As most of Wednesday has been spent speculating on what Urban Meyer did or did not know about his former wide receivers coach Zach Smith, separate reports have further illustrated the abuse Smith’s ex-wife, Courtney Smith, says she endured over the course of their marriage.
According to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, police were involved nine times between Jan. 1, 2012, and July 26, 2018. Those nine calls include the damning 2015 call in which Courtney Smith says she made Shelley Meyer and the rest of the Ohio State’s coaches’ wives aware.
Further calls range from threatening to just plain sad. On Oct. 21, 2015, Courtney Smith called Powell, Ohio, police to say she was being followed by a black SUV and to say she was having issues with her “soon to be ex-husband.” On Jan. 5, 2016, Smith was pulled over for speeding and proceeded to break down in tears, visibly upset over the issues she was having with her husband.
On Dec. 17, 2017, Courtney Smith called police because neighbors reported seeing Zach peering into her car windows and banging on the front door of her home at 1:30 a.m. Zach Smith was issued a trespassing warning after that incident.
Smith’s alleged efforts to intimidate his ex-wife were much more personal than that, however.
The Columbus Dispatch obtained court documents on Wednesday from an affidavit Courtney Smith filed on Dec. 18, 2015, where she said, “Zach has made threats toward me and has become physically violent.” She would go on to say, per the Dispatch:“The stalking and harassment never stopped. He never followed the shared parenting plan and would tell me he didn’t have to because he knew I couldn’t afford to pay for an attorney.
“He would corner me in my laundry while groping me and pulling his pants down and begging for sex.”
Courtney Smith also said she discovered hidden cameras inside her home, which she said Zach used to spy on her, her children and her boyfriend.
“All the (coaches) wives knew,” Courtney Smith told Brett McMurphy in his bombshell report Wednesday. “They all did. Every single one.”
Smith was fired as Ohio State’s wide receivers coach on July 23.