Powell police went to the home of the wife of former Ohio State assistant football coach Zach Smith twice in a two-week span in the fall of 2015 to investigate reports of domestic abuse. Two incident reports provided by the Powell police department on Tuesday detailed a visit to Courtney Smith’s home on Oct. 26, 2015, for suspicion of domestic violence and felonious assault. Fourteen days later, police were called to the residence on a complaint of menacing by stalking. In neither case was Zach Smith charged or arrested. He was, however, arrested last week on a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespassing dating from a May incident when Smith was dropping one of the couple’s two children at his ex-wife’s apartment. Then on Friday, Courtney Smith obtained a civil protection order in Delaware County. A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 3. The Oct. 26, 2015, report indicates that Courtney Smith was injured in a dispute the night before. A narrative portion of the report states that “a domestic incident happened” on Oct. 25 at her home and that she “has been a victim of sustained physical abuse by the suspect,” presumably Zach Smith, who is not named in the incident report. No charges were filed in either case. The couple divorced in 2016. Ohio State coach Urban Meyer fired Zach Smith on Monday after six seasons as receivers coach. rstein@dispatch.com<doc-sep>Urban Meyer preaches a good game about accountability, responsibility and respect for women. His tolerance of Zach Smith, however, reveals his true character. The Ohio State football coach told several different stories but had no believable explanation Tuesday for why he’d suddenly fired his longtime receivers coach the night before, hours after Smith’s history of domestic violence allegations surfaced. What Meyer did know, however, was that he believed the people who told him there was nothing to allegations against Smith in 2015. And that incident back in 2009? Well, it wasn’t what it seemed. “Domestic issues are a lot of he-said, she-said,” Meyer said. That’s the same, tired argument people have been using for years to dismiss or excuse domestic violence, endangering women in the process. That Meyer would trot it out as a defense shows that, for all his talk about character and morals, self-preservation is his true guiding force. It was apparent from his answers Tuesday – or, more accurately, non-answers – that Meyer doesn’t care so much about Smith’s history of domestic abuse allegations as he does the media now making a big deal of them. He cut Smith loose because he didn’t want to deal with the PR nightmare, not because it was the right thing to do. Meyer acknowledged Tuesday that he’s known all along about Smith’s arrest in 2009, when he was a graduate assistant on Meyer’s Florida staff. According to the police report, Smith grabbed his then-wife and threw her against a bedroom wall. Police at the scene determined Smith “was the primary aggressor,” according to reporter Brett McMurphy, and arrested him. “It came back to me that what was reported wasn't actually what happened,” Meyer said. Yes, because we’ve never heard that before in a domestic violence case. Smith’s wife eventually decided not to press charges, an all-too-common occurrence in domestic violence cases, and the case was dropped. But from that point on, Meyer was on notice. He and wife Shelley even counseled Smith and his wife. “(We) wanted to help as we moved forward,” Meyer said. Did that involve checking in with Smith’s ex-wife to see how they were doing? Did it include continued marital or family counseling when Meyer hired Smith at Ohio State in 2012? Did it include a mandate that Smith report any contacts with police, like the ones in 2015 that McMurphy reported? According to McMurphy, Smith’s then-wife called police in October of that year and said she’d been the victim of “sustained physical abuse” by her husband. He was arrested the following month for menacing by stalking. “First I heard about that was last night,” Meyer said. “I asked some people back at the office, ‘What happened?’ And it came back that they know nothing.” Which is different than what he’d said earlier in the day, when he flat-out said the incident didn’t occur. “I got a text late last night something happened in 2015. And there was nothing,” Meyer said. “Once again, there's nothing -- once again, I don't know who creates a story like that.” And I don’t know who’d dismiss serious abuse allegations so cavalierly, but that’s just me. Fast forward to May, when Smith was arrested for criminal trespass after dropping his child off at his ex-wife’s apartment rather than a neutral site. Meyer told The Athletic on Tuesday that it was the arrest that led him to re-evaluate Smith’s job. Which is curious, because Smith was arrested more than two months ago and it was widely covered by the Columbus-area media. Yet not until the other allegations surfaced, raising questions about what Meyer knew and when, was Smith fired. “The details that I'm obligated to give, I gave,” Meyer said. “You're talking about people's lives, etc. … It's time to move forward.” That imperialism might work when the subject is his backup quarterback or third-down play calling. But domestic violence can be a matter of life and death, and questions about Meyer's response to it are going to require more than platitudes for answers. *** Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.<doc-sep>Photo : Jay LaPrete ( AP Photo Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer told reporters that he was aware of former receiver coach Zach Smith’s 2009 domestic violence arrest while Smith was working for Meyer as a grad assistant at Florida. Advertisement Smith was fired by the Buckeyes on Monday, three days after his ex-wife filed a protective order against him for trespassing on her property in May. Speaking at his Big Ten media day press conference on Tuesday, Meyer said firing Smith was done “in the best interest of our team.” Meyer continued that while he was not aware of Smith’s most recent actions, he was notified when Smith was arrested for the felony charge of aggravated b attery back in 2009. “Zach was an intern, a very young couple. As I do any time, that I imagine most coaches or people in leadership positions, you receive a phone call, you tell your boss, let the experts do their jobs. We’re certainly not going to investigate. It came back to me that what was reported wasn’t actually what happened. Shelle y and I actually both got involved because of our relationship with that family and advised her counseling and wanted to help as we moved forward.” Meyer added that “there was nothing” to reports of police being called in 2015 over a potential domestic violence recurrence. The Ohio State coach addressed Smith’s most recent run-in with the law with a litany of coach-speak. “You press pause, get your mind right, step up, press pause to gather information, get your mind right to gather energy, then step up to do the right thing, and that’s the position that I hold.” Meyer’s revelation that he was aware of the 2009 incident at the time it happened sparked a series of questions from reporters. They asked if Meyer already knew about the 2009 arrest, and why Ohio State waited until the rest of the world found out to fire him. Meyer, a public employee, deflected when asked about the timing of the staff move, saying, “I’m not going to get into that, it’s personal. The decision was made, the details I was obligated to give, I gave.” You can watch Meyer’s full remarks here:<doc-sep>
CHICAGO – Ohio State coach Urban Meyer knew of the allegations of domestic abuse stemming from a 2009 incident involving former assistant coach Zach Smith when Smith was hired as the Buckeyes’ receivers coach prior to the 2012 season, Meyer said Tuesday at Big Ten Conference media days. In 2009, when a graduate assistant under Meyer at Florida, Smith was arrested and charged with felony assault following an altercation with his then-pregnant wife. His wife declined to file charges. The two have since divorced. “What was reported wasn’t actually what happened,” Meyer said of the 2009 incident. “It’s a very personal matter. “The details that I’m obligated to give, I gave. You’re talking about people’s lives.” TEN BEST: Quarterbacks | Running back | Wide receivers | Tight ends POWER RANKINGS: American | ACC | Big 12 | Big Ten MEDIA DAY MOMENTS:The best from the ACC, Big 12 and SEC festivities Smith was fired on Monday, three days after Smith’s wife filed a domestic violence protection order and less than a week after Smith faced a charge of criminal trespassing, to which he pleaded not guilty. Multiple stories were published on Monday detailing a history of domestic abuse allegations against Smith, who has been the Buckeyes’ receivers coach since 2012. In addition to the 2009 incident, police responding to a call in 2015 at the Smith residence were told by Smith’s wife “that a domestic incident happened last night at her home and that she has been a victim of sustained physical abuse by the suspect.” An inquiry conducted into the 2015 episode “found nothing,” Meyer said. Yet the decision to fire Smith was “in the best interest of our team,” Meyer continued, conceding that the rush of stories this week did impact the program’s decision to terminate Smith’s contract. “To say that doesn’t have something to do with it, it does a little bit,” said Meyer. “The timing wasn’t just my decision. It was a group decision from several people I rely on.” IMAGES FROM THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL SPRING GAMES