Does Urban Meyer get fired at OSU?

[mu03eng]

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/report-urban-meyer-knew-about-2015-domestic-violence-incident-involving-ex-assistant/

To sum up, long time Urban assistant has a history of domestic abuse. Urban knew of 2009 abuse but claimed to not know about 2015 incident, further he called a report a liar who implied he did know. Said reporter has now published text messages from the abuse victim in which Urban's wife not only is told but responses that she's going to have to tell Urban.

So unless the story is I haven't talked to my wife since 2015, I think Urban is in a heap of trouble. Unfortunately it'll be mostly because he lied to the media (they hate that) but either way does he survive at OSU?

[GGGG]

People are going to say he has plausible deniability since these texts were sent to his wife.  My guess is that he ultimately survives this.

[mu03eng]

People are going to say he has plausible deniability since these texts were sent to his wife.  My guess is that he ultimately survives this.

I love the subjective outrage in society 

As to the plausible deniability side, that's going to require Urban to throw his wife under the bus...."she never told me, how was I supposed to know" and since she said in the text messages "I've got to tell Urban" that makes it an overt act(in my mind) to not tell Urban which is a helluva thing to put on your significant other to save your job.

[tower912]

I would conduct a thorough investigation and let the results decide. 

[mu03eng]

I would conduct a thorough investigation and let the results decide.

Let's assume you investigate, what's your bar for termination versus not?

[tower912]

My bar and that of a Dean at a B1G powerhouse are quite different.

[GGGG]

I love the subjective outrage in society 

As to the plausible deniability side, that's going to require Urban to throw his wife under the bus...."she never told me, how was I supposed to know" and since she said in the text messages "I've got to tell Urban" that makes it an overt act(in my mind) to not tell Urban which is a helluva thing to put on your significant other to save your job.

What in Urban Meyer's past leads you to believe that he would be opposed to doing something like this?

[mu03eng]

What in Urban Meyer's past leads you to believe that he would be opposed to doing something like this?

Fair

[jesmu84]

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/report-urban-meyer-knew-about-2015-domestic-violence-incident-involving-ex-assistant/

To sum up, long time Urban assistant has a history of domestic abuse. Urban knew of 2009 abuse but claimed to not know about 2015 incident, further he called a report a liar who implied he did know. Said reporter has now published text messages from the abuse victim in which Urban's wife not only is told but responses that she's going to have to tell Urban.

So unless the story is I haven't talked to my wife since 2015, I think Urban is in a heap of trouble. Unfortunately it'll be mostly because he lied to the media (they hate that) but either way does he survive at OSU?

If the question of Urban's employment is based on the bolded, I think - based on other examples of the same going on currently in the world - I would say he will not be fired.

Should he? Depends. Much like athletes, do you think coaches should "just win" and their personal lives shouldn't have an impact? Or should coaches/athletes be expected to maintain morals/ethics as part of their job description?

[Spotcheck Billy]

The real question is about Meyer and standing ovations going forward.

[Mr. Nielsen]

Ohio State fired Jim Tressel for far less....

[GGGG]

If the question of Urban's employment is based on the bolded, I think - based on other examples of the same going on currently in the world - I would say he will not be fired.

Should he? Depends. Much like athletes, do you think coaches should "just win" and their personal lives shouldn't have an impact? Or should coaches/athletes be expected to maintain morals/ethics as part of their job description?

Another factor is the potential Title IX violations by both Urban and his wife.

[jesmu84]

Ohio State fired Jim Tressel for far less....

Turning a blind eye to your athletes committing NCAA violations? Enforcement of NCAA rules is actually part of the coach's job description.

[MerrittsMustache]

Ohio State fired Jim Tressel for far less....

Under Tressel, OSU football was under investigation for major rules violations (not to mention that Tressel was falling out of favor with fans despite racking up wins).

I'm not sure if what Meyer did violates any NCAA rules that could harm the program. If not, he's safe as long as he keeps winning.

[mu03eng]

Another factor is the potential Title IX violations by both Urban and his wife.

Yep, his wife was working in the Nursing School in 2015 which means she has reporting obligations.

[mu03eng]

Under Tressel, OSU football was under investigation for major rules violations (not to mention that Tressel was falling out of favor with fans despite racking up wins).

I'm not sure if what Meyer did violates any NCAA rules that could harm the program. If not, he's safe as long as he keeps winning.

I'm not sure if what Paterno did violates any NCAA rules that could harm the program. If not, he's safe as long as he keeps winning.

How'd that work out?

[MerrittsMustache]

I'm not sure if what Paterno did violates any NCAA rules that could harm the program. If not, he's safe as long as he keeps winning.

How'd that work out?

Looking the other way on child molestation for 30+ years is not the same thing as lying to the media about knowing a coach's history of domestic violence accusations against him.

Do I think Meyer should be fired? Of course. He has long been a sleezebag. I just don't have confidence in Ohio State to "do the right thing" when it comes to athletics.

[mu03eng]

Looking the other way on child molestation for 30+ years is not the same thing as lying to the media about knowing a coach's history of domestic violence accusations against him.

If the details are true, Urban looked the other way on domestic violence for 8+ years, he'll get nailed for the lying if anything not the fact that he enabled an abuser. It's not better or worse than what Paterno was accused of....they are the same level of awful.

[Dish]

Outside of the obvious terrible things happening, a couple of things stick out to me:

-Why would Meyer risk losing his job over this wide receivers coach?

-Why not just be contrite at media day and admit he made a mistake in giving this guy a second chance? The lies on top of the lies are so stupid here. Did Urban really think McMurphy's reporting was wrong? How in the hell didn't Urban talk to his wife about it after the initial report and then come clean? To be that arrogant to think this was just going to go away is so ignorant and moronic here.

[MerrittsMustache]

Outside of the obvious terrible things happening, a couple of things stick out to me:

-Why would Meyer risk losing his job over this wide receivers coach?

-Why not just be contrite at media day and admit he made a mistake in giving this guy a second chance? The lies on top of the lies are so stupid here. Did Urban really think McMurphy's reporting was wrong? How in the hell didn't Urban talk to his wife about it after the initial report and then come clean? To be that arrogant to think this was just going to go away is so ignorant and moronic here.

Smith was known as a top-notch recruiter and his grandfather was former OSU coach Earle Bruce who just so happened to give Urb his first coaching job and acted as his long-time mentor.

Urban Meyer had gotten away with everything else up until this simply by playing dumb or not answering questions. You're absolutely right that it was ignorant and moronic but his strategy had never failed him in the past.

[MUBurrow]

Looking the other way on child molestation for 30+ years is not the same thing as lying to the media about knowing a coach's history of domestic violence accusations against him.

Do I think Meyer should be fired? Of course. He has long been a sleezebag. I just don't have confidence in Ohio State to "do the right thing" when it comes to athletics.

I'm on board here. If the worst here about Urban is true, it makes him a bad dude. But JoePa was on a whole different level. If JoePa wasn't JoePa, he'd have died in the klink.

[mu03eng]

I'm on board here. If the worst here about Urban is true, it makes him a bad dude. But JoePa was on a whole different level. If JoePa wasn't JoePa, he'd have died in the klink.

Honestly I'd love to see the reasoning here. Independent of the type of crime committed by a subordinate (I will not engage on which is "worse", both are awful, full stop), what is demonstrably different in the two situations? They were each informed of at least once incident of the crime in question and failed to follow up or do more than pass it up the chain, there is also strong evidence that there was at least one other incident that they were/should have been aware which creates a pattern of crimes that should have been a giant red flag.

This is not a Paterno defense, this is more a question of how is what is alleged of Urban different than Paterno?

[Dish]

Smith was known as a top-notch recruiter and his grandfather was former OSU coach Earle Bruce who just so happened to give Urb his first coaching job and acted as his long-time mentor.

Urban Meyer had gotten away with everything else up until this simply by playing dumb or not answering questions. You're absolutely right that it was ignorant and moronic but his strategy had never failed him in the past.

I read that about Smith, but if you're Meyer, and Smith was in trouble again, repeatedly over the years, you got to cut that guy loose. That's part of the optics here, there's giving a guy a second chance, and then just willfully ignoring domestic abuse right there on your staff.

I think you're right that his playing dumb and the relationships he's forged with the media over the years have no doubt helped him greatly. I just can't fathom what his mindset was, with his wife involved, thinking this was just going to go away. If nothing else, I want to see him fired for pure stupidity.

[MUBurrow]

Honestly I'd love to see the reasoning here. Independent of the type of crime committed by a subordinate (I will not engage on which is "worse", both are awful, full stop), what is demonstrably different in the two situations? They were each informed of at least once incident of the crime in question and failed to follow up or do more than pass it up the chain, there is also strong evidence that there was at least one other incident that they were/should have been aware which creates a pattern of crimes that should have been a giant red flag.

This is not a Paterno defense, this is more a question of how is what is alleged of Urban different than Paterno?

I completely agree with not wanting to get into which type of abuse is "worse." Honestly though, I'd be lying if I said that my take isn't probably impacted by that. I acknowledge that may speak to my internalizing domestic abuse as "not as bad" which may be a blind spot on my part. But that being said -

I think the underlying crime, the identity of the victim(s), and the employer's role in bringing those victims to the perpetrator all play a role here.  Assuming the worst in both cases, Sandusky's employment at PSU played a not-insignificant part in enabling his crimes. They happened on campus, and his role at PSU provided him access to minors who became his victims. I'm not defending Urban (or Smith) any more than you're defending Paterno (or Sandusky) but I think the nature of Smith's alleged crimes are more detached from his employment/tOSU than Sandusky's were from PSU.

[GGGG]

I read that about Smith, but if you're Meyer, and Smith was in trouble again, repeatedly over the years, you got to cut that guy loose. That's part of the optics here, there's giving a guy a second chance, and then just willfully ignoring domestic abuse right there on your staff.

I think you're right that his playing dumb and the relationships he's forged with the media over the years have no doubt helped him greatly. I just can't fathom what his mindset was, with his wife involved, thinking this was just going to go away. If nothing else, I want to see him fired for pure stupidity.

My observances about Urban Meyer suggest that he has a singular focus (winning the next thing) and that he's not a great long-term thinker.  Honestly I don't think he's a very intelligent individual.