Jay Paterno: Ohio St. Shouldn't Give in to 'Mob Mentality' with Urban Meyer

Jay Paterno, the son of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, wrote an open letter on his website imploring Ohio State to not give into "mob mentality" and rush to judge head coach Urban Meyer.

"We should wait for facts," Paterno wrote. "We should drive a stake in the ground to defend due process. We should shed our implicit bias against people we dislike being accused. We should have courage to stand against the virtual mob gathering for a virtual lynching before we know the facts.

"And for those who need a refresher course: Published allegations do NOT automatically equal facts."

"Anyone interested in justice and what is right should implore the Board at Ohio State to stand up to the mob mentality, to say that 'when we have the facts of the case and only when we have the facts of the case will we react and make informed decisions,'" he continued. 

Meyer is currently on paid administrative leave after reports he may have known about past domestic violence allegations against former Buckeyes wide receivers coach Zach Smith.

Courtney Smith, Zach's ex-wife, told Brett McMurphy she informed Meyer's wife, Shelley, of the physical abuse. Shelley Meyer said she would inform Urban about the matter.

"All the (coaches) wives knew," Courtney Smith told McMurphy. "They all did. Every single one."

The Paterno family has consistently said Joe Paterno was unfairly persecuted in the court of public opinion—both by Penn State and the public at large—for his handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex about scandal at Penn State.

An investigation showed assistant coach Mike McQueary told Paterno he saw what he later described as "an extreme sexual act" between Sandusky and a young boy in a shower on Penn State's campus. Paterno reported the matter to his superiors at Penn State but never followed up or filed a police report. Former Penn State president Graham Spanier and former athletic director Tim Curley were each sentenced to prison terms for child endangerment after not reporting McQueary's allegations to the police.

Paterno died in January 2012, less than three months after being fired after the scandal broke, and there has long been widespread speculation about how much he knew of Sandusky's crimes. 

"No matter what is proven about these allegations against the former wide receiver coach at Ohio State, this much is beyond doubt: Urban Meyer did not commit a crime, he did not witness, nor did he cover up any crimes. He hasn't even been accused of one but yet there will be voices unjustly calling for his job," Jay Paterno wrote. 

"Some will say that we should demand more of coaches who are supposed to be role models. But while that is true, that standard should never equate a loss of one's rights to due process, the loss of one's job or reputation because of the acts of another," he continued.

Meyer denied he was aware of the 2015 allegation when speaking at Big Ten Media Days in July. The coach kept Smith on his staff at Florida following a 2009 arrest for domestic battery.