It's an Ugly Day to be an OSU Alum

I don't think many people outside of Columbus, Ohio are capable of understanding just how revered Urban Meyer is at Ohio State. I firmly believe that if he ran for governor he'd win in a landslide. Him and his wife Shelley are staples in the Columbus community and are active in making Ohio State and its surrounding community a better place. I, like hundreds of thousands of others, really grew to love Urban while I was a student in Columbus.

When it came out last week that Zach Smith has had recurring issues of domestic abuse that eventually led to his firing, it felt like Meyer did the right thing. However, as notion stood at the podium at Big Ten Media Day and claimed he knew little about the reports, it felt disingenuous. Despite my affinity for Meyer and Ohio State Football, I wasn't naive enough to believe that a guy who knows every detail of his program had no clue about one of his coach's troubles with the law. 

It has become very clear through the reporting today that Meyer did in fact know about Smith's history, and that he lied at Media Day last week. It's a real bummer. So incredibly frustrating. There's nothing redeeming about it. He knew, he lied, and there are receipts to prove it. 

The report is still fresh, and I'm sure a lot will have changed by the time that most people read this, but I'm very conflicted about how to respond. I have already seen tweets indicating that people think Meyer should be fired. I really don't think that is the case. I'm honest enough to admit that part of that is the fan in me - I don't want the man who has led such an incredible stretch of football at Ohio State to be let go. (Hopefully) More importantly to me than his ability as a coach, I don't believe that Urban Meyer is a bad man. I've seen him do too many good things as a leader at Ohio State for me to believe that he's a bad man. I think this is a really bad screw-up and cover-up of someone else's wrongdoings, but I want to make it clear that Urban lying about whether or not he knew (and employing Smith) are not nearly as bad as what Smith was actually doing. 

Meyer will likely admit his guilt at some point today and tell us all how wrong it was - a sentiment that I hope he truly believes. AD Gene Smith will come out and say that the university will review the case and decide whether or not to punish Meyer over the next few days. I hope some time is taken. I hope that the heat of the moment doesn't result in Meyer being let go from the university. 

There are a lot of football coaches out there who only care about coaching football. Maybe that's the healthy way to do it. But there's something admirable about how Meyer and many other coaches have actively made an effort to impact the communities around them. As much as it shouldn't be the case, these football coaches that transcend football become moral compasses for their communities. They're put on a pedestal, and whether they want to or not, have to embrace the fact that every single decision they make matters - it's a reflection of the university they represent. 

At the end of the day, Urban Meyer loves coaching football. His job, at its root, is to win football games. It appears that he's been sacrificing morality for the last several years in an attempt to win more football games. That's not as shocking to me as it may be to others, but it doesn't make me feel any better about it. Like I said, it's ugly, and I don't want to make excuses for Coach Meyer about this situation. However, with all that said, I hope the Scarlet and Grey are led out of the tunnel in a month by Urban Meyer, an excellent football coach who has exemplified high character more often than not. But if an Ohio State coach can get fired for tattoos, I'm not sure that Urban will be able to survive this one.