Urban Meyer releases statement as he returns to coaching full-time

With the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes’ win over TCU over the weekend, head coach Urban Meyer’s on-again, off-again suspension has been completed. Though Meyer has been able to coach the team during the week following the season opening victory over Oregon State, he has had to miss game days against Rutgers and the Horned Frogs.

However, now that his team is moving on to Week 4 against Tulane, he is back in control of the team 100 percent, retaking the reigns from interim head coach Ryan Day. On Monday morning, Meyer released a statement, thanking Day and praising the team while also going into further details about his handling of former assistant Zach Smith.

In addition to acknowledging that he should have taken a different route in handling Smith’s employment, Meyer apologized to Zach’s ex-wife Courtney Smith and her family, as well as again expressing regret for not telling the complete truth at Big Ten Media days in late July.

Meyer said that his time separated from his team has given him an opportunity to reflect and to reaffirm his commitment to the core values that he has preached as a head coach. Over the weekend, Meyer gave his first post-suspension interview to ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi.

In the interview, he said “I erred when I made a decision to do the best I can to help stabilize that situation... And one of the things I look back now— I probably should’ve fired [Smith].”

Meyer’s first game on the sideline will be this Saturday, Sept. 22 at 3:30 p.m. ET against the Tulane Green Wave.