Upon first reaction of learning that Zach Smith‘s skeletons were about to go public and the notion that you kept him employed despite, Urban Meyer seemed more concerned about covering his tracks than anything else. According to Ohio State, after the Brett McMurphy report was released on August 1st, Meyer had a discussion with Ohio State director of football operations Brian Voltolini on how he could delete text messages on his phone older than a year.
Via Deadspin:
Upon seeing this report when it first came out (at about 10:17 a.m.), Brian Voltolini, who was on the practice field with Coach Meyer went to speak with him, commenting that this was “a bad article.” The two discussed at that time whether the media could get access to Coach Meyer’s phone, and specifically discussed how to adjust the settings on Meyer’s phone so that text messages older than one year would be deleted.
You can view the full report from Ohio State below:
https://themajors.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/386861215-Meyer-Report.pdf
Additionally according to the University, there were no texts on Meyer’s phone older than a year which doesn’t confirm if Meyer was able to set his phone to automatically delete texts older than a year or if he didn’t have any text on his phone older than a year to being with Deadspin notes. Nonetheless, the OSU summary contends that it was ‘concerning’ Meyer’s first reaction to the impending McMurphy piece was essentially covering his tracks rather than helping expose the truth.
“It is nonetheless concerning that his first reaction to a negative media piece exposing his knowledge of the 2015-2016 law enforcement investigation was to worry about the media getting access to information and discussing how to delete messages older than a year.”
Ohio State’s student newspaper The Lantern also apparently submitted a records request to obtain communication between Meyer and athletic director Gene Smith dating back all the way to 2015. Those requests however were ignored.
It also doesn’t stop there for Meyer.
The investigation also revealed that Meyer took issue with Zach Smith’s trip to a strip club in 2014 which prompted the Ohio State head coach to add a morality clause to the OSU coaching manual that included prohibiting storing pornography on University issued electronic devices.
In 2015, Zach Smith allegedly took explicit photos of himself at the White House during a team visit to celebrate their 2014 National Championship. However it unlikely that Meyer or the AD were aware of these photos at the time.
Additionally, Zach Smith was also admitted to a treatment facility in June 2016 for what Ohio State says was ‘addiction to a stimulant prescription drug used to treat ADHD’. And despite committing to a 10-day stint in rehab, Smith left after just four days of treatment.
In the end, Ohio State concluded that Smith displayed “a pattern of troubling behavior” that included “promiscuous and embarrassing sexual behavior, drug abuse, truancy, dishonesty, financial irresponsibility, a possible NCAA violation, and a lengthy police investigation into allegations of criminal domestic violence and cybercrimes.”
Yet, despite what the University was ultimately able to detail in their own investigation Meyer didn’t discipline his former long-time assistant until he was fired in July. And nonetheless, Meyer gets to keep his job.