Ohio State University has suspended without Urban Meyer for the first three games of the 2018 season as announced in a press conference on Wednesday night.
Meyer will not be allowed to have contact with his players until September 2. AD Gene Smith has also been suspended.
The suspension centers around the fact that Meyer and Smith did not inform compliance about the 2015 domestic violence accusations against Zach Smith.
In findings from the independent investigation, “Although Coach Meyer and Athletic Director Smith failed to adhere to the precise requirements of their contracts when they concluded that they needed to await a law enforcement determination to file charges before they reported otherwise disputed claims of spousal abuse against Zach Smith, they did so based upon a good faith belief that they did not have sufficient information to trigger a reporting obligation or initiate a disciplinary action in the absence of law enforcement action. Other than their misunderstanding of the requirements triggering reporting obligations, neither Coach Meyer nor Athletic Director Smith violated any rules, laws or contractual obligation in connection with the alleged domestic abuse claims against Zach Smith.”
They found the following four things. Meyer was aware of 2015 allegations against Zach Smith. He was informed by AD Gene Smith. Both Smith and Meyer monitored the progress of the investigation into abuse allegations by Zach Smith. Both “did not report the investigation..to compliance as we believe they should have”.
Over 40 witnesses and 60,000 electronic documents were reviewed by the independent investigation. Included in the witnesses were both Zach and Courtney Smith and family members.
Meyer was asked if he believes he should be suspended, to which he replied, “I trust and support our president.”
The independent investigators will release their findings publicly at a later date.
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