Just a week ago, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer insisted that he knew nothing of a 2015 accusation of domestic violence against a Buckeyes coach. However, according to a report, it looks like he may have known after all.
At last month’s Big Ten Media Days, coach Meyer claimed he had not been informed of the 2015 accusation that former Buckeyes wide receiver Zach Smith abused his now ex-wife, Courtney. Smith was fired as Ohio State’s wide receivers coach on Monday, July 23, after the allegations of domestic abuse surfaced.
Meyers said that he only became aware of the 2015 incident when he got a text message about it this year. “I got a text last night that something happened in 2015, and there was nothing,” Meyers told the media in July.
However, sports journalist Brett McMurphy is now reporting that Meyers may have known long before the recent text on the incident.
On Wednesday, McMurphy said that “that Meyer did know about the 2015 incident in which Smith was arrested for felonious assault and domestic violence of his then-wife.” McMurphy said that a collection of interviews and text messages show that Meyers must have known of the accusations.
Smith’s ex-wife, Courtney, revealed several text messages showing that she had discussed the incident with Meyers’ wife and wives of members of the team’s coaching staff.
One of the most damning texts, according to CBS, is between Courtney and Lindsey Voltolini, wife of Meyers’ close confidant Brian Voltolini, the Director of Football Operations at Ohio State. In the texts, the two women discuss the allegations of violence in direct terms.
McMurphy’s report is long and detailed, but the point he makes is that Courtney spoke to an awful lot of people about the alleged violence, including Myers’ own wife, and that it is hard to believe that no one ever bothered to mention the problem to Meyers himself.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.