Big Trouble at THE OSU
There are statements from the school. There's an in-depth story from Brett McMurphy on Facebook. There's video interviews of Zach Smith's ex-wife.
By now you know that Urban Meyer has been place on administrative leave by THE Ohio State.
This whole deal has stemmed from McMurphy's detailed report on former wide receiver coach Zach Smith's history of abusing his significant other. Smith, who is the grandson of Earle Bruce, has been a longtime assistant under Meyer, who has said often that Bruce is the second-most important man in Meyer's life behind his own father.
Side note: Thursday morning on "Get Up" McMurphy said Smith's ex-wife claimed that Smith said that if he ever got fired - he was fired by Meyer on July 23 - Smith would release information that would burn down THE Ohio State. Wow.
Meyer's job is now in jeopardy because the very real and clear assumption here is that Meyer covered up for a serial domestic abuser. He said he did not know about some of the previous incidents - incidents that Smith's ex-wife clearly told other coaches' wives, including Shelley Meyer - and appears to be in direct violation of his contract extension he signed in April.
Here's the pertinent part of the contract as it pertains to this story:
"Coach shall promptly report to Ohio State's Title IX Athletics any known violations of Ohio State's sexual misconduct policy (including but not limited to sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, intimate violence and stalking) that involve any student, faculty, or staff or that is in connection with a university sponsored activity or event For purposes of this section 4.1(e), a 'known violation' shall mean a violation or allegation of a violation of Title IX that Coach is aware of or has reasonable cause is taking place or may have taken place."
Yes, this looks bad. In fact the betting line we saw this morning had Urban as an underdog to be THE head coach at THE Ohio State on Sept. 1, 2018.
Couple of things:
First, kudos to McMurphy, who has always been a good dude. McMurphy was part of the most recent ESPN lay-offs and rather than sulk, or pout or blame the world - something that could be very easily understandable after losing a big-time gig like that through little fault of your own - McMurphy went out and continued to work and nailed the biggest story in college football this year. (It's hard to see one being bigger considering that magnitude of the program and the simple fact that Meyer is no worse than the No. 3 best coach in college football.)
Second, these acts - if true - are way worse in the legal scheme of things than what got Jim Tressel run out of Columbus. Trusses was fired for not being transparent about players getting extra stuff including are tattoos for giving away memorabilia. That's stealing a stick of gum compared to this all things considered.
Third, schools have shown a willingness to stand behind a successful coach if there are NCAA violations. And we truly believe almost everyone in the athletic THE Ohio State wants Meyer to survive this. Dude is a winning machine at an ATM program that drives the financial bus for every other program, coach, staff member and student-athlete at that university. But a willingness to disregard Mark Emmert and the NCAA is one thing. Messing with Title IX is something else entirely.
Finally, the only conceivable way for Meyer to survive this and remain as THE coach of THE Ohio State is for his wife Shelley to completely fall on this grenade. She is in a ton of hot water, too, because she also works at THE OSU in the nursing department. And the only way for any of us to believe that Urban was unaware of this - and in turn did not violate his contract and tell a bold-face lie at Big Ten media days - is for Shelley to swear she never told him.
Because even if the Meyer storyline is that they were trying to help Zach battle his demons, that does not make sense considering that a) the number of alleged altercations between Zach and a woman over multiple years; b) the lack of reporting to his superiors; and c) the flat-out lie he delivered at media days.
So the lone job-saving route here in this view is Shelley kept it from Urban. And know this, McMurphy said Thursday morning that if Urban Meyer did not know about Zach Smith's actions - which caused Courtney Smith to call the police nine times - he was the only one in the building who did not know about it.
Sideline view
OK, we are not the world's biggest soccer fan. We've been told that you're not allowed to use your hands which seems so weird.
Anyhoo, we are certain that there will not be any friendlies between the Chattanooga FC and the new United Soccer League team coming to town.
Egad, social media has become a back-room brawl of Twitter jabs and Facebook bombs.
First, here's TFP UTC Swiss Army Knife and kickball king Mean Gene Henley's story on the news of the day and, as Gene notes, there are more questions than answers right now.
For example: Does the schedules of the two overlap? Where will they play? We know Chattanooga is big enough for five vowels but are we big enough to support earnestly and enthusiastically two soccer clubs?
As for the Tweets, well, here's the original Tweet announcing the USL expansion team in the Division III league. (Side note: A little research shows that the expansion rights fee to the league is $500,000. Yikes.) https://twitter.com/USL_D3/status/1024731828421361664
And the blowback and the comments are very passionate.
And very entertaining.
Game on
The much-rumored and well-financed golf match between Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods is on.
It will be in November, either the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving. (If they are smart, they need to lean toward Friday. That's an awesome Saturday of college football friends.)
The financial details were not released officially (although the reports start at around $10 million), and while we'll watch this thing either way, if they want this thing to truly capture the casual fan's attention, they need to make sure of a couple of things:
Whether the money is posted for them, we the public need to believe that Philly Mick and Eldrick are putting up their own coin. Have each of them show up with a briefcase with $1 million in cash. Hand it to the starter, and the winner takes home the loot.
They have to be wired - and not censored - for this to be truly excellent.
On course stake-raising and wagering should not only be encouraged. It needs to be mandatory.
They need to get with Las Vegas and other booking outlets and offer a full range of prop bets on this thing.
This about gambling every bit as much as it is about golf.
Because what consistently draws viewers is the appreciation of greatness at things we have at least a semblance of experience with. So while none of us - unless Luke List or Keith Mitchell is reading today - have experience of hitting a shot like a pro, almost all of us who have played golf have felt the pressure of needing to make an 8-footer to win the hole and the bet, whatever that bet may be.
And embracing that fact will give this exhibition the best chance to succeed, because no one really cares whether Tiger hits a perfect stinger or Phil flips a perfect flop shot.
We care about the cash. And the juice of winning/losing $1 million. Or more.
This and that
- Speaking of social media back-and-forth, man the UT-vs.-Dan Wolken fracas will never end. Ever. Wolken, you will remember, is the USA Today national columnist who does a lot of college football. He was the guy that former UT AD John Currie reached out to and asked for P.R. help when he was trying to hire THE Ohio State assistant Greg Schiano late last year. Wolken agreed to help and when the potential Schiano hiring was torpedoed by UT Fans on Twitter and other platforms, Wolken wrote a column chastising UT fans. The backlash has been overwhelming, and since Greg Schiano was not named as the interim in replace of Meyer, it only got jumpstarted again Wednesday.
- Speaking of football, we get actual football tonight. OK, it's preseason, so it's a version of it, but still. And we almost assuredly going to get at least a small glimpse of Lamar Jackson with the Ravens. We're in for that.
- Here's a well-done story from Yahoo on T.O. and this weekend's Hall of Fame deal at UTC.
- Nationals pitcher throws tantrum. Nationals throw pitcher to the curb.
Today's questions
True or false on a Thursday.
True or false, Urban Meyer is done at THE Ohio State.
True or false, if Meyer had stood up at Big Ten media days and answered the question about Zach Smith's firing with something along the lines of "I tried to help Zach with some personal problems through the years because of my love and respect for his family, and truth be told, I should have fired him before last week" or something like that, this would have been a two-day story and Urban would be fine.
True or false, you are going to watch the Tiger-Phil head-to-head golf match.
On this day in 1776, the formal signing of the Declaration of Independence happened.
On this day in 1790, the first U.S. census was conducted. The U.S. population was 3,939,214 million and that included 697,624 slaves.
On this day in 1973, American Graffiti debuted.
Let's go there. If we started with Happy Days (the show was inspired by American Graffiti) and M*A*S*H as the first two on the Rushmore of best TV shows inspired by a movie, what else makes it?
Go, and remember the mailbag.