The Urban Meyer and Ohio State saga centering on alleged spousal abuse by former assistant Zach Smith has taken a strange twist.
In a report published independently on Facebook by author Jeff Snook, the mothers of Zach and his now ex-wife Courtney are claiming that the allegations of abuse by Zach against Courtney are all part of an elaborate plot to ‘take down’ Zach for infidelity. In turn Courtney would also take down Urban Meyer in the process.
These supposed revelations came via text messages exchanged between Snook, Zach Smith’s mother Lynn Bruce and Courtney Smith’s mother Tina Carano.
In the text exchange with Bruce, Snook reports that Courtney’s alleged plot first took shape back in 2013 when she apparently found out that Zach was first cheating on her.
Via Yahoo Sports:
“She told me that not one time, but in fact she said it several times over the years,” Bruce said.
She was driven by revenge when she found out her husband had cheated on her, Bruce said.
“When she found out five years ago that Zach had cheated on her, she was so angry that she vowed to me she would get back at him someday. And she said she would take Urban down, too,” she said. “And this is exactly what she did. She wanted to do as much damage as possible.
“She has been planning this for some time.”
Meanwhile, Carano somewhat corroborates Bruce’s story saying too via text that she didn’t believe Zach intentionally abused Courtney claiming that he was ‘removing himself from an argument.’ Carano also added that she heard her daughter say she would “take Zach down.”
When asked if she believed her daughter’s claims of physical abuse, she replied, “I believe that Zach was removing himself from an argument and I do not believe he intentionally abused her. I do not believe he actually intentionally swung or punched her … no.”
As far as ever hearing her daughter say she would “take Zach down,” she replied, “Yes.”
And when Meyer’s name was mentioned, she added, “I cannot quote her exact words as I don’t remember them word for word, but something to that extent. This is my daughter and I love her but I do not approve of what she has done and how it was done.”
Following that text, she did not respond to follow-up questions.
As far as the pictures of the alleged abuse, Bruce claims that Courtney took the photographs seemingly at an opportune time after an argument when as Carano put it was ‘trying to remove himself from an argument’. Bruce added that local police ‘grew tired of her (Courtney)’ consistent calls to 911 which in total added up to nine separate calls to the house that resulted in zero charges.
“I witnessed what she did several times: She would get in his face and block his path while screaming at him. One time when I was there, he was trying to walk down the steps and she blocked him so he couldn’t leave the house. He couldn’t get by her and he had to leave, so he just picked her up by the arms and placed her to the side, so he could walk by and walk out the door. When he did that, I am sure that would leave red marks on her arms. It would if he picked me up and moved me, too. Then she would take a picture.”
Zach Smith, who served as a long-time assistant under Urban Meyer was fired on July 23rd after former ESPN College Football reporter Brett McMurphy broke the story of the abuse claims on Facebook. The former Ohio State receiver’s coach, Smith has denied his ex-wife’s accusations only admitting that some things with her ‘got out of hand’. As far as Meyer goes, he at Big Ten Media Days initially denied knowing of the alleged abuse by Smith only to backtrack on his story and say that he was in fact aware of a 2015 incident between the couple and that he followed proper ‘protocol and procedure’ to report what he was aware of. Meyer has since been placed on paid administrative leave by Ohio State pending an investigation into the matter.
Now there is some reason to be somewhat skeptical of this latest report from Snook.
First it’s not surprising that Zach Smith’s Mom would come to his defense amid this story that has rocked the College Football World. It’s also a little weird as to why Courtney would want to ‘take Urban down too.’ It’s just a odd added notion to a situation that has really nothing to do with Meyer.
Lynn Bruce however is the daughter of former Ohio State head coach Earle Bruce which may lead to some speculative conspiracy theory of generating a narrative that Courtney was all in to hit the Buckeyes where it hurt most, their football program. Dorf also played Devil’s Advocate Monday night during The Majors LIVE! saying that maybe the decision to retain Smith for as long as Ohio State did was to appease the family of Earle Bruce.
When it comes to Courtney’s mother Tina Carano, she’s supposedly been estranged from her daughter as a result of alleged plot to take down Zach Smith and Urban Meyer. Now not to say that Carano isn’t telling the truth when it comes to the reason why she’s estranged from her daughter, it just seems like there’s more to the story than what she initially led on.
There’s also some questions in terms of the timeline outlined in Snooks report than what we heard in McMurphy’s. Based on the text messages mentioned by Snook, Courtney had been planning the takedown of her ex-husband and Urban Meyer since 2013. As we would learn in the McMurphy report, there were two incidents in question in 2015 – which Meyer eventually admitted to knowing – and an incident in 2009 which apparently has flown under the radar with everyone at Ohio State, including the head coach.
Now although Meyer and Smith weren’t at Ohio State in 2009, both were at Florida where Smith was also an assistant under Meyer. In addition to Smith, Boston College head coach Steve Addazio also worked under Meyer with the Gators in 2009 and mentioned that assistants were aware of an ‘issue’ between Zach and his wife. Beyond that it would be assumed that if assistants knew then the head coach probably knew as well.
Finally, there is reason to maybe question Snook and any interior motives behind his report. According to Yahoo, Snook has published four books on Ohio State football including one entitled “What It Means to Be a Buckeye.” That particular book had a forward by Urban Meyer in which he praised Earle Bruce who is again the father of Lynn Bruce and the grandfather of Zach Smith.
“In looking back, it seems it all came together for me when I came to Ohio State in 1986 to accept a graduate assistant position with Earle Bruce. I have to thank him for that. To this day, we are very, very close.”
In any sense It seems like there’s still a lot of questions that need to still be answered. So in many in fact it’s hard to believe that Ohio State can undertake such an intensive investigation in just 14 days. But whether Urban Meyer is being totally truthful or not when it comes to coming forward with what he knew, this latest report from Snook certainly seems to help the notion that Meyer will survive in Columbus.