New reports indicate Urban Meyer knew about OSU WR coach Zach Smith’s 2015 domestic violence allegation

Update: Courtney Smith, the ex-wife of former Ohio State assistant coach Zack Smith has opened about the history of domestic abuse that she allegedly suffered during their marriage. In addition to speaking with Brett McMurphy, she also had a sit down interview with Stadium.com.

The first portion of that interview was released on Twitter, with the broadcaster planning to release more of their conversation at 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday, August 1.

A new report from Brett McMurphy has unearthed serious concerns with Ohio State head football coach Urban Meyer’s handling of domestic abuse allegations against former wide receivers coach Zach Smith.

Meyer fired Smith last week after reports of multiple arrests and protective orders were made public, dating back to 2009 when Smith was on Meyer’s staff at the University of Florida. The day following the termination, Meyer said at Big Ten Media Days that he had been aware of the situation that occurred in 2009, but was not aware of any other instances of alleged abuse, including ones reported to have happened in 2015 and May of this year.

However, McMurphy obtained text messages said to be between Smith’s ex-wife Courtney and Shelley Meyer — that he reports are from 2015 — discussing the 2015 incident. The report also indicates that numerous other wives of the OSU coaching staff had been aware of the incident shortly after it allegedly occurred. McMurphy also provides screenshots of a conversation between Smith and Lindsey Voltolini — the wife of Ohio State’s football operations director Brian Voltolini — which indicate that Meyer was aware of the incident.

Courtney Smith told McMurphy that she spoke with Meyer’s wife Shelley and that she had indicated she would discuss it with Urban.

Courtney said she and Shelly often discussed Zach’s domestic violence.

“Shelly said she was going to have to tell Urban,” Courtney said. “I said: ‘That’s fine, you should tell Urban.’ I know Shelley did everything she could.”

Courtney Smith claims that the alleged abuse that she suffered was well known within the program.

“All the (coaches) wives knew,” Courtney said. “They all did. Every single one.”

The report also claims that Zach’s mother, as well as Earle Bruce and Hiram de Fries (a good friend of Meyer) all pleaded with Courtney to get the original charges in 2009 dropped. They were successful, and those original charges were dropped. The report mentions similar situations in Columbus, as Courtney said that she would call 911, but “[hang] up out of fear because [she] was scared Zach would lose his job.”