Lincoln Riley on Ohio State Scandal: Oklahoma Won't Employ Domestic Abusers

Oklahoma Sooners football coach Lincoln Riley said Friday he would not employ any coaches on his staff who committed domestic assault in the wake of the Ohio State scandal.

"There's obviously no room for any of that on our staff by you or one of your family members," he said, per Barry Tramel of the Oklahoman. "If that happens here, they won't work here. They know that. We have good people. It definitely is a good chance to remind them because it's obviously a thing, something like that, it doesn't just affect you, but so many people."

Riley also noted that the school is taking the issue of domestic violence very seriously:

"It's something that our school, our university, with our Title IX department, our administration, they do a good job of educating us on that. It's something that we have talked about beforehand. It wasn't anything new.

"But it was a good chance just to remind guys that whether it's you, whether it's one of your family members, anybody involved in anything, we have to report it. We're mandatory reporters. There's no secrets in this world anymore. We have to be honest with each other. We have to communicate."

Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer is currently on paid administrative leave and being investigated by the university. The school is investigating how Meyer handled the domestic violence accusations made by former assistant coach Zach Smith's wife, Courtney Smith, in 2015. 

Meyer, who initially said he didn't know of any accusations of domestic violence, later recanted and said he had been made aware of the situation. Ohio State is in the process of determining what Meyer knew and if he acted in a proper manner with that information. 

Courtney Smith told college football writer Brett McMurphy that she informed Meyer's wife, Shelley Meyer, and other wives of coaches on Ohio State's staff about incidents of abuse in 2009 and 2015, showing McMurphy texts of their exchanges.