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Urban Meyer is back. While the Ohio State passed its last test on the field without him, a 40-28 win over the TCU Saturday in Arlington, Texas, his three-game suspension has expired. On Monday, he held his first press conference since the university announced its punishment last month for mishandling the allegations of domestic violence against former aide Zach Smith. The hour-long session was mostly a reiteration of what he told Tom Rinaldi during a weekend interview. GameDay College.
More importantly, it shows that the three-time national championship coach did not learn enough about his absence from the touchline, focusing on himself rather than on the victims of spousal abuse.
Meyer acknowledged that his actions had hurt Ohio State's reputation: the football program and the university. He acknowledged that he would have sent Smith away long ago had he seen the myriad of "red flags" that he had missed. Meyer also acknowledged that he had to ask more questions in domestic violence situations.
The Buckeyes head coach said he thought his suspension and subsequent apology was not due to ignorance of domestic violence, but because he was trying too hard to help Zach Smith. He gave a similar answer when Rinaldi asked him what message his return to work sent to women.
"I'm sorry not to turn my back on domestic violence," Meyer said Monday. "My mistake, and I've been accused of this before, is to give people a second or third chance."
When asked when he thought Courtney Smith was a victim of spousal abuse, he said, "I can only rely on the information I get from the experts." Meyer said that he had not contacted Courtney Smith. do it during the investigation and still have not spoken to him.
Meyer said that when the police informed him of the 2015 incident between Zach Smith and Courtney Smith, he was told that it was not a domestic violence problem and that in many domestic violence, the victims do not always press and sometimes abandon them – this would have been an example of a "red flag" that Meyer ignored.
Meyer apologized for misinterpreting what he knew about this incident at Big Ten Media Day, but maintained that he was not lying intentionally. The Ohio State investigation determined that the misrepresentations made at the time were due in part to memory problems that Meyer deals with from time to time because of medication.
Pressed on Monday, Meyer said he was "very healthy" and that memory problems were not affecting his ability to coach football.
Meyer was also asked about the saga about deleting text messages. The investigation report indicates that Brian Voltolini, director of football operations, approached Meyer during training on August 1 – the day he was placed on administrative leave – to discuss the possibility for the media to access his phone. According to the report, they specifically discussed how to adjust Meyer's phone settings so that text messages older than a year are deleted.
Meyer confirmed Monday that Voltolini had approached him and asked him questions about his lyrics. Meyer said that a computer specialist had taken his phone to increase storage because he was out of memory.
"I have never deleted a text message and I have never changed a setting on my phone," Meyer said. "I would never do that."
Meyer returns to the sideline on Saturday when the Ohio State hosts Tulane. He is 73-8 at Ohio State since 2012, and the Buckeyes are currently a perfect 3-0 with expectations for a series of college football playoffs.
Now that this initial press conference is over, will it be normal for the program to boast a list of talents and a Heisman Trophy hope at the quarterback? If the Buckeyes continue to win, focusing on these important issues could unfortunately disappear in the spotlight.
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