Report: Ohio State coach Urban Meyer was aware of domestic abuse claims against ex-assistant

A.J. Perez | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Urban Meyer faces questions about domestic violence claims against former assistant SportsPulse: USA TODAY Sports' Dan Wolken discusses reports that Ohio State coach Urban Meyer knew about domestic violence allegations against a former assistant.

Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer knew that former receivers coach Zach Smith, fired last month, was linked to an alleged domestic assault incident in 2015, according to a published report on Wednesday.

Smith’s then-wife, Courtney Smith, detailed the alleged abuse to Meyer’s wife, Shelley, via text messages in 2015, according to the texts obtained by former ESPN reporter Brett McMurphy.

Meyer said last week during Big Ten Conference media days that he was “never told about anything” regarding the alleged 2015 incident.

Hours after the report hit, Ohio State placed Urban Meyer on paid leave while an investigation into what Meyer knew takes place.

Zach Smith was fired July 23 after Courtney Smith was granted a protective order, which came two months after Zach Smith was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor trespassing. Zach Smith allegedly dropped a child off at his ex-wife’s apartment instead of a neutral site. Smith has pleaded not guilty.

Included in McMurphy's story Wednesday was another stream of texts from November 2015 between Courtney Smith and the wife of a longtime Meyer assistant in which one of the responses read, “(Urban) doesn’t know what to think,” about the alleged assault.

“All the (coaches') wives knew,” Courtney Smith told McMurphy. “They all did. Every single one.”

In an interview with the sports-streaming website Stadium, Courtney Smith criticized Urban Meyer and Ohio State.

“I do believe he (Meyer) knew, but instead he chose to help the abuser and enable the abuser and believed whatever story Zach was telling everybody,” Courtney Smith said in her interview on Stadium. “Of course, he’s going to tell everybody I’m crazy and I’m making this up. That’s not the case. No one from the university came to me and asked me for my side of the story. They knew there was an investigation going on and not once did anyone call me and ask me what happened.”

EXCLUSIVE: Longtime Urban Meyer assistant Zach Smith's ex-wife, Courtney Smith, opens up about reported domestic violence and what she believes Meyer knew. pic.twitter.com/dNWA9x2F4y — Stadium (@WatchStadium) August 1, 2018

A message left with an Ohio State athletics department spokesperson by USA TODAY Sports was not immediately returned on Wednesday.

Meyer said he knew about a 2009 incident between Zach and Courtney Smith, which led to Zach Smith’s arrest on felony assault. The altercation came while Courtney Smith was pregnant and Zach Smith was an assistant under Meyer at Florida. Charges were not pursued in that case.

“What was reported wasn’t actually what happened,” Meyer said of the 2009 incident. “It’s a very personal matter."

Follow Perez on Twitter @byajperez