Not surprisingly Tom Herman has denied having any contact with McMurphy. He does say that his wife and he loaned Courtney some money once.
This from a Ohio State guy... BY JEFF SNOOK Texas Coach Tom Herman, a former Ohio State assistant coach, tipped sports reporter Brett McMurphy to details of the Zach Smith-Courtney Carano Smith relationship that led to Smith’s firing, Urban Meyer’s paid-administrative leave and the investigation that has currently engulfed the Buckeyes’ program, several sources told me. Furthermore, Tom and wife Michelle Herman encouraged Courtney Smith to go public with her claims that her ex-husband had physically abused her, sources say. “They wanted Zach Smith fired,†one source said. “They had some dirt on him and wanted him off of Ohio State’s staff.†The Hermans have even helped pay for Courtney Smith’s legal fees, two of my sources told me. Tom Herman’s motive? Herman was furious after five-star receiver Garrett Wilson committed to Ohio State in April over Texas, sources say. Wilson played at Austin (Texas) Lake Travis High, just miles from the Longhorns’ campus. Zach Smith was the Buckeyes’ primary recruiter in getting Wilson’s commitment. Given that Texas is one of the most pressure-packed and highest-profile jobs in the country, and following a 7-6 season in his first year as Texas coach, Herman needs to secure a recruiting base close to home to turn the Longhorns around. And there were no bigger stars in his own city than Wilson. Herman was hired by Meyer as the offensive coordinator when he accepted the job in December, 2011, along with Smith, Earle Bruce’s grandson, as receivers coach. The two assistants then became very close, but had a falling out after Herman left the Buckeyes following the 2014 national championship season to take the head coaching job at Houston. “They had a bad falling out and now, they just do not like each other at all,†one source said. Ironically, they developed into recruiting competitors, specifically for some of the best football talent in the state of Texas. And when Smith won the last head-to-head battle over Wilson’s future, Herman reacted. More importantly, Michelle Herman and Courtney Smith remained close as their husbands coached at schools more than 1,200 miles apart. “Best friends, still,†one source said. “They talk almost every day, even though the Hermans have been gone from Columbus for four years.†Which led Courtney Smith to trust McMurphy, who spoke often with Herman in July, according to his twitter account. As a sports reporter with extensive experience covering college football, McMurphy has developed a close relationship with the second-year Texas coach, sources say. Tipped by Herman to the 2009 incident in which Zach Smith was arrested in Gainesville, McMurphy then obtained court records and discovered Smith’s arrest. He then spent three days in Columbus and Powell, Ohio, where the Smiths live. There, he interviewed Courtney Smith and obtained text messages and cell phone pictures from her as she told of being physically abused by her then husband. The Smiths were married in 2008 when Zach Smith was a graduate assistant under Meyer at the University of Florida. Herman denied knowing any details about the Ohio State investigation, or the details that led up to it, as recently as August 2 when asked at a press conference in Austin. Meyer and his wife Shelley Meyer recently became aware that Herman was the tipster who connected McMurphy to Courtney Smith. Told by the university not to comment on anything to do with the investigation, Urban Meyer has remained silent since issuing a statement August 3. However, Shelley Meyer responded to a text message asking for comment. “I really do appreciate you doing your job with integrity and checking on all the points, unlike some others,†Shelley said, via text Saturday afternoon. “I just can’t comment and I am very sorry. Thank u.†So far, attempts to reach the Hermans have been unsuccessful. Tom Herman is currently in the middle of coaching the Longhorns during summer camp.
Final word on this from McMurphy himself..... Tom Herman is not the source. https://mobile.twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1028354854656327681
As you can imagine Texas fans are up in arms over the accusations being tossed at Tom Herman. Ohio State fans have replaced A&M fans for now as objects of derision. I guess we'll know the fate of Urban Meyer and all of this some time pretty soon. I doubt though if we'll ever know for sure if Tom Herman or Tom Herman's wife were sources as it's unlikely that McMurphy will ever let it out who was/is his source. I hope Herman wasn't the source and it wasn't over the verbal of the kid from Lake Travis to Ohio State, I would think that he would have pretty good relationship with Meyer having worked for him and truly sort of owes Urban for having his current job. Plus it's not like it's a shock that a kid from Texas leaves the state, and this young man had a lot of family ties back to Columbus.
Terry, I am inclined to agree with your post. One thing for certain though is someone reached out to Murphy as this was not investigative type reporting. Hopefully, the committee investigating this will finish up by the end of this coming week. Then it will be up to President Drake to make a decision and an announcement reference Coach Meyer.
I'd think that Texas fans would be more concerned with blocking and tackling at this point in time of the year.
If the man was abusing his wife, it wouldn't be a bad thing to be the source. Now if he wasn't abusing his wife....?
I'm pretty sure this dude is a domestic abuser and has been for a while. I don't really concern myself with who told who or when. I just want to know why someone didn't kick his ass if they knew?
Well I guess Nike schools are all sort of under the microscope for selling those Air Jordan's online. Mich, CAL and a couple of other schools are being looked at for this violation. Harbaugh said he doesn't think the UM shoes are being sold by current players and that players aren't the only ones with access to the special shoe.
In retrospect there were a lot of things that happened at Florida that were worse than they seemed to me at the time. AR being perhaps the worst. I am hearing that the betting now is that Urban keeps his job. I don't know the ramifications for Ohio State going forward if that is true, or for that matter if it's not true. This is the kind of publicity that none of us need.
Doesn't sound like the investigation is going to be done in 2 weeks. Ohio State President, Michael Drake, said it will be finished when it's finished and that Sunday was not a hard deadline. Also the Maryland situation doesn't seem to becoming to a resolution either. The President admitted Maryland was in the wrong and apologized to the McNair family for how things were handled. But no resolution of DJ Durkin's future seems to be coming soon. If it was truly a "culture" problem then they probably need to fire the whole staff, but how do you do that? That hangs the football team out to dry as they basically wouldn't have any coaches and you can't just bring in a new staff at this point.
Maybe the investigation in Columbus will be concluded on the Monday following the Big Ten Title game.... .... just sayin... :wink:
No need to rush through a decision on this one in my opinion. The football team is in good hands with a number of coaches with vast experience. Make sure the final decision is a correct one and move on.
That of course would mean that Urban would not have coached a single game this season as he's on Adm. Leave.
I think the latest articles about Smith's sex toys, sex in the office and sending texts of pictures of his body parts will make it very hard for Ohio State to keep Urban. They might be better off putting it all behind them.
Me three. I have been one of Meyer's biggest defenders over the years but these latest revelations may be the stake in the heart. Plausible deniability is evaporating.