OSU Trustee Jeffrey Wadsworth Resigns; Wanted Harsher Urban Meyer Punishment

An Ohio State trustee has resigned his position because the university imposed what he felt was a minimal punishment against head football coach Urban Meyer. 

"I didn't feel that I'd seen high-integrity behavior," Jeffrey Wadsworth said Thursday after stepping down from the board, according to Marc Tracy of the New York Times.

Meyer was suspended three games for his handling of domestic abuse allegations against former receivers coach Zach Smith. 

Smith was accused of domestic violence against his wife in 2015 but remained on staff. Meyer had initially denied knowing about the incident but later admitted he knew about it while claiming he had taken proper action. 

The school's Board of Trustees discussed possible disciplinary action for 11 hours last Wednesday following a two-week investigation into the situation.

Wadsworth considered himself the lone dissenter among the 20 board members who felt there should be a small punishment for the head coach.

"Most people were concerned about whether it was a several-game suspension or not," he said. "To me, there was something altogether wrong about reducing it to a couple of games."

He specifically noted the references to a lack of memory about the incident from Meyer, saying it "raised an issue of standards, values." He later said he was "embarrassed" after reading articles about the situation.

Wadsworth, a former board chairman who was initially appointed by the governor of Ohio, emailed his resignation about an hour after last week's press conference announcing the suspension.