lol obk, after fsu i thought marcus and co were going to slaughter that 4 seed osu team. urban gonna urban though, total domination despite -4 in TOs. amazing really.
I slightly disagree with the posters here who talked to his institutional obligations, I think if he's fired it's because of massive internal and external political pressure. That;s it. No more no less.
No idea who Jeff Snook is. Had to snip half of the story to fit. Anyhow, Zach Smith's mom contradicts several key accusations by the ex-wife, naturally. More interestingly, the ex's mom calls bullshit on some too.
BY JEFF SNOOK Lynn Bruce, mother of fired Ohio State receivers coach Zach Smith and daughter of the late Earle Bruce, told me last night that her ex-daughter-in-law Courtney Carano Smith vowed as far back as 2013 that she would “take Zach down and take Urban Meyer down with him.” “She told me that not one time, but in fact she said it several times over the years,” Bruce said. She was driven by revenge when she found out her husband had cheated on her, Bruce said. “When she found out five years ago that Zach had cheated on her, she was so angry that she vowed to me she would get back at him someday. And she said she would take Urban down, too,” she said. “And this is exactly what she did. She wanted to do as much damage as possible. “She has been planning this for some time.” Bruce said that Courtney’s mother, Tina Carano, also heard her daughter state her plans against her husband for his infidelities. The mother and daughter have become estranged over the issue, Bruce claimed. She said Tina Carano also believes Zach Smith never struck her daughter. “Her own mother is backing Zach in this issue and I am sure that makes her mad,” she said. “They do not speak anymore.” Reached this afternoon, Tina Carano would only communicate via text messages and backed Lynn Bruce’s version. When asked if she believed her daughter’s claims of physical abuse, she replied, “I believe that Zach was removing himself from an argument and I do not believe he intentionally abused her. I do not believe he actually intentionally swung or punched her … no.” As far as ever hearing her daughter say she would “take Zach down,” she replied, “Yes.” And when Meyer’s name was mentioned, she added, “I cannot quote her exact words as I don’t remember them word for word, but something to that extent. This is my daughter and I love her but I do not approve of what she has done and how it was done.” Following that text, she did not respond to follow-up questions. Zach Smith, hired as receivers coach when Meyer accepted the Ohio State head coaching job in December, 2011, was fired July 23 when a criminal trespass charge against him came to light. The couple was divorced in 2015 and his ex-wife had called the Powell, Ohio, Police Department in May following a dispute concerning a meeting location for Smith to drop off the couple’s 8-year-old son. That led to his dismissal by Ohio State. However, Bruce still defended Meyer, who is currently on paid-administrative leave from the university, saying he would never allow a coach who hit his wife to remain on his coaching staff. “Urban did exactly what he was supposed to do,” she said. “He passed it on whenever something came up. Urban Meyer would never retain an assistant coach who beats his wife, no matter who that man’s grandfather is. I was heartbroken when he fired Zach.” Courtney called 911 so often, Bruce claimed, that the responding Powell police officers grew tired of dealing with her. She said that explains the reported nine police calls to Courtney’s home at 358 Bear Woods Drive in Powell, a Columbus suburb, between 2012 and 2018, none of which resulted in charges against Zach Smith. The Powell police department has not released those reports, other than to say there were no charges. “Each time the police would arrive and investigate, and each time there was nothing to back her claims of physical abuse,” she said. “It was her way at getting back at Zach. She would just call 911 over an argument, which she usually started. The Powell police got to know the situation. I don’t believe for a minute he ever struck her one time and neither does her own mother – and neither do the Powell police.” Bruce said she never would have defended Zach if she thought her son had struck his wife. “I was raised by my dad and when my kids were in school, I told them if anything happens that they are guilty until proven innocent,” she explained. “I would back the teachers or administrators. I talked to him about these issues and I would still love him, but if I thought he hit her, I would force him to get professional help. He was raised to respect women. I believe him and I witnessed so many incidents in which she was the aggressor … I know what happened and I also know he would never hit a woman.” At Big Ten media days on July 24 in Chicago, when he addressed Smith’s firing of a day earlier, Meyer was questioned about an incident Oct. 25, 2015, involving the couple. He answered, “I received a text about it last night. There was nothing. I don’t know who creates a story like that.” It is unclear if he was referring to whether the incident occurred or whether Smith was arrested at the time. He wasn't. When pressed why he then fired Smith a day earlier and just a week before summer camp opened, Meyer said he it was a personnel issue and didn’t want to elaborate, but did call the firing “a group effort.” Lynn Bruce predicted that when the Powell police department’s reports are made public, they will back up her son’s claim that there is no evidence that he ever hit his wife. Asked to explain Courtney’s pictures showing her arms and neck with red marks, which reporter Brett McMurphy placed on his Facebook page Aug. 1, Bruce said, “I witnessed what she did several times: She would get in his face and block his path while screaming at him. One time when I was there, he was trying to walk down the steps and she blocked him so he couldn’t leave the house. He couldn’t get by her and he had to leave, so he just picked her up by the arms and placed her to the side, so he could walk by and walk out the door. When he did that, I am sure that would leave red marks on her arms. It would if he picked me up and moved me, too. Then she would take a picture. “She was the aggressor. She was always very confrontational with him.” (Meyer was placed on leave by the university the day the pictures were made public on McMurphy’s Facebook page.) Despite the constant arguments, Bruce said her son did not want to leave his wife because of their two children, now 8 and 6 years old. “He just never wanted to leave his kids,” she said. “He tried to stay with her and work it out. He is a great father who wanted to be with his kids.” • Bruce said Courtney frequently called her to complain about Zach. “Another time she called me and I went over there and she was screaming at him while he was sitting on the couch. I told her to take the kids and go upstairs. I walked over to him and Zach was just sitting there with tears in his eyes. He said, ‘Mom, she’s really crazy.’” The Smiths, who met as undergraduates at the University of Kentucky, were married in Columbus in 2008; They separated June 6, 2015, and Courtney Smith filed for divorce Nov. 12, 2015. Among other revelations, Bruce claimed: • Courtney Smith soon grew weary of being the wife of a college football coach at a big-time program. “I once loved her like a daughter,” Lynn Bruce explained. “Before they got married, we sat her down and said this is what life is going to be like for you if he goes to the level of coaching he wants to go. He was driven to succeed in the business and he slept at the office. I know it was difficult for her, with him being away, but that’s a coach’s life and we told her all about it ahead of time.” • Courtney Smith, 33, is estranged from her mother, Tina Carano, because of her allegations that Zach Smith physically abused her. “Tina believes Zach and she is on his side through all this. She knows what her own daughter is like. She thinks she has serious problems and she knows she planned this whole thing.” Bruce also said Tina Carano recently called WTVN 610 radio’s sports talk show with the intent to discuss the matter anonymously. “She wanted Zach’s side to come out, but she didn’t want to give her identity,” she said. “So they never put her on the air.” • Earle Bruce, the Buckeyes’ head coach 1979-87, never spoke to Courtney Smith following his grandson’s arrest June 21, 2009 in Gainesville, Fla., and never tried to talk her out of pressing charges as she alleged in a televised interview last week. Courtney, then pregnant with the couple’s first child, claimed her husband grabbed her by the neck and pushed her against a wall. At the time, Zach was a graduate assistant coach under Meyer for the Florida Gators. The charge was later dropped and Courtney Smith said in a recent televised interview and also told McMurphy that Earle Bruce tried to talk her out of pressing charges against his grandson. That never happened, Lynn Bruce maintained. “Courtney called me at 3 a.m. about that fight and I told Dad I was driving down to Florida to deal with this. He wanted to go with me,” Bruce recalled. “When we arrived, I talked to Courtney alone and Dad went to speak to Urban and Zack. Dad never even saw her on that trip. Then when I heard her use Dad’s name in that TV interview, claiming he told her not to press charges, I wanted to jump through my TV set. Not only would he would never, ever tell her something like that, he never talked to her at all. That is just another thing she has lied about.” Earle Bruce died April 20 in Columbus.
While McMurphy independently published the bombshell allegations against Smith on Facebook, Snook also used Facebook to report these explosive claims in defense of Smith. McMurphy was well-established as one of ESPN’s top college football reporters before he was laid off earlier this year.
Snook has published four books covering Ohio State football, including “What It Means to Be a Buckeye.” The foreword of that book was written by Urban Meyer, who opened by praising Earle Bruce, who died in April and is the grandfather of Zach Smith and father of Lynn Bruce.
While McMurphy independently published the bombshell allegations against Smith on Facebook, Snook also used Facebook to report these explosive claims in defense of Smith. McMurphy was well-established as one of ESPN’s top college football reporters before he was laid off earlier this year.
Snook has published four books covering Ohio State football, including “What It Means to Be a Buckeye.” The foreword of that book was written by Urban Meyer, who opened by praising Earle Bruce, who died in April and is the grandfather of Zach Smith and father of Lynn Bruce.
No idea who Jeff Snook is. Had to snip half of the story to fit. Anyhow, Zach Smith's mom contradicts several key accusations by the ex-wife, naturally. More interestingly, the ex's mom calls bullshit on some too.
BY JEFF SNOOK Lynn Bruce, mother of fired Ohio State receivers coach Zach Smith and daughter of the late Earle Bruce, told me last night that her ex-daughter-in-law Courtney Carano Smith vowed as far back as 2013 that she would “take Zach down and take Urban Meyer down with him.” “She told me that not one time, but in fact she said it several times over the years,” Bruce said. She was driven by revenge when she found out her husband had cheated on her, Bruce said. “When she found out five years ago that Zach had cheated on her, she was so angry that she vowed to me she would get back at him someday. And she said she would take Urban down, too,” she said. “And this is exactly what she did. She wanted to do as much damage as possible. “She has been planning this for some time.” Bruce said that Courtney’s mother, Tina Carano, also heard her daughter state her plans against her husband for his infidelities. The mother and daughter have become estranged over the issue, Bruce claimed. She said Tina Carano also believes Zach Smith never struck her daughter. “Her own mother is backing Zach in this issue and I am sure that makes her mad,” she said. “They do not speak anymore.” Reached this afternoon, Tina Carano would only communicate via text messages and backed Lynn Bruce’s version. When asked if she believed her daughter’s claims of physical abuse, she replied, “I believe that Zach was removing himself from an argument and I do not believe he intentionally abused her. I do not believe he actually intentionally swung or punched her … no.” As far as ever hearing her daughter say she would “take Zach down,” she replied, “Yes.” And when Meyer’s name was mentioned, she added, “I cannot quote her exact words as I don’t remember them word for word, but something to that extent. This is my daughter and I love her but I do not approve of what she has done and how it was done.” Following that text, she did not respond to follow-up questions. Zach Smith, hired as receivers coach when Meyer accepted the Ohio State head coaching job in December, 2011, was fired July 23 when a criminal trespass charge against him came to light. The couple was divorced in 2015 and his ex-wife had called the Powell, Ohio, Police Department in May following a dispute concerning a meeting location for Smith to drop off the couple’s 8-year-old son. That led to his dismissal by Ohio State. However, Bruce still defended Meyer, who is currently on paid-administrative leave from the university, saying he would never allow a coach who hit his wife to remain on his coaching staff. “Urban did exactly what he was supposed to do,” she said. “He passed it on whenever something came up. Urban Meyer would never retain an assistant coach who beats his wife, no matter who that man’s grandfather is. I was heartbroken when he fired Zach.” Courtney called 911 so often, Bruce claimed, that the responding Powell police officers grew tired of dealing with her. She said that explains the reported nine police calls to Courtney’s home at 358 Bear Woods Drive in Powell, a Columbus suburb, between 2012 and 2018, none of which resulted in charges against Zach Smith. The Powell police department has not released those reports, other than to say there were no charges. “Each time the police would arrive and investigate, and each time there was nothing to back her claims of physical abuse,” she said. “It was her way at getting back at Zach. She would just call 911 over an argument, which she usually started. The Powell police got to know the situation. I don’t believe for a minute he ever struck her one time and neither does her own mother – and neither do the Powell police.” Bruce said she never would have defended Zach if she thought her son had struck his wife. “I was raised by my dad and when my kids were in school, I told them if anything happens that they are guilty until proven innocent,” she explained. “I would back the teachers or administrators. I talked to him about these issues and I would still love him, but if I thought he hit her, I would force him to get professional help. He was raised to respect women. I believe him and I witnessed so many incidents in which she was the aggressor … I know what happened and I also know he would never hit a woman.” At Big Ten media days on July 24 in Chicago, when he addressed Smith’s firing of a day earlier, Meyer was questioned about an incident Oct. 25, 2015, involving the couple. He answered, “I received a text about it last night. There was nothing. I don’t know who creates a story like that.” It is unclear if he was referring to whether the incident occurred or whether Smith was arrested at the time. He wasn't. When pressed why he then fired Smith a day earlier and just a week before summer camp opened, Meyer said he it was a personnel issue and didn’t want to elaborate, but did call the firing “a group effort.” Lynn Bruce predicted that when the Powell police department’s reports are made public, they will back up her son’s claim that there is no evidence that he ever hit his wife. Asked to explain Courtney’s pictures showing her arms and neck with red marks, which reporter Brett McMurphy placed on his Facebook page Aug. 1, Bruce said, “I witnessed what she did several times: She would get in his face and block his path while screaming at him. One time when I was there, he was trying to walk down the steps and she blocked him so he couldn’t leave the house. He couldn’t get by her and he had to leave, so he just picked her up by the arms and placed her to the side, so he could walk by and walk out the door. When he did that, I am sure that would leave red marks on her arms. It would if he picked me up and moved me, too. Then she would take a picture. “She was the aggressor. She was always very confrontational with him.” (Meyer was placed on leave by the university the day the pictures were made public on McMurphy’s Facebook page.) Despite the constant arguments, Bruce said her son did not want to leave his wife because of their two children, now 8 and 6 years old. “He just never wanted to leave his kids,” she said. “He tried to stay with her and work it out. He is a great father who wanted to be with his kids.” • Bruce said Courtney frequently called her to complain about Zach. “Another time she called me and I went over there and she was screaming at him while he was sitting on the couch. I told her to take the kids and go upstairs. I walked over to him and Zach was just sitting there with tears in his eyes. He said, ‘Mom, she’s really crazy.’” The Smiths, who met as undergraduates at the University of Kentucky, were married in Columbus in 2008; They separated June 6, 2015, and Courtney Smith filed for divorce Nov. 12, 2015. Among other revelations, Bruce claimed: • Courtney Smith soon grew weary of being the wife of a college football coach at a big-time program. “I once loved her like a daughter,” Lynn Bruce explained. “Before they got married, we sat her down and said this is what life is going to be like for you if he goes to the level of coaching he wants to go. He was driven to succeed in the business and he slept at the office. I know it was difficult for her, with him being away, but that’s a coach’s life and we told her all about it ahead of time.” • Courtney Smith, 33, is estranged from her mother, Tina Carano, because of her allegations that Zach Smith physically abused her. “Tina believes Zach and she is on his side through all this. She knows what her own daughter is like. She thinks she has serious problems and she knows she planned this whole thing.” Bruce also said Tina Carano recently called WTVN 610 radio’s sports talk show with the intent to discuss the matter anonymously. “She wanted Zach’s side to come out, but she didn’t want to give her identity,” she said. “So they never put her on the air.” • Earle Bruce, the Buckeyes’ head coach 1979-87, never spoke to Courtney Smith following his grandson’s arrest June 21, 2009 in Gainesville, Fla., and never tried to talk her out of pressing charges as she alleged in a televised interview last week. Courtney, then pregnant with the couple’s first child, claimed her husband grabbed her by the neck and pushed her against a wall. At the time, Zach was a graduate assistant coach under Meyer for the Florida Gators. The charge was later dropped and Courtney Smith said in a recent televised interview and also told McMurphy that Earle Bruce tried to talk her out of pressing charges against his grandson. That never happened, Lynn Bruce maintained. “Courtney called me at 3 a.m. about that fight and I told Dad I was driving down to Florida to deal with this. He wanted to go with me,” Bruce recalled. “When we arrived, I talked to Courtney alone and Dad went to speak to Urban and Zack. Dad never even saw her on that trip. Then when I heard her use Dad’s name in that TV interview, claiming he told her not to press charges, I wanted to jump through my TV set. Not only would he would never, ever tell her something like that, he never talked to her at all. That is just another thing she has lied about.” Earle Bruce died April 20 in Columbus.
BY JEFF SNOOK Lynn Bruce, mother of fired Ohio State receivers coach Zach Smith and daughter of the late Earle Bruce, told me last night that her ex-daughter-in-law Courtney Carano Smith vowed as far back as 2013 that she would “take Zach down and take Urban Meyer down with him.” “She told me that not one time, but in fact she said it several times over the years,” Bruce said. She was driven by revenge when she found out her husband had cheated on her, Bruce said. “When she found out five years ago that Zach had cheated on her, she was so angry that she vowed to me she would get back at him someday. And she said she would take Urban down, too,” she said. “And this is exactly what she did. She wanted to do as much damage as possible. “She has been planning this for some time.” Bruce said that Courtney’s mother, Tina Carano, also heard her daughter state her plans against her husband for his infidelities. The mother and daughter have become estranged over the issue, Bruce claimed. She said Tina Carano also believes Zach Smith never struck her daughter. “Her own mother is backing Zach in this issue and I am sure that makes her mad,” she said. “They do not speak anymore.” Reached this afternoon, Tina Carano would only communicate via text messages and backed Lynn Bruce’s version. When asked if she believed her daughter’s claims of physical abuse, she replied, “I believe that Zach was removing himself from an argument and I do not believe he intentionally abused her. I do not believe he actually intentionally swung or punched her … no.” As far as ever hearing her daughter say she would “take Zach down,” she replied, “Yes.” And when Meyer’s name was mentioned, she added, “I cannot quote her exact words as I don’t remember them word for word, but something to that extent. This is my daughter and I love her but I do not approve of what she has done and how it was done.” Following that text, she did not respond to follow-up questions. Zach Smith, hired as receivers coach when Meyer accepted the Ohio State head coaching job in December, 2011, was fired July 23 when a criminal trespass charge against him came to light. The couple was divorced in 2015 and his ex-wife had called the Powell, Ohio, Police Department in May following a dispute concerning a meeting location for Smith to drop off the couple’s 8-year-old son. That led to his dismissal by Ohio State. However, Bruce still defended Meyer, who is currently on paid-administrative leave from the university, saying he would never allow a coach who hit his wife to remain on his coaching staff. “Urban did exactly what he was supposed to do,” she said. “He passed it on whenever something came up. Urban Meyer would never retain an assistant coach who beats his wife, no matter who that man’s grandfather is. I was heartbroken when he fired Zach.” Courtney called 911 so often, Bruce claimed, that the responding Powell police officers grew tired of dealing with her. She said that explains the reported nine police calls to Courtney’s home at 358 Bear Woods Drive in Powell, a Columbus suburb, between 2012 and 2018, none of which resulted in charges against Zach Smith. The Powell police department has not released those reports, other than to say there were no charges. “Each time the police would arrive and investigate, and each time there was nothing to back her claims of physical abuse,” she said. “It was her way at getting back at Zach. She would just call 911 over an argument, which she usually started. The Powell police got to know the situation. I don’t believe for a minute he ever struck her one time and neither does her own mother – and neither do the Powell police.” Bruce said she never would have defended Zach if she thought her son had struck his wife. “I was raised by my dad and when my kids were in school, I told them if anything happens that they are guilty until proven innocent,” she explained. “I would back the teachers or administrators. I talked to him about these issues and I would still love him, but if I thought he hit her, I would force him to get professional help. He was raised to respect women. I believe him and I witnessed so many incidents in which she was the aggressor … I know what happened and I also know he would never hit a woman.” At Big Ten media days on July 24 in Chicago, when he addressed Smith’s firing of a day earlier, Meyer was questioned about an incident Oct. 25, 2015, involving the couple. He answered, “I received a text about it last night. There was nothing. I don’t know who creates a story like that.” It is unclear if he was referring to whether the incident occurred or whether Smith was arrested at the time. He wasn't. When pressed why he then fired Smith a day earlier and just a week before summer camp opened, Meyer said he it was a personnel issue and didn’t want to elaborate, but did call the firing “a group effort.” Lynn Bruce predicted that when the Powell police department’s reports are made public, they will back up her son’s claim that there is no evidence that he ever hit his wife. Asked to explain Courtney’s pictures showing her arms and neck with red marks, which reporter Brett McMurphy placed on his Facebook page Aug. 1, Bruce said, “I witnessed what she did several times: She would get in his face and block his path while screaming at him. One time when I was there, he was trying to walk down the steps and she blocked him so he couldn’t leave the house. He couldn’t get by her and he had to leave, so he just picked her up by the arms and placed her to the side, so he could walk by and walk out the door. When he did that, I am sure that would leave red marks on her arms. It would if he picked me up and moved me, too. Then she would take a picture. “She was the aggressor. She was always very confrontational with him.” (Meyer was placed on leave by the university the day the pictures were made public on McMurphy’s Facebook page.) Despite the constant arguments, Bruce said her son did not want to leave his wife because of their two children, now 8 and 6 years old. “He just never wanted to leave his kids,” she said. “He tried to stay with her and work it out. He is a great father who wanted to be with his kids.” • Bruce said Courtney frequently called her to complain about Zach. “Another time she called me and I went over there and she was screaming at him while he was sitting on the couch. I told her to take the kids and go upstairs. I walked over to him and Zach was just sitting there with tears in his eyes. He said, ‘Mom, she’s really crazy.’” The Smiths, who met as undergraduates at the University of Kentucky, were married in Columbus in 2008; They separated June 6, 2015, and Courtney Smith filed for divorce Nov. 12, 2015. Among other revelations, Bruce claimed: • Courtney Smith soon grew weary of being the wife of a college football coach at a big-time program. “I once loved her like a daughter,” Lynn Bruce explained. “Before they got married, we sat her down and said this is what life is going to be like for you if he goes to the level of coaching he wants to go. He was driven to succeed in the business and he slept at the office. I know it was difficult for her, with him being away, but that’s a coach’s life and we told her all about it ahead of time.” • Courtney Smith, 33, is estranged from her mother, Tina Carano, because of her allegations that Zach Smith physically abused her. “Tina believes Zach and she is on his side through all this. She knows what her own daughter is like. She thinks she has serious problems and she knows she planned this whole thing.” Bruce also said Tina Carano recently called WTVN 610 radio’s sports talk show with the intent to discuss the matter anonymously. “She wanted Zach’s side to come out, but she didn’t want to give her identity,” she said. “So they never put her on the air.” • Earle Bruce, the Buckeyes’ head coach 1979-87, never spoke to Courtney Smith following his grandson’s arrest June 21, 2009 in Gainesville, Fla., and never tried to talk her out of pressing charges as she alleged in a televised interview last week. Courtney, then pregnant with the couple’s first child, claimed her husband grabbed her by the neck and pushed her against a wall. At the time, Zach was a graduate assistant coach under Meyer for the Florida Gators. The charge was later dropped and Courtney Smith said in a recent televised interview and also told McMurphy that Earle Bruce tried to talk her out of pressing charges against his grandson. That never happened, Lynn Bruce maintained. “Courtney called me at 3 a.m. about that fight and I told Dad I was driving down to Florida to deal with this. He wanted to go with me,” Bruce recalled. “When we arrived, I talked to Courtney alone and Dad went to speak to Urban and Zack. Dad never even saw her on that trip. Then when I heard her use Dad’s name in that TV interview, claiming he told her not to press charges, I wanted to jump through my TV set. Not only would he would never, ever tell her something like that, he never talked to her at all. That is just another thing she has lied about.” Earle Bruce died April 20 in Columbus.
Comments
lulz. media going to go all in after being lied to.
gene is toast.
I slightly disagree with the posters here who talked to his institutional obligations, I think if he's fired it's because of massive internal and external political pressure. That;s it. No more no less.
also
does someone want to tell them that espn didnt break the story?
if the 'me too' guy had a job he'd probably lose it.
what a bunch of fucking weirdos.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10211886876396166&id=1498798014
Lynn Bruce, mother of fired Ohio State receivers coach Zach Smith and daughter of the late Earle Bruce, told me last night that her ex-daughter-in-law Courtney Carano Smith vowed as far back as 2013 that she would “take Zach down and take Urban Meyer down with him.”
“She told me that not one time, but in fact she said it several times over the years,” Bruce said.
She was driven by revenge when she found out her husband had cheated on her, Bruce said.
“When she found out five years ago that Zach had cheated on her, she was so angry that she vowed to me she would get back at him someday. And she said she would take Urban down, too,” she said. “And this is exactly what she did. She wanted to do as much damage as possible.
“She has been planning this for some time.”
Bruce said that Courtney’s mother, Tina Carano, also heard her daughter state her plans against her husband for his infidelities. The mother and daughter have become estranged over the issue, Bruce claimed. She said Tina Carano also believes Zach Smith never struck her daughter.
“Her own mother is backing Zach in this issue and I am sure that makes her mad,” she said. “They do not speak anymore.”
Reached this afternoon, Tina Carano would only communicate via text messages and backed Lynn Bruce’s version.
When asked if she believed her daughter’s claims of physical abuse, she replied, “I believe that Zach was removing himself from an argument and I do not believe he intentionally abused her. I do not believe he actually intentionally swung or punched her … no.”
As far as ever hearing her daughter say she would “take Zach down,” she replied, “Yes.”
And when Meyer’s name was mentioned, she added, “I cannot quote her exact words as I don’t remember them word for word, but something to that extent. This is my daughter and I love her but I do not approve of what she has done and how it was done.”
Following that text, she did not respond to follow-up questions.
Zach Smith, hired as receivers coach when Meyer accepted the Ohio State head coaching job in December, 2011, was fired July 23 when a criminal trespass charge against him came to light. The couple was divorced in 2015 and his ex-wife had called the Powell, Ohio, Police Department in May following a dispute concerning a meeting location for Smith to drop off the couple’s 8-year-old son. That led to his dismissal by Ohio State.
However, Bruce still defended Meyer, who is currently on paid-administrative leave from the university, saying he would never allow a coach who hit his wife to remain on his coaching staff.
“Urban did exactly what he was supposed to do,” she said. “He passed it on whenever something came up. Urban Meyer would never retain an assistant coach who beats his wife, no matter who that man’s grandfather is. I was heartbroken when he fired Zach.”
Courtney called 911 so often, Bruce claimed, that the responding Powell police officers grew tired of dealing with her. She said that explains the reported nine police calls to Courtney’s home at 358 Bear Woods Drive in Powell, a Columbus suburb, between 2012 and 2018, none of which resulted in charges against Zach Smith.
The Powell police department has not released those reports, other than to say there were no charges.
“Each time the police would arrive and investigate, and each time there was nothing to back her claims of physical abuse,” she said. “It was her way at getting back at Zach. She would just call 911 over an argument, which she usually started. The Powell police got to know the situation. I don’t believe for a minute he ever struck her one time and neither does her own mother – and neither do the Powell police.”
Bruce said she never would have defended Zach if she thought her son had struck his wife.
“I was raised by my dad and when my kids were in school, I told them if anything happens that they are guilty until proven innocent,” she explained. “I would back the teachers or administrators. I talked to him about these issues and I would still love him, but if I thought he hit her, I would force him to get professional help. He was raised to respect women. I believe him and I witnessed so many incidents in which she was the aggressor … I know what happened and I also know he would never hit a woman.”
At Big Ten media days on July 24 in Chicago, when he addressed Smith’s firing of a day earlier, Meyer was questioned about an incident Oct. 25, 2015, involving the couple.
He answered, “I received a text about it last night. There was nothing. I don’t know who creates a story like that.” It is unclear if he was referring to whether the incident occurred or whether Smith was arrested at the time. He wasn't.
When pressed why he then fired Smith a day earlier and just a week before summer camp opened, Meyer said he it was a personnel issue and didn’t want to elaborate, but did call the firing “a group effort.”
Lynn Bruce predicted that when the Powell police department’s reports are made public, they will back up her son’s claim that there is no evidence that he ever hit his wife.
Asked to explain Courtney’s pictures showing her arms and neck with red marks, which reporter Brett McMurphy placed on his Facebook page Aug. 1, Bruce said, “I witnessed what she did several times: She would get in his face and block his path while screaming at him. One time when I was there, he was trying to walk down the steps and she blocked him so he couldn’t leave the house. He couldn’t get by her and he had to leave, so he just picked her up by the arms and placed her to the side, so he could walk by and walk out the door. When he did that, I am sure that would leave red marks on her arms. It would if he picked me up and moved me, too. Then she would take a picture.
“She was the aggressor. She was always very confrontational with him.”
(Meyer was placed on leave by the university the day the pictures were made public on McMurphy’s Facebook page.)
Despite the constant arguments, Bruce said her son did not want to leave his wife because of their two children, now 8 and 6 years old.
“He just never wanted to leave his kids,” she said. “He tried to stay with her and work it out. He is a great father who wanted to be with his kids.”
• Bruce said Courtney frequently called her to complain about Zach. “Another time she called me and I went over there and she was screaming at him while he was sitting on the couch. I told her to take the kids and go upstairs. I walked over to him and Zach was just sitting there with tears in his eyes. He said, ‘Mom, she’s really crazy.’”
The Smiths, who met as undergraduates at the University of Kentucky, were married in Columbus in 2008; They separated June 6, 2015, and Courtney Smith filed for divorce Nov. 12, 2015.
Among other revelations, Bruce claimed:
• Courtney Smith soon grew weary of being the wife of a college football coach at a big-time program. “I once loved her like a daughter,” Lynn Bruce explained. “Before they got married, we sat her down and said this is what life is going to be like for you if he goes to the level of coaching he wants to go. He was driven to succeed in the business and he slept at the office. I know it was difficult for her, with him being away, but that’s a coach’s life and we told her all about it ahead of time.”
• Courtney Smith, 33, is estranged from her mother, Tina Carano, because of her allegations that Zach Smith physically abused her. “Tina believes Zach and she is on his side through all this. She knows what her own daughter is like. She thinks she has serious problems and she knows she planned this whole thing.”
Bruce also said Tina Carano recently called WTVN 610 radio’s sports talk show with the intent to discuss the matter anonymously. “She wanted Zach’s side to come out, but she didn’t want to give her identity,” she said. “So they never put her on the air.”
• Earle Bruce, the Buckeyes’ head coach 1979-87, never spoke to Courtney Smith following his grandson’s arrest June 21, 2009 in Gainesville, Fla., and never tried to talk her out of pressing charges as she alleged in a televised interview last week. Courtney, then pregnant with the couple’s first child, claimed her husband grabbed her by the neck and pushed her against a wall. At the time, Zach was a graduate assistant coach under Meyer for the Florida Gators. The charge was later dropped and Courtney Smith said in a recent televised interview and also told McMurphy that Earle Bruce tried to talk her out of pressing charges against his grandson. That never happened, Lynn Bruce maintained. “Courtney called me at 3 a.m. about that fight and I told Dad I was driving down to Florida to deal with this. He wanted to go with me,” Bruce recalled. “When we arrived, I talked to Courtney alone and Dad went to speak to Urban and Zack. Dad never even saw her on that trip. Then when I heard her use Dad’s name in that TV interview, claiming he told her not to press charges, I wanted to jump through my TV set. Not only would he would never, ever tell her something like that, he never talked to her at all. That is just another thing she has lied about.” Earle Bruce died April 20 in Columbus.
While McMurphy independently published the bombshell allegations against Smith on Facebook, Snook also used Facebook to report these explosive claims in defense of Smith. McMurphy was well-established as one of ESPN’s top college football reporters before he was laid off earlier this year.
Snook has published four books covering Ohio State football, including “What It Means to Be a Buckeye.” The foreword of that book was written by Urban Meyer, who opened by praising Earle Bruce, who died in April and is the grandfather of Zach Smith and father of Lynn Bruce.
Urbs will be back on the job next week sometime.