As another college football season dawns, not one, but two major programs are embroiled in pretty major scandals caused (either directly or indirectly) by their head coaches. The good news for most of the power conferences is that both of these schools are in the Big Ten. But the situations at Ohio State and especially Maryland get worse by the day.
Let's start in Columbus because that's significantly more straightforward. Ohio State Head Coach Urban Meyer doesn't exactly have the best reputation for running the cleanest of programs, yet people generally look the other way because he wins. And that once again seems to be exactly what happened here. Because Meyer received a slap-on-the-wrist three-game suspension for something that would cost a lot of people who aren't The Head Football Coach at THE Ohio State University their jobs.
Meyer's "punishment" stems from his handling of domestic abuse allegations against former assistant Zach Smith. The short version is that Smith ex-wife Courtney told Meyer's wife about Zach's alleged abuse back in 2015. Meyer's wife was concerned for Courtney's well-being and even contacted the police. Urban Meyer claimed to have no knowledge of this exchange, but the independent investigation concluded that this was highly unlikely.
This wasn't even the first time Zach and Courtney Smith had domestic issues. In fact, Courtney called the police on Zach in 2009 while Zach was Meyer's assistant at Florida. Meyer told investigators he met with both Zach and Courtney, but he actually met with only Zach about the incident.
Despite this, Meyer took Zach Smith with him when he took over at Ohio State in 2011. And did Meyer tell anyone about the 2009 incident? Of course not! Part of this is the school's fault for doing an incomplete background check, but Ohio State AD Gene Smith didn't find out about it until a month ago. And, even after the 2015 incident, Meyer didn't fire Zach Smith. That didn't happen until July 23...OF THIS YEAR!
At Big Ten Media Day, Meyer was asked about Zach Smith and, while not deliberately untruthful, definitely gave some misleading answers about his knowledge of everything. Even Ohio State's independent investigation called him out on this, after with Meyer admitted he "followed his heart and not his head" by giving Smith the benefit of the doubt.
Yet Meyer was still much more concerned with saving face than anything else. At the press conference announcing his suspension, he wanted to make sure Buckeye Nation knew that he knew he let them down. He apologized to everybody....except Courtney Smith! That apology didn't come until today in a two-paragraph statement that, at least in my opinion, he was clearly forced to write.
Urban Meyer needed to be held accountable for Zach Smith's conduct, just like any other coach is considered responsible for the wrongdoings of their assistants. According to Ohio State, however, Meyer's accountability only equates to three games. In September. Against Oregon State, Rutgers and TCU. Not exactly the gauntlet.
Believe it or not, though, that's only the second-worst scandal going on in the Big Ten right now! The situation at Maryland is much, much worse. Especially with the new developments that emerged today.
Maryland's problems began, of course, in May when offensive lineman Jordan McNair died of heatstroke suffered during an offseason workout. The strength & conditioning coach "resigned" and two athletic trainers were placed on administrative leave for their roles in the circumstances that led to McNair's death.
However, that was just the tip of the iceberg. Details of the toxic culture surrounding Maryland football ever since the hiring of Head Coach DJ Durkin in 2015 have since emerged. This culture, based largely on fear and intimidation, was likely a contributing factor in McNair's death. He was struggling towards the end of the workout and didn't finish it under his own power. When he was finally taken for treatment, his body temperature was 106.
Durkin has been placed on leave by the university, but McNair's family is calling for the coach to be fired. I can't say I disagree with them. And if there was any doubt about that, consider the news that broke yesterday, the university released a statement indicating former AD Kevin Anderson in a $15 million payment to an outside legal firm representing two former football players accused of sexual assault.
It turns out Anderson wasn't responsible for hiring the players' attorneys. The lawyer, Donald Maurice Jackson, did receive $15 million from the university, but it wasn't from the AD's discretionary fund (which is what the university's statement said). It came from the football team. He only had "minimal contact" with Anderson, which basically consisted of an email firing him from the case two weeks after he'd already been paid.
What happened with Jordan McNair gave the University of Maryland plenty of grounds to terminate football coach DJ Durkin. With these latest allegations, they're left with absolutely no choice. I don't see any way for Maryland to maintain its credibility AND DJ Durkin remain football coach.
But, as Ohio State showed us, winning football games is the only thing that matters to these schools. So, I wouldn't be completely surprised to see Durkin be retained, either. Anything to win. Morality be damned!
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