ESPNNCAABy Matt Clapp on

Ohio State head football coach Urban Meyer was placed on paid administrative leave Wednesday, after a bombshell report from Brett McMurphy suggested Meyer knew about the domestic violence allegations against former Ohio State assistant Zach Smith in 2015. Courtney Smith — the ex-wife of Zach who revealed she was physically abused by him — provided Murphy with text messages between the coaches’ wives (including Urban’s wife, Shelley) indicating that Meyer was aware of the abuse, despite what he said at Big Ten Media Days last week.

On Wednesday night, McMurphy appeared on SportsCenter with SVP. That’s a big deal, for a couple of reasons. For one, McMurphy was laid off by ESPN last April (something other ESPN employees on radio — including on Wednesday — and television continue to forget). And two, ESPN waited almost four hours to cover the Meyer story on Wednesday, which drew plenty of criticism.

Well, SVP asked McMurphy if he believes Urban Meyer will be Ohio State’s head coach when the 2018 Ohio State college football season arrives, and McMurphy said, “I don’t think so.”

“I don’t think so, Scott. I think the fact that he lied about knowing about these investigations is one thing. Also, in his contract, there’s a clause that states if he has any knowledge of Title IX violations, he’s required to report those. He can be fired with cause for that. There are also possible Title IX issues with Urban, and also remember- Shelley Meyer is an employee of Ohio State.”

Update: Here’s the full interview.

It’s hard to disagree with that assessment of the situation; usually these scandals only get worse as more details emerge and more people come forward.

Even just shortly after it was announced Meyer was placed on paid administrative leave, sportsbooks had their odds in favor of Meyer being out as head coach.

https://twitter.com/betmybookie/status/1024730902788808706

Ryan Day has been named as Ohio State’s acting head coach. This is despite Greg Schiano — the defensive coordinator and associate head coach — also being on staff. Schiano was the head coach at Rutgers from 2001-2011 and the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2012-13.

Day, 39, is the primary playcaller at Ohio State and was a quarterbacks coach in the NFL before joining the Buckeyes in 2017 (2015 with the Philadelphia Eagles, 2016 with the San Francisco 49ers).

If Meyer is indeed done at Ohio State, it will be interesting to see if Day remains the head coach, or if the school looks for a high-profile answer outside the program (if they don’t just go to Schiano instead, of course). While this scandal would obviously be a horrible look for the program, Ohio State would likely remain a highly coveted head coaching job. Bovada currently gives the Buckeyes the third-best odds to win the national championship.

[ESPN]

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor at The Comeback. He attended Colorado State University, wishes he was Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris, and idolizes Larry David. And loves pizza and dogs because obviously.

He can be followed on Twitter at @Matt2Clapp (also @TheBlogfines for Cubs/MLB tweets and @DaBearNecess for Bears/NFL tweets), and can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.

View all posts by Matt Clapp

15 thoughts on “Brett McMurphy appears on SportsCenter, doesn’t think Urban Meyer will coach again at Ohio State”

  1. Mad respect for Brett. He could have told the 4 letter to shove off, but he made himself available to everyone.
    And it’s the Title IX that’s going to bite Urban Meyer.

    2. “He could have told the 4 letter to shove off, but he made himself available to everyone.”

      Spreading as much fake news as possible.

  2. This is one of the most ridiculous situations one can imagine. Suddenly
    football coaches are held to a higher standard than the police?
    Seriously!? Even if he knew about the 2015 allegations (and remember
    that they remain just that, and that it looks like Urban didn’t even
    know about the alleged incident), is an employer allowed to fire an
    employee for unproven allegations of violence, by a spouse in a troubled
    marriage?

    That would depend in large part on the contract
    terms. Most employees are employees at will, which means that they can
    be fired for any or no reason, as long as that firing is not a pretext
    for discrimination. Firing someone for unproven allegations of
    abuse—allegations that even the police did not think were strong enough
    to pursue—could open the employer up for a lawsuit. If Urban is
    punished for any of this, then this is a very dangerous precedent for
    employers.

    “Sorry, Mr. Jones, but your wife told my wife that you abused her. We have to let you go.”

    I
    have worked in family law before, and all I can say is “Wow”! This provides a whole new
    opportunity to screw with your ex. A very dangerous precedent.

    1. He was required by LAW TO REPORT the “allegations” HE DID NOT. She had a restraining order on him and the SCHOOL allegedly was NOT TOLD.

      Here is a BIGGER QUESTION…..Why did Meyer keep him around???

  3. Nothing but virtue signaling by Ohio State. Meyer’s record for covering up crimes for people in his program(s) was well known before he was ever hired by Ohio State.

  4. Brett McMurphy a so called journalist for the sec network, aka ESPiN, is a fake news expert and would do anything to try and take down Ohio State. The lack of integrity tells you all you need to know about this bum.

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