The reporter who has been at the forefront of the Urban Meyer story rocking the college football world has a very interesting story himself.
Brett McMurphy has been doing all the reporting on the story despite being an unaffiliated reporter. He used to be one of ESPN’s most prominent college football reporters, but he was unfortunately part of the company’s mass layoffs in April, 2017. Despite being unaffiliated, McMurphy continues to do high-quality investigative reporting, publishing the stories on his Facebook page.
Among McMurphy’s reporting credits, he reported the story on July 23 that led to Ohio State firing former wide receivers coach/recruiting coordinator Zach Smith. McMurphy’s reporting, which came at the time of Big Ten media days, led reporters to ask Meyer whether he knew of a 2015 investigation into assault allegations involving Smith and Smith’s now-ex-wife. Meyer denied knowledge of the case.
McMurphy’s further reporting about the matter on Wednesday brought into question whether Meyer was lying about his knowledge of the 2015 allegation against Smith. Ohio State has since launched an investigation and placed Urban Meyer on leave.
Meyer is one of the top two coaches in the sport and one of the best coaches in the history of college football. These allegations amount to a huge story in the college football world, one which ESPN would probably love to have ownership of (something that McMurphy would take issue with). Instead, their former reporter is doing all the work and publishing independently on his Facebook page.
