Coach Urban Meyer has on many occasions made headlines for the wrong reasons. In his entire career, he has faced much criticism for his bold and aggressive coaching style. One such occasion when he drew lots of eyeballs was five years ago when Ohio State paid $500,000 to probe Coach Meyer before determining whether he should be suspended from his coaching duties or not.
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Coach Meyer was once under probe regarding a domestic abuse case on his wide receiver coach Zach Smith. What made Meyer the centerpiece of this case was that it was alleged that he knew about the development yet chose to keep the coach in his team which later caused an uproar.
Ohio State Spent $500,000 On Urban Meyer Probe
Ohio State hired an independent firm for $500,000 to investigate the case while also setting up a university committee consisting of six members. Meyer was on paid leave the entire time. The probe was done to determine if Meyer acted responsibly on knowing that one of his staff members had domestic abuse allegations against him and based on that the committee would decide whether to fire him as the football team head coach.
“At the end of the day, (Meyer is) the highest-paid state employee in Ohio, and you have a lot more responsibility than coaching,” said B. David Ridpath, an associate professor of sports administration at Ohio University. “And clearly there was enough smoke with Zach Smith that they should have gotten rid of him a long time ago.”
Meyer received a raise from Ohio State and was set to make $7.6 million in 2018 before the scandal broke out. Zach Smith was fired from his $340,000 job by then but many questions arose on Meyer’s handling of the situation. He even openly admitted that he knew about the allegations against Zach Smith before he brought him to Ohio State. Additionally, he even mentioned that he properly reported new accusations against him when they surfaced in 2015.
Meyer Retired From Ohio State After Three Weeks of Suspension
Meyer was suspended for three games during the investigation after the school announced that coach Meyer had retired as the head coach of OSU. His place was permanently taken up by the offensive coordinator Ryan Day who was the acting head coach when Meyer was suspended for three weeks.
Just like that Meyer’s yet another program witnessed a dramatic closure which was not even his last. In 2021, he was fired mid-season as the Jaguars coach for his unconventional coaching style, which became a plus one in his laundry list of controversies.
