While the college football world continues to sit on pins and needles, waiting for the results of an outside firm's investigation of Urban Meyer, the entire scandal involving Ohio State just took another weird turn for the worse. The hole to climb out of continues to get deeper and deeper.
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When something gets this kind of attention, and fans get a shoddy statement trying to defend it, everything from the past seems to creep its way back to the present. The story now extends beyond domestic abuse accusations against former Buckeyes wide receivers coach Zach Smith and what Meyer, the head coach who is on paid administrative leave, knew and did about the claims in 2015.
In many ways, the newest development makes it stickier and weirder.
According to The Toledo Blade, Smith, who was fired in late July, was arrested in 2013 for operating a vehicle while intoxicated in Dublin, Ohio. He was pulled over for speeding — going 67 in a 50 mile per hour zone — before refusing a breathalyzer and taking a field sobriety test.
Zach Smith was arrested in Dublin for OVI in 2013. The former OSU WR coach refused to take a breathalyzer. The incident was previously unreported. https://t.co/6jOSGUF2f9
— Kyle Rowland (@KyleRowland) August 13, 2018
Ultimately, Smith was taken in, posted bond later that night, and was found guilty a couple months later of physical control, a first-degree misdemeanor. The OVI charge was changed and the speeding charge was dismissed, per the report.
The fact this went somewhat under the radar and not really reported isn't overly surprising. Neither is seeing charges changed for a variety of reasons and state laws.
But just wait, this is when things heat up.
Judge that reduced Zach Smith’s 2013 drunken driving charges is a 1968 Ohio State graduate & member of The Ohio State University President’s Club https://t.co/GPYnoyicVD
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 13, 2018
Could the judge have reduced charges to save the program's face and image considering Smith was on the football staff? It's impossible to prove definitively, but it sure will raise some eyebrows for those who are following this closely.
Then again, maybe not. The theory is already being shot down.
https://twitter.com/OhioAtty14/status/1029085120488251393
Had Smith been fired for this arrest in 2013, there is no way the 2015 problems under investigation even come to light.
Is this story another piece to the football program's alleged cover up that led to much bigger problems?
If it looks like a duck, and acts like a duck, it's probably not a chicken, right?
Or is this just a case of things getting blown completely out of proportion?
Brett McMurphy, the original reporter of the damning allegations against Meyer, isn't messing around here. He is trying to find every nugget possible and exploiting it.
Ohio State should be glad Smith is gone, but the alleged problems from his tenure in Columbus seem to be rearing its ugly head at precisely the wrong times and a lot of jobs could be in jeopardy because of it.
That, of course, could potentially include the end of Urban Meyer's run as a college football coach.
Why in the world did Meyer keep Smith around for so long?
