He said as much during the presser.
Perhaps, but recruits think about what school they are going to attend from a livelihood perspective too. Especially the elite, highly-touted ones that have legitimate aspirations of going pro. No different than a university protecting a star coach that brings home the bacon. If they think Ohio St and Urban gives them the best chance to turn pro, most will still go there.
"the school could not determine whether Meyer did it to erase those texts, or if it was a setting he always had on his phone"
A lot of the information that they didn't have is information that they could have found if they really wanted to. The investigation they conducted wasn't independent at all. The Working Group they formed had 6 people; 3 of them were OSU trustees. One of the 3 non-trustees used to be a trustee and has a degree from OSU.
I was fairly sure that was going to be the case when I saw who made up this 'independent' team.
I don’t think it was so much that he lied to the media about his knowledge of the incident, it’s that he inferred that McMurphy made it up and that he was forced to fire Zach Smith because of the overreaction. If McMurphy hadn’t had his ducks in a row, the national media UM apologists would have sold that narrative.
You are wrong. Saban would absolutely put up with anyone who he thought could give him an advantage. He recruits 5 star defensive linemen all the time and yet he accepted Jonathan Taylor as a transfer, who had been dismissed by Georgia over domestic abuse charges. Taylor was later convicted of misdemeanors related to those charges and then dismissed by Saban once another set of allegations surfaced against Taylor while at Alabama.
Taylor had charges of domestic violence pending against him at the time Saban accepted him as a transfer. He didn't wait for those charges to be adjudicated. What downside was there to giving Taylor a second chance? He was accused of it again while at Alabama and Saban was then forced to dismiss a player who had only been on campus for a few months. There is no difference between the two. None.
The "Urban has a bad memory" line is hilariously bad for 2 reasons:
You add to that the idea he tried to sell that he was trying to help Smith because of his family connections and didn't use his head instead of his "heart" and they have at least made an attempt to make him appear to be a victim.
I agree, but what in the world was Zach Smith doing for Urban? I'm not an Ohio St fan obviously so perhaps I don't fully "get" the Earle Bruce connection, but that alone being the reason for Urban's loyalty to Smith doesn't add up. Urban is going to go down as one of the best college football coaches of all time (as far as pure performance on the field). He risked his entire career and reputation to defend a dime-a-dozen, replacement-level wide receivers coach. I get the family loyalty and understand why he'd give him the benefit of the doubt to a certain extent, but not the level that he did.
Its quiet possible it was a combination of him being good at his job, Meyers connection to his family and he knew things that could damage Meyer. You couple the last one with the idea that this guy was an unpredictable loon and I'm sure Meyer was being as careful and thoughtful for his best interests. Add in Meyers arrogance that hes beyond reprimand and I think you have what you have.
