Ohio State Trustee Resigned Because He Thought Urban Meyer's Suspension Was Not Strong Enough
An Ohio State trustee resigned last week after the university handed head coach Urban Meyer a three-game suspension. The trustee said the punishment was not strong enough, according to The New York Times.
The trustee, Jeffrey Wadsworth, said he was pushing for a harsher punishment during the board's discussion. He declined to tell the Times exactly what punishment he sought and wanted to respect the confidentiality of the meeting.
"Most people were concerned about whether it was a several-game suspension or not," Wadsworth said.
"To me," he added, "there was something altogether wrong about reducing it to a couple of games."
Wadsworth emailed a resignation letter to Ohio State president Michael V. Drake and board chairman Michael J. Gasser about an hour after the university announced Meyer's suspension at a press conference last Wednesday, reports the Times.
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Wadsworth told the Times that he left the board's 12-hour meeting during a lunch break and did not hear the outcome until the announcement.
"I felt that getting into a limited number of games that was a suspension missed the point of a bigger cultural concern about 'What message were we sending?' " Wadsworth said.
Ohio State launched into an investigation into what Meyer knew about the domestic abuse allegations against former assistant coach Zach Smith, after placing Meyer on paid leave on Aug. 1.
After Ohio State released the findings of the investigation, the report revealed that Meyer "had significant memory issues" and may have deleted old texts.
"You read the report,” Wadsworth said, “and there’s seven or eight things about emails, memory loss, hearing things five times, and to me, that raised an issue of standards, values — not how many games someone should be suspended for.”
The university released a statement to the Times on Wadsworth’s resignation, saying he had "been an exceptionally valuable member of the board."
"The president and the board of trustees had a frank and comprehensive discussion last week. A wide variety of perspectives were expressed in reaching a consensus. Mr. Wadsworth has been an exceptionally valuable member of the board. His service to the university is deeply appreciated, and we wish him the very best."
