https://articles.cleveland.com/osu/2018/...impression=trueHow a serious discussion around Ohio State turned into a soap opera: Doug Lesmerises
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The story around Ohio State involves a serious and legitimate issue of the proper role of a powerful community entity in addressing a real community problem.
Ohio State football has money and resources. A woman claimed her ex-husband, an Ohio State football assistant, had committed domestic abuse. What should Ohio State football and people like football coach Urban Meyer and athletic director Gene Smith do about that? What did they do about that? What can be learned about what could be done next time? What are their duties, but also what should they aspire to do in an ideal world?
There's a way to address that without assigning blame until the facts are in. There's a way to investigate that by seeking truth, then abiding by lessons learned. There's a way to talk about that without resorting to personal attacks and digging in on a side, when clearly there's a muddled and unfortunate middle ground.
We're so far from removed from that, it's hard to remember if we were ever there.
Saturday, we reached soap opera levels.
Domestic abuse often comes down to he said, she said. This story has reached he said, she said, she said, he said, he Facebooked, he Facebooked, she retweeted, she liked on Twitter, he theorized on Reddit and wait ... is there another Facebook post? Did a Michael Jackson hologram appear to moonwalk a message about what really happened?
Somewhere, there remains a woman, Courtney Smith, who reached out for help, and a husband, former Ohio State receivers coach Zach Smith, who has admitted to putting his hands on her in the midst of volatile, aggressive confrontations, though he says his actions were in self defense.
Somewhere, there's a core question worth solving that doesn't center on who should be fired or not fired, but centers on how the powerful among us can help those who need help. We can answer that without anyone losing their jobs. We just have to keep asking it.
Anyway, did you see Facebook?!
Here's the latest web weaved on Saturday, one cleveland.com wasn't going to write about until it rose to the level of being denied by a public figure. So here's the attempt to guide you through what's happening.
If you thought your aunt and your cousin were going at each other on Facebook over that latest political rally, wait until you see this. But, first, previously, on the Facebook diaries:
* Former ESPN reporter Brett McMurphy broke a story July 23 about Zach Smith's past domestic allegations. He broke another story on Aug. 1 with Courtney Smith, his ex-wife, talking about those allegations, and what Ohio State knew about them.
* On Twitter, Urban Meyer released a statement on Aug. 3 saying he followed protocol in reporting what he knew about Zach Smith to Ohio State in 2015.
* Thursday, Jeff Snook, a former college football reporter and author of several college football books, quoted Zach Smith's mother and Courtney Smith's mother saying that Zach Smith had not abused Courtney Smith, and that she had said she would take down Ohio State.
* Friday, Snook wrote on his Facebook page, "FYI College football fans, another bombshell story is coming... if it can be proven - and it is HUGE, having national ramifications." That's a reality show-level tease.
* Saturday, Snook wrote a story that Texas head coach Tom Herman was the source that started McMurphy on the original Zach Smith story.
* Soon after, McMurphy wrote a story that Courtney Smith's mother confirmed that she sent text messages to Zach Smith in 2014 accusing him of abusing her daughter.
* Then, on Twitter, McMurphy denied that Tom Herman was his source.
For those who have asked for my response to Jeff Snook's claim Saturday: "I have never revealed my sources in my nearly four decade journalistic career & I am not going to start now. However, I will say unequivocally that Tom Herman was not my source."
-- Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 11, 2018
* Then, Tom Herman denied that he was McMurphy's source .
Via spokesman, Texas coach Tom Herman tells me about the Jeff Snook story: "It is absolutely untrue. Neither I, nor anybody in my family, has ever communicated with Brett McMurphy about the situation at Ohio State." 1/2
-- Brian Davis (@BDavisAAS) August 11, 2018
* Then, Tom Herman's wife denied that she was a source.
Nope, wasn't me either! pic.twitter.com/OUjbn5iOJv
-- Michelle Herman (@belletjh) August 11, 2018
* Then .... is there anything else?
There is a dispute within the Smith family around this very difficult issue. For example, Courtney Smith told McMurphy she is currently estranged from her mother. That is a family matter. Though Zach Smith said this is entirely a family issue, a woman claiming domestic abuse is not that. It's reasonable for a community to reach out.
There is a dispute between Snook and McMurphy, who are writing opposite sides of this story on a social media outlet with no editors or oversight.
McMurphy has tweaked parts of his story along the way without officially correcting the record. That's an issue. But the heart of his stories about Courtney's claims have come with photos and text messages.
Snook presented detailed quotes from the family on Thursday in a way that addressed the big picture. But he came back on Saturday with two anonymous sources blaming Herman, and no other backing.
As she has along the way, Urban Meyer's oldest daughter, Nicki, on Twitter liked mentions of Herman being named as the source. His second, daughter, Gigi, retweeted stories mentioning Courtney Smith's alleged claim to take down Ohio State.
Urban Meyer has been understandably silent since his statement on Aug. 3, but his family is making its opinion known.
And none of that matters.
No matter how the story started, Ohio State's investigation of how Meyer and Gene Smith handled this will determine what happens. On Saturday, the Columbus Dispatch reported that Zach Smith will speak with Ohio State's investigating team on Monday or Tuesday.
Tips start stories. Tips can come from people who want a wrong to be addressed. Or they can come from people who may gain from a story.
I'll say that several days before McMurphy's first story on Zach Smith appeared on July 23, a Twitter account tagged several reporters, including me, asking why no one had looked into a 2009 Gainesville, Fla., police report on Smith. I followed the account and planned to look into things, but McMurphy beat me to it. He later said on a podcast he'd been working on the story for several weeks.
That account and that tweet have been deleted.
So someone knew about Zach Smith's past. They wanted it known. He was never charged, but it does matter how Ohio State dealt with Smith. Maybe Urban Meyer and Gene Smith did exactly what they should have done.
Ohio State is investigating.
The rest of us, I don't know what we're doing anymore.
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