Brett McMurphy, formerly of ESPN, dropped a nuclear bomb today in a report that states, based on a sit down interview with Courtney Smith, the now ex-wife of fired WR coach Zach Smith of Ohio State, McMurphy has received verbal testimony, photographic evidence, and text messages between Courtney Smith and several wives of Buckeye coaches dating back to 2015 that laid out the abuse perpetrated by Zach Smith while married to him, and after they separated and divorced, up to and including an incident where Zach Smith tried to break into her house after they were divorced at 1:30 AM.
Last week, at Big 10 Media Day, Urban Meyer specifically stated that he had not known about any abuse allegations until last week, when he was forced to fire Smith. As it turns out, Urban Meyer's wife Shelley knew about the situation as far back as 2015, as Courtney Smith handed over text messages between her and Mrs. Meyer dated for that year, where Shelley Meyer states that " I will have to tell Urban about this". Courtney Smith responded with "that's fine, tell Urban".
Brett McMurphy stated today and Mad Dog Radio Channel 82 on Sirius Radio with Joe Torre and Danny Kannell that he has at least 100 text messages above and beyond the messages between Courtney Smith and Buckeye coach's wives, that completely outline the now years of aggressive text messages by Zach Smith to his former wife, and that he would release those publicly, if he can do so before he starts his new job with the Stadium Network on August 13th and his Twitter and Facebook handles go away or change.
If these accusations are true, and Meyer knew in 2015 that these issues were ongoing, and lied about that at Big 10 Media Day just last week, it would prove that Meyer was involved in a cover up situation. If that is the case, and there is zero reason to believe that it is not, Meyer should be fired and face what amounts to a banishment from coaching, especially on the heels of the fact that as many as 41 players under his watch were arrested at Florida for crimes all the way up to, and eventually including murder (Aaron Hernandez).
We will see this situation play out over a course of the next few days, but the only net result here is the eventual firing of Urban Meyer, and anyone else on the staff who may have known, which text messages will show.
In the end, this is the result of massive amounts of arrogance on the part of Urban Meyer, that in the age of social media, he would think that any of this information would stay buried. With this report, it proves that over a period of time, Meyer has been complicit in this situation, as it is impossible to believe that he never knew anything, despite his denials last week.
The next step we should see is an external and internal investigation taking place, with a suspension of Meyer from his role as head coach until which time an investigation is finalized. What should happen, based on the information that both Courtney Smith and Brett McMurphy would and can provide, Meyer should be fired as head football coach at Ohio State.
I will be staying on top of this situation, and I am sure we will be speaking on this story at the end of this week on my weekly radio spot on ESPN Radio Las Vegas, and when the Power Rated Podcast returns next week!
Until then, I can, as always, be reached on Twitter @BiloRatedSports, and at powerratedsports@yahoo.com.
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