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Urban Meyer: My error was giving a second chance, not turning a blind eye to domestic violence
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Monday marked the first time that Urban Meyer met with the media publicly since B1G Media Days. It was his regularly scheduled weekly press conference, but there were plenty of issues to address in Columbus.
After speaking on several topics, including Zach Smith’s hiring and handling of domestic violence allegations, his suspension and the issue with deleted text messages, Meyer issued an apology. But that apology wasn’t to Courtney Smith or anyone else involved.
It was to Ohio State.
Meyer maintained that he didn’t turn away from or try to hide domestic violence incidents, but that he tried to resolve the situation.
“My apology is to Ohio State,” Meyer said. “My apology is not for turning a blind eye to domestic violence. My error, and I’ve been accused of this before for giving people second and third chances…I went too far trying to help this man with his issues.”
“My apology is to Ohio State. My apology is not for turning a blind eye to domestic violence. My error, and I've been accused of this before for giving people second and third chances … I went too far trying to help this man with his issues.” — Urban Meyer
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) September 17, 2018
You can understand Meyer’s statement, but it’s still not the best phrasing from the Ohio State head coach.
Meyer went on to say that Smith clearly wasn’t the right guy for the position and, in retrospect, he wouldn’t have brought the assistant coach to Columbus.
Meyer’s first weekly press conference was lengthy and covered a lot of ground. He also met with ESPN for an exclusive interview. The two-part special aired on Sunday and Monday.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB