For reasons inexplicable to any normal sentient being, Zach Smith continues his self-immolation tour with an interview with USA Today.
Zach Smith says he has accepted there is not much he can say that will resurrect his coaching career, but he cannot accept why he was fired as an assistant coach at Ohio State.
Head coach Urban Meyer said when his three-game suspension was announced last week that he was guilty of protecting Smith amid a series of domestic abuse allegations over several years. Smith maintains the abuse allegations are false so Meyer had no reason to protect him.
“He never protected me,” Smith said in a telephone interview with USA TODAY Sports. “Urban knew the truth. That’s what’s lost in all this: the truth. Everything he’s said negatively about me, that’s all on Ohio State. That’s all from the pressure they put on him to keep his job because they are spineless. That’s why they fired Jim Tressel. They are absolutely spineless and that probably come from the board, the president – all of them.”
Hard to believe he’ll never get another coaching job, innit?
Get The Picture 
“Bless his heart……”
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I predict a tell all book will be released in the next year. That has to be the only reason this ass-hat won’t shut up.
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He certainly might be posturing in the hopes certain OSU people of influence quietly purchase his silence. But he seems weirdly loyal to Urban.
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With what Urban allowed, why the hell would he not? I mean … if the guy ever wants to coach again… If you were him, wouldn’t you hope Urban gives you a second chance like he did all those players at UF? It’s certainly not outside the realm of possibility, although I doubt Urban gets another job after Ohio State. Point is.. Urban may be his best shot at coaching again… not that said shot is likely or anything.
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Maybe the reason Meyer kept him around all these years is to keep him from spouting off like that as soon as he left.
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Also, it has become abundantly clear that the menfolk in the tOSU athletic department agreed with lil’ Zach that Courtney Smith was making all of this up.
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She wasn’t making up any of the crap that he was doing at work.
It’s proof that Urban has the same behind-the-scenes culture brewing at OSU that he did at UF. And Urban and Gene and the Board just gave everyone who works for clicks for living a massive reason to dig into every little thing that comes up. That’s… a bad combination. Or a good one, from my perspective.
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I’m kind of surprised Auburn hasn’t hired him by now.
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Actually, Texas hiring him would be the perfect troll.
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Ped State would be a pretty good troll, too.
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I’m surprised the White House hasn’t hired him.
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There’s always Liberty University.
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Nice
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University of Phoenix and ITT Tech are other possibilities.
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If he wants to figure out a redemption path which could lead to some new career, Ryan Leaf sure pulled it off (not that he’s anywhere near the Asshole this guy is). Here’s the trick – you have to actually reverse course over time, and actually believe what comes out of your mouth. If he’d wake up, shut up and figure his life out that can happen. For that matter, Urban might have to as well.
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If you read what his momma is spouting on FB, you can see where he gets it. A buckeye IS a nut, afterall.
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He’ll sue OSU before this is over. You know, emotional trauma and all…
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If he really believes what he’s saying, he will sue for wrongful termination. The trick would be finding a lawyer who can strike Zach’s delusions on the one hand and threaten OSU with enough discovery to get a settlement that justifies his contingency fee,
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The guy clearly is a nutcase. Having said that, (and I realize that I am going to be roundly excoriated here for saying it), there is a huge difference between a spouse claiming abuse and the abuse actually happening. Any divorce attorney routinely sees abuse allegations made for strategic reasons by a spouse.
But in today’s world, any abuse allegation demands that anyone close to the situation respond as if the allegation is gospel. If not, then the person that fails to respond as if the allegation is true is treated by the media and the public almost no differently than an actual wifebeater.
So, yes I’m a bit on the side of “if the allegation is proven, only then should the “defendant” be subjected to firing, public humiliation, etc.”. In other words, I’m not sure an allegation by a clearly hostile ex spouse should have the same repercussions professionally and socially as if proven. And I’m not sure the boss of the accused has the duty to act as if the allegation is true. But that seems to be the case in today’s social media world.
I’m not defending Meyer or Smith here, because I really haven’t read enough to know all the specifics. I just think the public knee jerk response to these types of allegations is so wrong where a person can be publicly destroyed where the allegation is later proven utterly false.
What’s the first thing you think of when someone mentions Duke Lacrosse?
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That this isn’t the same type of situation.
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No Senator. Be honest with yourself. The first thing that comes to mind when you hear “Duke lacrosse” is the false rape charge and how that almost ruined some good kids’ lives.
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In the context of Zach Smith, which is how this point is being raised, I am being honest.
What happened in Durham was awful and indefensible, but it’s not a get out of jail free card for Zach Smith.
If you can’t see that, I’m afraid I’m not the one with a self-honesty issue here.
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It’s not a get out of jail free card for Zach Smith but the world doesn’t revolve around the Zach Smith situation either.
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But my post and this comment thread does.
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I will probably get roasted for saying this, but I think that the media should not be allowed to print anyone’s name based on last nights arrest report. They should have to wait until individuals are found guilty in court. Instead we have magazines that make a mint printing arrest reports with mug shots that can be bought at any gas station front counter. They even have a “hottie” section in some. Complete bullshit.
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Problem with that is arrest reports are a matter of public record.
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True, but that does not make what they are doing right or ethical. The law should be that they can print details of any arrest excluding names of citizens and addresses of any private residence in the report.
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Any suggestion that the government should be able to keep private the names of who they are arresting is extremely short sighted.
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I didn’t say anything about the government keeping anything private you fucking moron, I said that the paper should not be able to print names until the case has a verdict. Dumbass.
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Sorry, I did not understand your suggestion.
Who should prevent papers from printing those names?
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Hey bro, if you like to read up on who got DUI’s on Saturday, you do you. Judge Judy comes on every day I am sure. Enjoy. Otherwise, you still did not understand the point. We do not need rag mags to keep us informed of the governments arrests.
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“we do not need rag mags to keep us informed of the government’s arrests.”
Right, I’m sure the government will tell us what we need to know, when we need to know it, right?
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Who do you think makes laws “you fucking moron?”
You’re not very bright.
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Right. You don’t even understand the argument. We don’t need Blooters-R-Us protecting our freedom. We have orgs like the ACLU who look into the Gov but don’t profit from the misfortune of others. Damn you are dumb.
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Oh, look who’s back!
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Good post. I do think in this case there was enough for anyone who’d prevously worked with him 5 minutes to figure out Smith’s a dirtbag who cannot control himself (in any number of ways), should have never been hired and needed to be fired twice.
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Yep, when you smell smoke repeatedly over nine years, sometimes there really is a fire. Especially when the hot head bails on rehab, got bad job reviews, took dick pix in the WH and misused company money at the strip club. There’s enough there to ditch the guy. Add wife beater on top of that and you’ve got a perfect storm of stupid.
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Exactly. Take out the abuse allegations, and the scumbag still should have been fired.
Smith has been a spoiled brat from day one. It’s obvious.
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What’s the first thing you think of when you hear OJ Simpson. Was not arrested until the 9th time police came to Nicole’s house. I think we all know how that ended up.
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Again with the “allegations”. If the police didn’t arrest him, it must not have happened!
/s
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All the people who use it as a blanket shield and yet have no idea who Mike Nifong was?
Zach admits to abuse of his wife in text messages to Courtney apologizing for it. He’s never disputed those texts. He just argues now that he put his hands around her throat and held her against the wall to protect himself.
And if you don’t know that, you haven’t paid full attention to the story. And that’s ok, because who has the time. But if you haven’t, why are you here talking about a Duke lacrosse case in the context of Zach Smith?
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Don’t cloud the issue with facts.
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Anyone who says I don’t know all the facts about the Zach Smith situation is nothing but absolutely right. The point of my post -if I had one at all – was that I don’t like how people are seemingly required to respond to any allegation of misconduct or be subject to immediate public execution. So if I hear that my employee’s wife has accused him/her of abusive behavior, I better immediately at least put them on administrative leave or be subject to a firestorm of public outcry and personal attacks.
And you are completely right about Nifong, but that kind of makes my point. Most people don’t immediately associate the Duke case with criminal prosecutorial misconduct. The word association game for most people with Duke lacrosse is “rape.”
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I don’t like how people are seemingly required to respond to any allegation of misconduct or be subject to immediate public execution.
First of all, last time I checked, Zach Smith is still running around running his mouth to anyone who will listen, so clearly he hasn’t been executed. That’s a stupid exaggeration. It’s an even stupider analogy, because not being able to work as a state employee who makes several hundred thousand dollars a year is in no way, shape or form an “execution.”
Second, why the fuck would people NOT be required to respond to allegations of misconduct? Spousal abuse is a pretty big deal, and you seem most bothered by the fact that people were bothered with questions about misconduct instead of the fact that there was a woman being abused and people covering it up. You keep dragging up Duke lacrosse, which is a completely unrelated case. Why? Does it bother you that much that a wife beater is suffering the consequences of being a piece of shit?
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So my last attempt at trying to make a rational point is this: I think that somehow there should be more of a collective consciousness that an employer and the public should be looking for a thorough vetting of the allegations before jumping to a conclusion and before taking action as if the allegation is true. My perception is that the predominance of social media pressure almost dictates a knee-jerk response. If I come across as defending Smith, then I failed to properly articulate that point.
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I think everyone here understands full well the point you’re trying to make. What I’m unclear on is why you feel the need to make it in the context of the Zach Smith conversation, as if he’s the victim of a “knee-jerk reaction,” and not someone who’s first documented instance of abuse was in 2009, and continued making hundreds of thousands of dollars for almost a decade while his employer covered up his behavior that continued that whole time, and was only fired after it all became public. You call that a knee-jerk response?
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Hey Zach – here is the truth: you got arrested in ’09 for domestic violence. You got arrested again in ’15 for another dom violence charge. You got a DUI. You took dick picks in the White House and sent them out. You had an affair with a colleague and report inside the AD. I can go on.
None of those incidents had anything to do with OSU, McMurphy, your ex wife, or anyone else. YOU failed you, yet instead of looking in the mirror and owning it, you now are blaming everyone else instead.
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Self awareness seems to be blind spot for him. Amen to everything you said.
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SB, the real rhetorical question re ZS is not “hard to believe he won’t get another coaching job” but rather, In today’s CFB environment, “how could this guy remain a coach for a top tier program for so long?”
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(I’m gonna mention Mark Richt. Don’t fly off the handle, anyone! Hear me out!)
I’ve been thinking a lot about this tOSU debacle, and how skeezy Urban and Zach Smith look. And how they look worse with each passing week. How everyone involved at tOSU, including the administration, evidently thinks they’re above common decency, let alone the law.
In addition, (and especially because I live in Maryland), I continue to keep up with what has gone on at the Maryland football program, with the death of a player and a football culture that evidently encouraged and rewarded [true] bullying of its players, and indifference to common sense health and safety protocols. And then tried to intimidate players who were being interviewed as part of the initial independent investigation into the issue.
To be clear, tOSU is coming out of their mess looking like scheming, gross, arrogant weirdos. Maryland (led by a president who may yet be fired but seems sincere in his expressed desire to find out the truth, whatever the cost to the university and his own position), is still in a position to own up to its wrongs and make amends…. to the extent that an institution can make amends for the death of a student.
There are so many different, complicated angles in each story that it makes my head spin. But I can’t help but keep coming back to a central thought: I sure hope nothing like either case ever unfolds at UGA. And one thing I credit Mark Richt for is working hard to sustain a culture of character in the program. Memes about him losing control aside, can anyone truly imagine him keeping on Zach Smith as an assistant in similar circumstances to those at tOSU? Can anyone imagine Richt putting up with the negativity and bullying of the Maryland trainers and coaches? I can’t. And I’m glad I can’t.
Same goes for Kirby. At least I think it’s a realistic assumption, based on his long, stable history as an assistant at Bama, and his first to years as HC at Georgia. I’m glad for his success on game days, but I’m equally glad that there’s no question in my mind he’s not a Meyer or DJ Durkin.
And all this is a reminder to me that football is (AND SHOULD BE) about much more than simply winning games. Some of you laugh and curse at the notion, but I’d much rather our coach be an almost-national-champion with integrity…. than have one three NCs at two different schools had had his integrity (and the integrity of the program) questioned every step along the way at each.
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should be Kirby’s “first two years as HC”
and “won three NCs”
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Well said.
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Speaking of a culture of character
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/urban-meyer-still-has-his-job-but-ohio-state-documents-show-what-he-deserves/2018/08/30/9bc0c0aa-abd4-11e8-b1da-ff7faa680710_story.html?utm_term=.0a9260992267
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Shameful.
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^^
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Given our socio-political culture, I don’t see why anyone would be surprised that a person would publicly spout off whatever they want with no regard for truth or accuracy whatsoever. It seems to be the way to get ahead for some people.
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Uh ohh…..
🙂
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The truth is not the truth.
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It’s obvious they did not pay him any hush money!
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1984 + 34 = what is happening in the media all the time.
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Smith will be the next Coordinator hire at Alabama. They love tools like this.
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Not a good enough recruiter to be a coordinator for Saban.
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