COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State's board of trustees on Wednesday started deliberating the findings of a two-week investigation into allegations that football coach Urban Meyer and others mishandled domestic assault accusations made against a former assistant coach.
The university hired a special working group to direct the investigation, which has included interviews with Meyer, athletic director Gene Smith and others at the school.
The board chairman, Michael J. Gasser, thanked lead investigator Mary Jo White and others for their "thorough" and "professional" work at a brief public meeting Wednesday morning. White, a former federal prosecutor who has spearheaded high-profile probes for the NFL, led an investigative team that included three current Ohio State trustees and three other litigators and legislators from Ohio.
Gasser said the board was gathered to discuss personnel matters and the "employment, compensation and discipline of a public official."
"Now it's time for us to get started," Gasser said.
The meeting began shortly after 9 a.m. ET. Members of the board left for an executive session less than five minutes later to discuss the results of the investigation behind closed doors. They did not provide a timeline for when the administrators would decide what, if any, further action they will take.
Ohio State placed Meyer on paid administrative leave Aug. 1 shortly after Courtney Smith, Zach Smith's ex-wife, said in an interview with Stadium that she believed Meyer and others at the football program knew that her ex-husband was abusing her in 2015 and failed to do anything to stop it.
Meyer fired Zach Smith on July 23 after a pattern of past allegations of abuse came to light in a report by college football reporter Brett McMurphy. Meyer initially said he was previously unaware of any domestic issues between the Smiths that occurred during the time that Zach Smith was a coach at Ohio State. Meyer backtracked shortly after being placed on leave, saying instead that he misspoke when first answering questions about Smith and that he followed proper protocol in reporting an incident in 2015.
Zach Smith said he was on a recruiting trip in October 2015 when he received a phone call from Gene Smith informing him that police were investigating allegations of domestic abuse and that he needed to return to Columbus immediately. Zach Smith said Meyer pulled him off the practice field later that week to ask him about the situation. Police decided not to press charges after investigating.
White's investigators spoke to Gene Smith, Meyer, Zach Smith and Courtney Smith, among others, during the two weeks they spent reviewing the case. Sources familiar with the investigation said they were pleased with the straightforward and unbiased nature of the questioning. Specifics about what was discussed have been sparse.
Ohio State said Tuesday that a full written report of the investigators' findings will be made public around the time a final decision is reached.
The crux of what will determine if Meyer faces further sanctions lies in how much he knew about the pattern of alleged misbehavior exhibited by Zach Smith during his time on staff. Meyer coached Smith, then a walk-on player, at Bowling Green. Smith worked for Meyer as a graduate assistant at the University of Florida for four years. He came to Ohio State in 2012, not long after Meyer took over as the Buckeyes' head coach. Smith's grandfather, former Buckeyes coach Earle Bruce, mentored Meyer as a young coach.
Meyer said he was aware of one incident from 2009 when police in Florida arrested Zach Smith for an altercation with his then-pregnant wife. He was not charged with a crime. Meyer said he and his wife, Shelley, spoke to the Smiths about it at the time and recommended they seek counseling.
Smith was charged with drunken driving in 2013 while coaching at Ohio State and pleaded guilty to a lesser crime. That transgression didn't lead to any public reprimand from the university and went unreported until earlier this month, when it was uncovered by the Toledo Blade. Last week, McMurphy reported that Smith engaged in other questionable behavior during his time at Ohio State, including having an affair with a football staff member and taking lewd photographs on team trips.
In an interview more than two weeks ago, Zach Smith said he told Meyer "only what he needed to know." He said Meyer was not aware of his 2013 drunken driving arrest or any other issues beyond the 2015 police investigation.
Meyer is prohibited from attending practice or working with players while he remains on leave. Co-offensive coordinator Ryan Day has been serving as the Buckeyes' interim head coach during the first three weeks of practice this month. Ohio State opens its regular season Sept. 1 at home against Oregon State.
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