OSU approved suspended Meyer meeting with players

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer’s current suspension and previous paid leave have restricted him from talking football with his staff and athletes during August with one exception — a team meeting the day after the suspension was announced.

Meyer and athletic director Gene Smith were allowed to meet with the players and coaches for about 45 minutes last Thursday, according to emails sent to Meyer by the senior vice president for human resources, Susan Basso.

The emails outlining the details of Meyer’s suspension were obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday through an open records request and first reported by Ohio State’s campus newspaper, The Lantern.

Meyer can’t attend practices, meetings or official events, and can’t conduct any business related to being head coach. He also will lose six weeks of salary — approximately $500,000 — in a year he is slated to earn $7.6 million under a deal that runs through 2022.

Meyer and Smith were suspended over their handling of a now-fired assistant coach who was accused of domestic violence. Meyer resumes some coaching duties Monday but can’t coach during the first three games. He will be allowed to run practices after the team’s first game.

Meyer and athletic director Gene Smith met with the team on Thursday. Meyer received written details of the suspension on Sunday, four days after the discipline was announced publicly. Monday Aa 5:53 p.m., Meyer was sent an email from Basso confirming that the Thursday meeting — “in order to apologize to the team” — had been authorized. A university spokesman said Ohio State President Michael V. Drake had authorized the meeting with the “understanding and support” of members of the board of trustees.

Meyer’s sideline substitute for the first three games will be 39-year-old co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ryan Day, a second-year Ohio State assistant who has never before been a head coach.