Urban Meyer apologizes to Buckeye Nation and everyone else except for the abused wife whose life has been a living hell because of his assistant coach

… Ohio State should have fired him

While suspended Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer expressed his regrets, they were tempered by mercy — toward himself, but not toward the young woman who was repeatedly assaulted and battered by one of his coaches.

“I want to apologize to Buckeye Nation,” after he received his slap on the wrist from Ohio State, a suspension of three games this season. He apologized to the community and the president, but he attempted to give himself the benefit of the doubt. “I followed my heart and not my head. I fell short in pursuing full information because at each juncture, I gave Zach Smith the benefit of the doubt.”

Smith was the wide receivers coach for the Buckeyes until this summer, until his ex-wife, whom he battered for almost a decade, was forced to obtain a protection from abuse order from him despite their being divorced for about two years.

Smith, who is a grandson of former Ohio State legendary coach Earle Bruce, started this abuse right after his marriage to Courtney back in the late 2000s. She called the police after he beat her when she was pregnant while Meyer was coaching at Florida and Smith was an assistant in 2009. Bruce and Smith’s mother talked Courtney into dropping the charges — a bad choice.

Meyer knew about the situation in 2009, but when he was hired at Ohio State, he hired Smith again, not telling anyone at OSU about the previous domestic abuse charges. And, once in Columbus, the beatings continued until in 2015, she called the police on him again — and finally divorced him.

Urban the enabler

However, while Meyer knew about the situation in 2015, he did not tell anyone, which is why he is now in trouble. He even tried to rationalize the entire situation. “As I reflect, my loyalty to his grandfather, Earle Bruce, who was my mentor and like a father to me, likely impacted how I treated Zach over the years,” Meyers said in a statement yesterday. “I did not know everything about Zach Smith, what Zach Smith doing, and I'm pleased the report made this very clear. However, I should have demanded more from him and recognized red flags.” He did know enough about Zach. That is simply a lie, and his relationship with Bruce was irrelevant. What is relevant is that he allowed a woman with two children to go through hell because he stuck up for this guy.

Some more information became available this week about Smith, alleging that he had an affair with a woman in the football office and that he had sex toys delivered to his OSU office. In short, he is a sleazy character, and Meyer knew that for years.

However, not a word of apology to Courtney, whom he allegedly blames for the events becoming public.

Rationalization

In addition, he rationalizes why he was given the suspension which should have been an out and out dismissal. He denied all of this at the Big Ten Media Day, and he blames that for his problems.

"I did a poor job at media day. It's a big reason why we're here today.” No, he is there because he is a sleazy enabler, like the bishops in the Catholic Church. It was only one woman, but it violated one of his tenets, that players should respect women.

Now, the NCAA should become involved. If they could come down hard on Penn State for the Sandusky affair, they should do so with Ohio State with its sordid affairs. That includes the sexual abuse of a physician who managed to avoid detection until this year when some wrestlers blew the whistle on the school.

And this certainly makes the Big Ten look horrible. With Penn State, the abuse by trainer Larry Nassar at Michigan State, and now this at Ohio State, it is definitely a conference of sleaze.

The NCAA has pandered to Ohio State for years, as has the Big Ten, so do not expect anything from that end.

But, Urban Meyer’s reputation has been besmirched, and there is nothing that he can do about it now.