporters need a theme song to rally around.
*Suspended!
Marked with a [del]liar’s[/del] guy with a bad memory’s shame.
What do you do when you’re suspended,
Well you coach another game.
He was innocent,
Not a charge was true,
And Buckeyes fans will always know …
Suspended!
Scorned for your phone delete.
What do you do when you’re suspended,
And facing mean tweets? *
Too bad Chuck Connors isn’t still around to play Urban in the upcoming TV series.
Ohio State would win the first two games if I were coaching.