Urban Meyer can coach Ohio State again, so why won't he just shut up and coach?
Updated 6:37 AM; Posted 6:30 AM
Urban Meyer exclusive interview Pt. 2 on Courtney Smith, Ohio State suspension | SportsCenter | ESPN
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By David Jones
djones@pennlive.com
This is the third time I find myself writing about Urban Meyer in six weeks. And I don't even want to. But he keeps forcing me.
On Sunday and Monday, ESPN and its Tom Rinaldi, the reporter it usually saves for heart-rending stories with pensive piano background music, aired an interview that clearly was agreed upon as a win-win by Team Urban. Except every time he takes one of these little ventures into personal public damage control, he keeps losing.
This is the fourth time, including a couple of issued statements and the disastrous Ohio State press conference announcing his 3-game "suspension," that Meyer has attempted to address questions surrounding his handling of Zach Smith, the assistant coach he finally fired amid domestic abuse accusations by his ex-wife Courtney Smith.
There should have been one, maybe two. All the Ohio State coach had to do was admit he attempted to excuse Smith, the coach, because he's the grandson of his mentor, late former OSU head coach Earle Bruce. It's a plausible rationale.
Only problem for Meyer is, he would've had to admit he lied and he was wrong to do it. Not that a reporter made something up. Not that he misspoke. Not that he unintentionally misled. Not that he incorrectly answered. But a full apology not unlike those many of us make all the time:
That he was trying to keep information out of the public realm. That he was trying to protect the coach at the probable expense of the wife. But he did so at the time with what he saw as noble intent. That he lied and he was wrong to do so.
But Urban really has a problem with that. The longer this goes on, the more he and his people attempt to clarify a situation almost everyone who cares has sifted out for themselves already, the more he looks like some sort of narcissist who simply can't except fault.
Here are my four and hopefully final observations on his latest dissemination of duplicitous rhetoric.
1. He can coach now, so why won't he just shut up?
Sit-down Q&As like this don't just happen. They are usually offered up with the initiative of the aggrieved and their handlers. Meyer wanted to go before the cameras. He and his agent had to have chosen Rinaldi from some sort of list and it was agreed upon by ESPN. Why?
Because people like Meyer, not to mention their lawyers and agents, are never short on chutzpah. They believe, given a controlled environment, they can win the day and alter public perception.
In this case, it's important for Meyer's continued success as a recruiter. Other than Nick Saban, he's been the best in the business. And, ask any great recruiter, head coaches especially, and they'll tell you: You don't recruit 17-year-olds. You recruit their parents. Moms in particular.
Any coach who's perceived as soft on domestic violence can be attacked by rival recruiters. You see where I'm going. Meyer cannot have this.
And so, he and his people wanted to take one more crack at clearing away any perception that he could be tolerant of an employee accused of domestic abuse against a woman - as Meyer's wife Shelley indicated she feared Zach Smith was. You'll recall her texts to Courtney Smith:
"A lot of women stay hoping it will get better. I don't blame you! But just want u to be safe. Do you have a restraining order? He scares me."
Except Urban keeps screwing it up because he can't fully admit: 1. He lied. 2. He was wrong.
B1G Power Poll: League horror show leaves PSU near top
The only good news for the B1G came in Dallas where Ohio State acquired the conference's first legitimate quality win.The Buckeyes, Penn State and Iowa now stand as the only three B1G teams with a realistic chance to stay unblemished all year. That's where we begin the doleful week 4 edition of the Big Ten Power Poll.
He did lie about knowing of 2015 accusations against Smith at Big Ten media day on July 24. Over and over. He only fired Smith when reporter Brett McMurphy's story cornered him. Then he pretended it was his own call. And he's still doing it. In his Rinaldi interview:
"I made a mistake. I did not lie. There's a... in my mind, you know, I don't lie to people. I don't lie to people. If you're gonna ask me a question and I incorrectly answer their question, or I misspoke or I... to me, there's a big difference. And once again, I apologize.
"I erred at Media Day. But there was never one time where I got asked a question and I was trying to mislead that person asking the question."
That's exactly what he was trying to do and even Meyer's more staunch backers acknowledge that much. Coaches lie to reporters all the time. Why won't he admit this one and just call it what it was?
2. This latest attempt won't act as a miracle As Seen on TV deodorizer.
I'm certain Meyer and his minions agreed to this interview so that, from now on through the duration of the season and forever and ever, he can refer all questions about Zach Smith to "my interview with Tom Rinaldi. Next question."
Sorry, but that doesn't make the stench disappear like Winston Wolf. Nor will it prevent giant signs from popping up behind the set on ESPN's College GameDay with a Pinocchio nose Photoshopped on Meyer's face.
The most damning and clumsy exchange came when Rinaldi asked Meyer about the internal Ohio State report that concluded he asked a fellow employee how to delete text messages from prior years off his phone. Rinaldi asked why he would want to do that. Meyer's response:
"I made it very clear that I did not delete messages off my phone. I also made it clear that I don't understand how to change a setting on my phone."
Duh. Which is why he would ask for help from someone else to do it. The OSU report also says he displayed consciousness of guilt about the matter, about which Rinaldi also asked. Meyer's response:
"All due respect to the report, there was no consciousness of guilt about what was on my phone. None."
So, Rinaldi asked: The report was wrong?
"Once again, I'm just telling you what my... if you're asking me if there was there consciousness of guilt on Urban Meyer in regard to text messages or deleted messages, there's zero. None."
From purely the viewpoint of a damage-control consultant, none of this is helping. Meyer just came off looking shiftier. And it also begs the question...
3. Under what circumstance could you seriously use third-person reference?
Urban Meyer referred to himself as "Urban Meyer" twice during the Rinaldi interview. He also said: "I want to be perfectly clear to the world. Urban Meyer does not condone and would never allow domestic violence."
I don't know any other way to put this: Is there any truer "ass---- barometer" than someone who references himself in the third-person? Honestly, can you even imagine doing this with a straight face? I can't think of any stronger indicator of an ego uncoupled from reality.
Four postgame reads on PSU's 63-10 win over Kent State
It's hard to remember now, but you do recall that Penn State led only 21-10 with seconds to go in the first half against Kent State. Then the tsunami of Nittany Lion big plays hit the Golden Flashes. That's what this team can do. If they clean up all the ragged ends and sloppy mistakes, they might be really good.
In fact, I think we should all try this today in our home or workplace. I want everyone to do it and pay attention to the reactions of their friends and co-workers. And you can't be comedically obvious like "Jimmy" in Seinfeld. You have to slip in a third-person reference to yourself in the course of normal workday conversation and do it like Urban Meyer did - with a stone-sober expression.
Let's say your name is Joyce Redding. Maybe look down at a report on your desk and then casually look up as if you're in thought to say: "Unless it's edited a little more tightly, I don't know that Joyce Redding can approve this version."
I'm gonna try it with my wife: "Dave Jones is going to play basketball tonight, so you'll have to make dinner." It might work better in a serious moment where I pretend to take a stand on something: "Dave Jones is not going to tolerate cell phones at the dinner table." I'll report back whether anyone slaps me and how many times.
4. Ryan Day ran a smarter offense. Now it's gonna be obvious.
If there's a silver lining to any of this, it's that offensive coordinator and interim head coach Ryan Day had three very good Saturdays at the helm of the Ohio State football team. His offense was crisp and it used OSU's personnel in ways that fully exploited its abundant talent. Rookie sophomore starter Dwayne Haskins looked sharper than any quarterback the Buckeyes have had since Texas coach Tom Herman was the OSU quarterbacks assistant and OC four years ago.
Meyer's encouragement of the QB running 10 to 15 times a game on read-option keepers has been abandoned. Haskins has almost never run, shows no inclination to and is not getting beaten up. He just stands back there and slings it while the Buckeyes' two sturdy backs do the ground work.
The result has been garish blowouts of two ill-equipped opponents in Oregon State and Rutgers and an impressive comeback win over a very good Texas Christian team on Saturday night in Dallas. Day will retire for now with a 1.000 winning percentage.
It can only go downhill from here. One loss with a sputtering offense to Penn State or Nebraska or Michigan State or, God forbid, Michigan and everyone in scarlet and gray pajamas is going to be baying for Day's return before someone else hires him away, Meyer's three national titles be damned. No fickler species has been discovered than the football fanatic.
So, why did Meyer set himself up for all of this with yet another attempt to set us all straight? Maybe, like many narcissists, he can't stand it when everyone doesn't idolize him. Maybe he can't stomach fully admitting fault.
Remember when he was asked at the press conference if he had any message for Courtney Smith and he didn't even mention her, let alone offer even a half-apology? All he could see was that he was being attacked. It was all about him.
And that's why Urban Meyer keeps trying over and over to set the record straight about Urban Meyer.
Urb, we're good. By now, I suspect most of us understand who you are just fine.
EMAIL/TWITTER DAVID JONES: djones@pennlive.com
Updated 6:37 AM; Posted 6:30 AM
Urban Meyer exclusive interview Pt. 2 on Courtney Smith, Ohio State suspension | SportsCenter | ESPN
0shares
By David Jones
djones@pennlive.com
This is the third time I find myself writing about Urban Meyer in six weeks. And I don't even want to. But he keeps forcing me.
On Sunday and Monday, ESPN and its Tom Rinaldi, the reporter it usually saves for heart-rending stories with pensive piano background music, aired an interview that clearly was agreed upon as a win-win by Team Urban. Except every time he takes one of these little ventures into personal public damage control, he keeps losing.
This is the fourth time, including a couple of issued statements and the disastrous Ohio State press conference announcing his 3-game "suspension," that Meyer has attempted to address questions surrounding his handling of Zach Smith, the assistant coach he finally fired amid domestic abuse accusations by his ex-wife Courtney Smith.
There should have been one, maybe two. All the Ohio State coach had to do was admit he attempted to excuse Smith, the coach, because he's the grandson of his mentor, late former OSU head coach Earle Bruce. It's a plausible rationale.
Only problem for Meyer is, he would've had to admit he lied and he was wrong to do it. Not that a reporter made something up. Not that he misspoke. Not that he unintentionally misled. Not that he incorrectly answered. But a full apology not unlike those many of us make all the time:
That he was trying to keep information out of the public realm. That he was trying to protect the coach at the probable expense of the wife. But he did so at the time with what he saw as noble intent. That he lied and he was wrong to do so.
But Urban really has a problem with that. The longer this goes on, the more he and his people attempt to clarify a situation almost everyone who cares has sifted out for themselves already, the more he looks like some sort of narcissist who simply can't except fault.
Here are my four and hopefully final observations on his latest dissemination of duplicitous rhetoric.
1. He can coach now, so why won't he just shut up?
Sit-down Q&As like this don't just happen. They are usually offered up with the initiative of the aggrieved and their handlers. Meyer wanted to go before the cameras. He and his agent had to have chosen Rinaldi from some sort of list and it was agreed upon by ESPN. Why?
Because people like Meyer, not to mention their lawyers and agents, are never short on chutzpah. They believe, given a controlled environment, they can win the day and alter public perception.
In this case, it's important for Meyer's continued success as a recruiter. Other than Nick Saban, he's been the best in the business. And, ask any great recruiter, head coaches especially, and they'll tell you: You don't recruit 17-year-olds. You recruit their parents. Moms in particular.
Any coach who's perceived as soft on domestic violence can be attacked by rival recruiters. You see where I'm going. Meyer cannot have this.
And so, he and his people wanted to take one more crack at clearing away any perception that he could be tolerant of an employee accused of domestic abuse against a woman - as Meyer's wife Shelley indicated she feared Zach Smith was. You'll recall her texts to Courtney Smith:
"A lot of women stay hoping it will get better. I don't blame you! But just want u to be safe. Do you have a restraining order? He scares me."
Except Urban keeps screwing it up because he can't fully admit: 1. He lied. 2. He was wrong.
B1G Power Poll: League horror show leaves PSU near top
The only good news for the B1G came in Dallas where Ohio State acquired the conference's first legitimate quality win.The Buckeyes, Penn State and Iowa now stand as the only three B1G teams with a realistic chance to stay unblemished all year. That's where we begin the doleful week 4 edition of the Big Ten Power Poll.
He did lie about knowing of 2015 accusations against Smith at Big Ten media day on July 24. Over and over. He only fired Smith when reporter Brett McMurphy's story cornered him. Then he pretended it was his own call. And he's still doing it. In his Rinaldi interview:
"I made a mistake. I did not lie. There's a... in my mind, you know, I don't lie to people. I don't lie to people. If you're gonna ask me a question and I incorrectly answer their question, or I misspoke or I... to me, there's a big difference. And once again, I apologize.
"I erred at Media Day. But there was never one time where I got asked a question and I was trying to mislead that person asking the question."
That's exactly what he was trying to do and even Meyer's more staunch backers acknowledge that much. Coaches lie to reporters all the time. Why won't he admit this one and just call it what it was?
2. This latest attempt won't act as a miracle As Seen on TV deodorizer.
I'm certain Meyer and his minions agreed to this interview so that, from now on through the duration of the season and forever and ever, he can refer all questions about Zach Smith to "my interview with Tom Rinaldi. Next question."
Sorry, but that doesn't make the stench disappear like Winston Wolf. Nor will it prevent giant signs from popping up behind the set on ESPN's College GameDay with a Pinocchio nose Photoshopped on Meyer's face.
The most damning and clumsy exchange came when Rinaldi asked Meyer about the internal Ohio State report that concluded he asked a fellow employee how to delete text messages from prior years off his phone. Rinaldi asked why he would want to do that. Meyer's response:
"I made it very clear that I did not delete messages off my phone. I also made it clear that I don't understand how to change a setting on my phone."
Duh. Which is why he would ask for help from someone else to do it. The OSU report also says he displayed consciousness of guilt about the matter, about which Rinaldi also asked. Meyer's response:
"All due respect to the report, there was no consciousness of guilt about what was on my phone. None."
So, Rinaldi asked: The report was wrong?
"Once again, I'm just telling you what my... if you're asking me if there was there consciousness of guilt on Urban Meyer in regard to text messages or deleted messages, there's zero. None."
From purely the viewpoint of a damage-control consultant, none of this is helping. Meyer just came off looking shiftier. And it also begs the question...
3. Under what circumstance could you seriously use third-person reference?
Urban Meyer referred to himself as "Urban Meyer" twice during the Rinaldi interview. He also said: "I want to be perfectly clear to the world. Urban Meyer does not condone and would never allow domestic violence."
I don't know any other way to put this: Is there any truer "ass---- barometer" than someone who references himself in the third-person? Honestly, can you even imagine doing this with a straight face? I can't think of any stronger indicator of an ego uncoupled from reality.
Four postgame reads on PSU's 63-10 win over Kent State
It's hard to remember now, but you do recall that Penn State led only 21-10 with seconds to go in the first half against Kent State. Then the tsunami of Nittany Lion big plays hit the Golden Flashes. That's what this team can do. If they clean up all the ragged ends and sloppy mistakes, they might be really good.
In fact, I think we should all try this today in our home or workplace. I want everyone to do it and pay attention to the reactions of their friends and co-workers. And you can't be comedically obvious like "Jimmy" in Seinfeld. You have to slip in a third-person reference to yourself in the course of normal workday conversation and do it like Urban Meyer did - with a stone-sober expression.
Let's say your name is Joyce Redding. Maybe look down at a report on your desk and then casually look up as if you're in thought to say: "Unless it's edited a little more tightly, I don't know that Joyce Redding can approve this version."
I'm gonna try it with my wife: "Dave Jones is going to play basketball tonight, so you'll have to make dinner." It might work better in a serious moment where I pretend to take a stand on something: "Dave Jones is not going to tolerate cell phones at the dinner table." I'll report back whether anyone slaps me and how many times.
4. Ryan Day ran a smarter offense. Now it's gonna be obvious.
If there's a silver lining to any of this, it's that offensive coordinator and interim head coach Ryan Day had three very good Saturdays at the helm of the Ohio State football team. His offense was crisp and it used OSU's personnel in ways that fully exploited its abundant talent. Rookie sophomore starter Dwayne Haskins looked sharper than any quarterback the Buckeyes have had since Texas coach Tom Herman was the OSU quarterbacks assistant and OC four years ago.
Meyer's encouragement of the QB running 10 to 15 times a game on read-option keepers has been abandoned. Haskins has almost never run, shows no inclination to and is not getting beaten up. He just stands back there and slings it while the Buckeyes' two sturdy backs do the ground work.
The result has been garish blowouts of two ill-equipped opponents in Oregon State and Rutgers and an impressive comeback win over a very good Texas Christian team on Saturday night in Dallas. Day will retire for now with a 1.000 winning percentage.
It can only go downhill from here. One loss with a sputtering offense to Penn State or Nebraska or Michigan State or, God forbid, Michigan and everyone in scarlet and gray pajamas is going to be baying for Day's return before someone else hires him away, Meyer's three national titles be damned. No fickler species has been discovered than the football fanatic.
So, why did Meyer set himself up for all of this with yet another attempt to set us all straight? Maybe, like many narcissists, he can't stand it when everyone doesn't idolize him. Maybe he can't stomach fully admitting fault.
Remember when he was asked at the press conference if he had any message for Courtney Smith and he didn't even mention her, let alone offer even a half-apology? All he could see was that he was being attacked. It was all about him.
And that's why Urban Meyer keeps trying over and over to set the record straight about Urban Meyer.
Urb, we're good. By now, I suspect most of us understand who you are just fine.
EMAIL/TWITTER DAVID JONES: djones@pennlive.com
