Michigan Football: Urban Meyer documents show Jim Harbaugh was right

Michigan football and the University, in general, has been the subject of several scandals. The problems at Ohio State, however, are much more egregious.

No team is exempt from scandal, not even Michigan football. Since the dawn of college sports, coaches have been looking to get a leg up on the competition. There are some that take it too far — enter Urban Meyer.

Where Meyer goes there is controversy, whether alleged or real, and we know now with the release of the Zach Smith investigation, there is truth in the most recent scandal and that Meyer’s involvement in it should be a lesson to those aspiring to become a head coach one day. A lesson on what not to do.

Before I get into the statements and facts surrounding this case, let me provide some mitigating factors upfront.

First, people lie and occasionally it’s not for nefarious purposes.

Second, for those of you who do not know, former Ohio State assistant Zach Smith – who this impropriety surrounds –  is the grandson of the iconic Ohio State head coach Earle Bruce (who happens to be Urban’s mentor).

And third, disregard the first two statements because domestic violence is not acceptable.

Disclaimer: The facts in this article come directly from Ohio State’s independent investigation which delved into the allegations against former assistant coach Zach Smith and the coaching staff. All quoted material comes from the investigation which can be found here.

How it all happened

Let’s begin this story in Florida where the Smith-Meyer relationship started…

In 2009, Urban Meyer is the head coach of Florida which had just come off a 13-1 season culminating in a National Championship. Zach Smith is his assistant.

Come June, there was a party at the Meyer house where Zach, who had consumed alcoholic beverages, decided it was a good idea to bring a female co-worker home to sleep on his couch. Zach’s pregnant wife didn’t take kindly to that and an argument ensued. Mrs. Courtney Smith – Zach’s wife at the time – claimed her husband grabbed her by “her T-shirt, picked her up and threw her into the bedroom wall.”

The Gainsville Police department took the report and noted:

"“The victims shirt has visible signs that it had been stretched from the incident and the def had visible redness on his right bicep which he claimed occurred in a bar downtown.”"

The media generally played down the incident since no charges were filed, however, the summary of findings in the Ohio State investigation stated Mrs. Smith did not pursue charges after conversations with Zach’s family, including Earle Bruce.

Ohio State legacy

Fast forward past Urban’s medical issues and we arrive in Columbus, Ohio in December of 2011; the year Meyer hired Smith as an assistant without telling the Buckeyes about the 2009 episode.

According to the report, “Coach Meyer has explained that he did not do so because no charges were filed and because he believed Zach Smith had not engaged in domestic violence in 2009.”

The report also stated that while it is not believed Meyer broke any rules or policies, “There is, however, extensive evidence during this period of misconduct and other problematic, or at least questionable, behavior by Zach Smith while he was employed at OSU, only some of which was known to Coach Meyer, AD Smith, and/or others in the Athletics Department.”

The misconduct includes charging the university for visits to a strip club on a recruiting trip, several unpaid cell phones and car bills, and violations of court orders.

Now we arrive in 2015 and this time the Powell Police told the school they were about to arrest Zach for domestic abuse, Urban Meyer warned his mentor’s grandson, if “you hit her, you are fired.”

A few months later, Courtney contacted Shelly Meyer, Urban’s wife, regarding the 2015 investigation via text message. The texts included photographs of the abuse and statements expressing her fear of Smith.

Shelly told investigators she did not relay the information to her husband “because she had doubts about the veracity of Courtney Smith’s allegations,” which the investigators suspected was not the truth.

“Given the closeness of their relationship and Shelley’s concerns,” the investigators opined, “we believe it is likely that Shelley and Urban Meyer had at least some communication about these allegations in late 2015”.

The biggest hole with Shelly’s statement is in the texts she sent to Courtney. Shelly asked if Courtney had obtained a restraining order against Zach to which she responds she hasn’t and that “Basically you have to prove he will kill u [sic] to get a protection order.” Shelly responded with “Geesh! Even w [sic] the pics? Didn’t law enforcement come to your place ever??.”

Without trying to take too many liberties, what Shelly said was the photographs of abuse should have been enough to get a protection order and yet later she said there were doubts about the veracity of the allegation.

What we have is a collection of atrocious behavior perpetrated by an assistant coach who just helped Urban Meyer win another National Championship, providing Zach Smith with some additional undeserved reprieve from his transgressions.

It took years of ordering sex toys to the office, sex with female members of the staff, and explicit photographs to finally fire assistant coach Smith. Oh, wait, no, that still didn’t get him fired.

What broke the camels back was a criminal trespass order, a domestic violence civil protection order, and a damning (but exaggerated and incorrect) report from the media alleging Smith had a felony arrest in 2015.

All of this came to a head the day before Big Ten Media Days in 2018 when Urban announced Smith was no longer on staff. Why did it take so long? “Coach Meyer considered the domestic violence civil protection order to be the first actual evidence that Zach Smith had engaged in domestic violence, even though Zach Smith continues to deny it and is contesting the order.” The investigative report stated.

First actual evidence? Then why did Urban message the staff saying, “Zero conversation about Zach’s past issues. We need to help him as he moves frwd[sic]. Team and players!!”

And if there were no past domestic issues, why did Urban’s wife say, “I am worried about Zach’s response. He drinks a lot and I am just not sure how stable he will be. Afraid he will do something
dangerous. It’s obvious he has anger/rage issues already.”

And if Urban had nothing to hide, why did he and staff member Brian Voltolini set his cell phone to only retain text messages for a year, effectively deleting any communication with Mr. Smith? Which the investigators stated was “Often, although not always, such reactions evidence
consciousness of guilt.”

And, at the Big Ten Media Days in 2018. why did Urban Meyer lie about the 2015 incident saying he knew nothing about it despite clear evidence to the contrary?

The answer to it all

“Urban Meyer’s had a winning record. Really, a phenomenal record everywhere he’s been. But also, controversy follows him everywhere he’s been,” Jim Harbaugh told Tim Kawakami on the “TK Show” podcast.

Considering many label Jim’s comments to be those of a sore loser, here’s what was stated in the report:

"“In the course of our review, as the factual discussion in this summary reflects, we identified a pattern of troubling behavior by Zach Smith: promiscuous and embarrassing sexual behavior, drug abuse, truancy, dishonesty, financial irresponsibility, a possible NCAA violation, and a lengthy police investigation into allegations of criminal domestic violence and cybercrimes. 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 anenvironment 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.”"