Credibility Is Your Most Important Quality
September 19, 2018 at 5:23 p.m.
By Roger Grossman-
He was a tractor mechanic and worked at Athens Oliver Sales virtually every day of his adult life. His knowledge of the machines he worked on was what brought people to him, and the way he treated those people when he worked on their machines kept them coming back.
He often would stop at someone’s farm on the way home to look at a tractor, and a lot of times that examination would last beyond supper time. So, when the offer to take a seat at their dinner table was made, he took it – and that meal was a fair trade out for his time. He rarely charged those people for anything but parts.
He was humble, hard-working and honest.
Dad’s point to me was that being someone who could be trusted is really important to being a good Christian, husband, father and employee.
I thought about my dad when Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer took to the microphone Monday morning to address the media for the first time since his suspension by the university for his ‘mishandling’ of the alleged domestic violence case lodged by the ex-wife of one of his former assistant coaches against her now ex-husband.
Zach Smith, in 2015, was accused by Courtney Smith of physically harming her. Mrs. Smith texted her then-husband’s boss’ wife with pictures of herself after the incident.
That’s when things got sideways.
Meyer says he didn’t know any of that. He says he never saw those pictures. He says he just thought the two of them were having marital trouble and admitted that he kept Smith on staff in an effort to promote what he called emotional and financial stability for that family.
But what he says doesn’t add up, and honestly, anything short of a resignation was not going to move the needle too much for me.
Meyer used up all of his credibility with me when he stepped down as head coach of the Florida Gators in December of 2009. He said he wanted to spend more time with his family and admitted that the stress and strain of coaching in the SEC was causing his health to faulter.
Less than 24-hours later, he announced that he had changed his mind and was staying on to coach at Florida.
It was awkward, but we blew it off as a guy making an emotional decision and then realizing it was a bad decision and reversing it.
The next December, he resigned again. He said he had to get out of coaching to spend more time with his family. There was a well-publicized ‘heart incident’ in the middle of the night in which he said he thought it was going to be his last on earth.
That was December 8, 2009.
In November of 2010, Meyer was introduced as the coach at Ohio State.
Again, time with family and improved health could have made a return to coaching possible, but I remember thinking at the time that when he talked about his time at Florida, and the way he left there, he got a glazed look in his eyes when responding to those questions. It was almost like he was in denial that it all happened, and certainly didn’t happen the way it was brought up in the media availability.
All of that led to a credibility issue, and that has taken a huge bite out of him in this Zach Smith situation that came up at the start of fall practice.
Meyer is telling us that his wife never showed him the pictures of Courtney Smith, nor did she tell him that she was scared for Courtney Smith’s safety. As a matter of fact, investigators say there is evidence that Coach Meyer knew of domestic violence issues in the Smith home in 2009 when they were both in Florida.
Meyer spent most of a day in a room with university officials begging to not only not be fired but claiming that he shouldn’t be punished at all for looking the other way in his effort to protect the sanctity of his beloved Buckeye program.
Until Monday, he had not so much as apologized to Smith for not doing anything to help her. Heck, until Monday, he denied even knowing anything was wrong … except for knowing about their marital troubles. But then Monday, he said he wished he’d done more. What?
And when he had made his position abundantly clear, he unraveled the remainder of his credibility. He admitted to the gathering of national college football media assembled in Columbus for his return to the sidelines that his memory isn’t the best and blamed his medication for a lot of that.
Funny, he doesn’t remember what he knew and when he knew it about having an alleged wife-beater on his coaching staff, but he seems to have no trouble remembering the intricate details of coaching football.
His credibility threw an incomplete pass on third down Monday.
Meyer will go for it on fourth down out of the arrogance that no one could possibly stop him from making it.
He should punt instead, or Ohio State should punt him.
He was a tractor mechanic and worked at Athens Oliver Sales virtually every day of his adult life. His knowledge of the machines he worked on was what brought people to him, and the way he treated those people when he worked on their machines kept them coming back.
He often would stop at someone’s farm on the way home to look at a tractor, and a lot of times that examination would last beyond supper time. So, when the offer to take a seat at their dinner table was made, he took it – and that meal was a fair trade out for his time. He rarely charged those people for anything but parts.
He was humble, hard-working and honest.
Dad’s point to me was that being someone who could be trusted is really important to being a good Christian, husband, father and employee.
I thought about my dad when Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer took to the microphone Monday morning to address the media for the first time since his suspension by the university for his ‘mishandling’ of the alleged domestic violence case lodged by the ex-wife of one of his former assistant coaches against her now ex-husband.
Zach Smith, in 2015, was accused by Courtney Smith of physically harming her. Mrs. Smith texted her then-husband’s boss’ wife with pictures of herself after the incident.
That’s when things got sideways.
Meyer says he didn’t know any of that. He says he never saw those pictures. He says he just thought the two of them were having marital trouble and admitted that he kept Smith on staff in an effort to promote what he called emotional and financial stability for that family.
But what he says doesn’t add up, and honestly, anything short of a resignation was not going to move the needle too much for me.
Meyer used up all of his credibility with me when he stepped down as head coach of the Florida Gators in December of 2009. He said he wanted to spend more time with his family and admitted that the stress and strain of coaching in the SEC was causing his health to faulter.
Less than 24-hours later, he announced that he had changed his mind and was staying on to coach at Florida.
It was awkward, but we blew it off as a guy making an emotional decision and then realizing it was a bad decision and reversing it.
The next December, he resigned again. He said he had to get out of coaching to spend more time with his family. There was a well-publicized ‘heart incident’ in the middle of the night in which he said he thought it was going to be his last on earth.
That was December 8, 2009.
In November of 2010, Meyer was introduced as the coach at Ohio State.
Again, time with family and improved health could have made a return to coaching possible, but I remember thinking at the time that when he talked about his time at Florida, and the way he left there, he got a glazed look in his eyes when responding to those questions. It was almost like he was in denial that it all happened, and certainly didn’t happen the way it was brought up in the media availability.
All of that led to a credibility issue, and that has taken a huge bite out of him in this Zach Smith situation that came up at the start of fall practice.
Meyer is telling us that his wife never showed him the pictures of Courtney Smith, nor did she tell him that she was scared for Courtney Smith’s safety. As a matter of fact, investigators say there is evidence that Coach Meyer knew of domestic violence issues in the Smith home in 2009 when they were both in Florida.
Meyer spent most of a day in a room with university officials begging to not only not be fired but claiming that he shouldn’t be punished at all for looking the other way in his effort to protect the sanctity of his beloved Buckeye program.
Until Monday, he had not so much as apologized to Smith for not doing anything to help her. Heck, until Monday, he denied even knowing anything was wrong … except for knowing about their marital troubles. But then Monday, he said he wished he’d done more. What?
And when he had made his position abundantly clear, he unraveled the remainder of his credibility. He admitted to the gathering of national college football media assembled in Columbus for his return to the sidelines that his memory isn’t the best and blamed his medication for a lot of that.
Funny, he doesn’t remember what he knew and when he knew it about having an alleged wife-beater on his coaching staff, but he seems to have no trouble remembering the intricate details of coaching football.
His credibility threw an incomplete pass on third down Monday.
Meyer will go for it on fourth down out of the arrogance that no one could possibly stop him from making it.
He should punt instead, or Ohio State should punt him.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092