After nearly 12 hours of deliberation at the Longaberger Alumni House on Wednesday, Ohio State held a press conference Wednesday night after announcing that Urban Meyer would be suspended for Ohio State's first three games, while Gene Smith would also be suspended from Aug. 31 through Sept. 16.
Meyer, Smith, university president Michael Drake and lead investigator Mary Jo White each gave statements and answered questions as part of the press conference.
White was the first to speak at Wednesday's press conference. From her comments:
- White said more than 40 witnesses were interviewed as part of Ohio State's investigation, in which Ohio State also reviewed more than 60,000 emails and 10,000 text messages.
- White says that Urban Meyer and Gene Smith "acted in good faith," but they did not report the allegations against Zach Smith in 2015 to compliance in the manner in which investigators felt they should have.
- White said investigators "did not determine that Urban Meyer deliberately lied" about the 2015 allegations against Zach Smith at Big Ten Media Days.
Meyer, Smith and Drake then all took their seats at the stage to make statements and answer questions. From their comments:
- Drake: "We made this decision today based on our values as a university."
- Smith: "I want to express my sincere apologies for the situation that we have before us."
- Smith: "I fully support the findings of the report, and the subsequent actions that the university has taken."
- Smith: "I understand that I could have done a better job in this particular instance."
- Smith thanks Ryan Day for his leadership while Meyer has been away from the team, and asks everyone to continue to support Day as well as the rest of the staff and the football team. Said he will meet with Day in the coming days to "reaffirm his commitment" to being the interim head coach.
- Meyer: "I want to apologize to Buckeye Nation. I followed my heart, not my head ... At each juncture, I gave Zach Smith the benefit of the doubt." Meyer admits that his loyalty to Zach's grandfather, Earle Bruce, affected his decision-making.
- Meyer: "I did a poor job at media day. It's a big reason why we're here today ... but there was no intent to mislead."
- Meyer: "I appreciate the opportunity to learn from a mistake, and I'll work as hard as I ever have to make our strong program even stronger."
- Smith: "I have huge regret for my inability to be the particular leader that I should have been in this situation."
- Smith: "I am very supportive of the decisions that have been made."
- Meyer on how he handled the Zach Smith situation: "I wish I would have known more. If I would have known more, I would have acted quicker."
- Drake on Wednesday's lengthy deliberations: "We wanted to be fair, we wanted to be equitable." Said they took the time they did to make sure that they put the time in they needed to make the right decision.
- Gene Smith said he was not part of Wednesday's deliberations.
- Do you feel you should have been suspended? Meyer: "I trust and support our president."
- Meyer said he was not aware of Zach Smith's citation for criminal trespassing before it was reported publicly.
- Meyer said the decision to terminate Zach Smith entered his mind on July 23 when he found out that Smith had a domestic violence civil protection order against him.
- Gene Smith said he was not aware of the domestic violence allegations made against Zach Smith while he was a graduate assistant at Florida in 2009 when Zach Smith was hired in 2012.
- Meyer on being away from his team: "It's been very tough. One of the toughest things that I've experienced."
- Meyer described his current team as "one of the best groups I've ever been around."
- Asked about the Richard Strauss investigation, Drake said he could not comment on that because it is an ongoing investigation.
- Meyer: "Ultimately, I'm responsible for everyone's behavior in the football department, and there was some behavior going on that maybe I was unaware of, but I should have been aware of it."
- What's your message for Courtney Smith? Meyer: "I'm sorry we're in this situation. I'm just sorry we're in this situation."
- Meyer said he was not aware of Shelley Meyer's text messages to Courtney Smith.
Stay tuned with Eleven Warriors for much more coverage from Wednesday's press conference.
