Ex-Ohio State president Michael Drake says he didn't want Urban Meyer fired

Six years ago, Ohio State president Michael V. Drake was mostly silent as the Zach Smith saga dragged on, and he maintained so even after it was resolved.

In the summer of 2018, then-OSU football assistant coach Zach Smith’s estranged wife accused him of domestic assault. Smith was eventually fired.

Smith was the grandson of coach Urban Meyer's mentor, Earle Bruce. Questions swirled about how much Meyer knew about the accusations. Ohio State placed Meyer on administrative leave at the start of training camp. He was eventually suspended for the first three games of the season after a marathon day of deliberations involving Drake and the university’s board of trustees. Athletic director Gene Smith also was suspended.

Except for a hastily arranged press conference the night the suspensions were issued in which Meyer and Gene Smith did most of the talking, Drake did not publicly discuss the case. In a recent interview with The Dispatch, Drake finally opened up about it.

Archived audio:Urban Meyer has been placed on administrative leave

“It was personally painful,” said Drake, who left Ohio State in 2020 after six years and is now the president of the University of California’s 10 campuses. “It was extraordinarily uncomfortable for me with people who I liked and admired and worked so well with to have an issue like this in the program.

“I wish the issue had been handled in the past. That certainly would have been my preference. But when these things come to you, you have to handle them.”

There has been speculation that Drake wanted a harsher penalty for Meyer, perhaps even his firing. He denied that.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “Let me say how much not is the case: Absolutely not. Zero. I don’t think that would have been appropriate.”

Drake said the suspensions corresponded to what he thought they should be.

“As an institution, we have to represent our institutional values all the time,” Drake said. “That’s really our bottom line. Sometimes we don’t do that perfectly, and when we don’t we acknowledge that, we correct ourselves, and we move forward.

“We have to be who we say we are, and (Zach Smith) wasn’t a good representation or representative of that in many ways. We had to work through that to get on with the future and to be better.

“Part of our being the best collegiate athletics program in the world is that I don't think we can call ourselves the best in the world just because of our performance on the field. It has to be who we are in our community more broadly, and we feel we have to stand up for those values.”

The day the suspension was issued ranks among the most bizarre in Ohio State history. Many expected the board of trustees meeting at the Fawcett Center to end that morning with only a minor punishment imposed on Meyer. Instead, it lasted until well into the evening.

“I know the president thought he was within a very short step of having a resolution late in the afternoon, and I thought it was an appropriate place to be,” said Jim Delany, then the Big Ten commissioner. “And then all hell broke loose.”

Asked if coming to a resolution felt like herding cats, Drake replied, “There might have been a cat or two that needed herding, but it really was giving everyone a chance to express their opinions and come to a consensus.”

One board member who wanted Meyer to be fired resigned.

Gene Smith’s suspension was unexpected, but Drake believed it was necessary.

“I believe he fully understood that we had to be responsible as a program,” he said. “When things go well, that’s great for everyone. If there are issues or problems, then everybody has to be responsible for those things as well. You take responsibility, you illustrate the lesson, you move forward and you’re stronger at the end of the day.”

Drake said his relationships with Gene Smith and Meyer were good after the suspensions were served.

“It was something we had to go through,” Drake said of Smith, “and it was in no way personal.”

Meyer retired after the 2018 season, citing headaches from arachnoid cysts on his brain as a major factor. Drake said he had nothing to do with Meyer’s departure.

“We went to the Rose Bowl and had a great season,” Drake said. “We did events together. Urban’s decision to leave was 100% his.

“It wasn’t a happy time. I really enjoyed my relationship with Urban before that and respected him and was supportive of him moving forward. The concept that I wanted him to leave … that’s just not true.”

Meyer confirmed that.

“That’s a true statement,” he said. “He tried to talk me into staying.”

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ex-OSU president Michael Drake says he didn't want Urban Meyer fired