Urban Meyer placed on paid administrative leave

Ohio State head football coach Urban Meyer was placed on paid administrative leave Wednesday amid reports by Brett McMurphy that people close to him knew about allegations against former Ohio State assistant Zach Smith for domestic violence. Ohio State will be conducting an internal investigation into the matter as announced on Wednesday.

“The university is conducting an investigation into these allegations,” Ohio State said in a statement. “We are focused on supporting our players and on getting to the truth as expeditiously as possible.”

The offensive coordinator, Ryan Day, will serve as the acting coach in Meyer’s absence.

“Gene and I agree that being on leave during this inquiry will facilitate its completion,” Meyer said in a statement. “This allows the team to conduct training camp with minimal distraction. I eagerly look forward to the resolution of this matter.”

Smith was fired on July 23 by Meyer after McMurphy reported that there was a domestic violence civil protection order and past domestic violence allegations against him.

Last week, Meyer claimed to not know about the allegations against Smith at Big Ten Media Days.

On Wednesday, McMurphy released pictures of text messages sent by Smith’s wife, Courtney, that were allegedly between Ohio State coaches’ wives, including Shelley Meyer, Urban’s wife. Courtney also sat down for an interview with Stadium that was released on Wednesday, where she surmised that Urban Meyer knew, but that she had only told his wife Shelley.

Meyer has been at Ohio State since 2012 with a 73-8 record and one national championship.

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