Both Urban Meyer and Ohio State do not believe the head coach deliberately lied with his comments made at Media Day last month, even though he was quickly proven to have lied.
Ohio State announced on Wednesday a 3-game suspension without pay for Meyer for failing to adequately report what he knew about former assistant Zach Smith. Smith was fired on July 23, the same day Brett McMurphy reported about a protective order that was filed by Smith’s ex-wife against the Buckeyes assistant coach. Meyer said at Big Ten Media Day that he had no previous knowledge about Smith’s 2015 arrest. He was adamant that he did not know.
Here he is talking about it:
When McMurphy later reported that Meyer was lying, a big investigation was opened up regarding what the coach knew about Smith.
While speaking about his suspension on Wednesday, Meyer said he did a “poor job” at Media Day, but countered the notion that he deliberately lied.
“I did a poor job at Media Day. That’s a big reason why we’re here today. I was not being as complete and accurate as I should have been at Media Day, and afterward. But there was no intent to mislead,” Meyer said.
The school agreed.
As for Meyer's comments at Big Ten media day: "While those denials were plainly not accurate, Coach Meyer did not in our view deliberately lie."
— Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) August 23, 2018
The school said in its findings that Meyer should have done more to report what he knew but did not because he was acting in good faith about his belief in Smith’s character.
Urban Meyer: “I am fully aware of the situation that has harmed the university as a whole. I followed by heart, not my head. I gave Zach Smith the benefit of the doubt. I didn’t know everything about what Zach Smith was doing. I should have recognized the red flags"
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 23, 2018
Urban Meyer: "Most of what I know about Zach Smith is work related. The biggest regret is I wish I knew more. If so, I would have taken action much quicker"
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 23, 2018
