Zach Smith appears to admit to strangling ex-wife in text message
Former Ohio State assistant coach Zach Smith categorically denied abusing his ex-wife, Courtney Smith, during an interview with ESPN's Dan Murphy on Friday, but apparent text messages unveiled by college football insider Brett McMurphy seem to reveal Smith admitting to strangling her while on vacation in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
The text message also appears to show Zach apologizing to Courtney, while she tells him to stay away from her:
Zach Smith told @1057TheZone he never abused Courtney. Here is text message b/w Zach & Courtney when he admits & apologizes for strangling his wife on Punta Cana trip in March 2015 & again in April pic.twitter.com/GjcjWh6mFT
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 3, 2018
Courtney said Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer knew about the investigation for domestic abuse. She also said she sent several coaches' wives, including Shelley Meyer, photos that document domestic abuse. Zach was fired in July when a 2009 arrest and 2015 police investigation were made public.
After being pulled off a recruiting trip in 2015, Zach said Meyer told him that if he hit Courtney, he'd be promptly fired, which Zach said he understood without reservation.
"Urban pulled me off the practice field and said, 'What the hell is going on? What is this? What is this?'" Zach told ESPN's Murphy. "And I laid it all out for him. I said, 'Apparently my ex-wife is trying to get me charged with domestic abuse from incidents that happened throughout our marriage. I went down and met with Powell PD, I explained both sides of the story. I volunteered to do that. I didn't ever hit her.' He said, 'If you ever hit her you are fired immediately.' I looked at him and said, 'If I hit her I wouldn't come in here. I know how you feel about that. If I hit her I wouldn't even come to work. I would know it's over.'"
Meyer was placed on paid administrative leave Wednesday and the university assembled a six-person independent panel to investigate him Thursday.
Meyer released a statement Wednesday, and another statement Friday, where he said he followed protocol and took appropriate action. For his part, Zach is hoping the head coach can retain his job.
"I'd be heartbroken. For Ohio State. For the players. For him and his family. It'd be dead wrong. If he loses his job it's flat wrong. And this is the guy who fired me. It would be a crime," Smith told Murphy.