They better have a good plan in play when they do announce what's actually going down. This could get real messy quickly once the cats out of the bag, because it probably won't be just what passes for local media that will be interested in this story. This could be ESPN and NYT "breaking news." I hope that I'm totally wrong, and that this story ends with whimper and not a bang. (Apologies to T.S. Elliot for bastardizing his quote.)

Been my gripe all along.

The vagueness has allowed all these things people keep saying isn't happening, to happen.

Nothing has happened in the last week, we've learned nothing, no bombshell reports, no charges, no allegations made by outside parties, no reason as far as the eye can see for a forced release. They're not covering their ass or protecting anyones privacy, on the contrary, they've opened him up to embarrassment and scrutiny while everyone now knows some sort of perceived wrongdoing and investigation into such is ongoing.

The only thing we now all know is he's going through a nasty divorce, he's trying to liquidate or protect some assets, he's trying to purchase a home, this involves his child. All things I'm certain he didn't want brought up on online forums and sports websites.

As far as Brian is concerned, he's probably feeling like his new AD, and the University aren't on his side and DID NOT protect his privacy. Which is going to leave a really bad taste in his mouth if he's brought back.



IF he is fired, and some of the rumors are true, OU didn't protect itself from scrutiny for the vague response, you're just open to more. No one is going to be like, WOW OU really nailed this. They're gonna say you put out a vague report attempting to cover your ass, and didn't, while you knew he did xyz. Making it public that you're investigating him for (secrets), isn't going to change the language around being fired for cause. It's just fodder for this board to say, I trust the lawyers. This is pr 101.

How many cats do you have left in that bag?

But there’s a massive middle ground between “tell us everything” and “say almost nothing,” and that’s where OU fell short. The vague initial statement “on leave for an undetermined period of time” with no framing whatsoever left the public to fill in the blanks. Some people assumed a health issue, others assumed possible NCAA violations, and within hours the rumor mill was digging for divorce documents, reporting on homes being put on the market and inventing narratives the school never intended.

The article may overreach in spots, but she’s right about the core point: crisis-comms practice stresses owning the first version of the story even when you can’t disclose specifics.

Other schools have handled this much better without violating anyone’s rights.

Washington’s softball program put Heather Tarr on leave last year and immediately said it was a personnel matter, not a safety issue and not NCAA-related. That single sentence kept speculation contained.

Baylor did the same with an assistant football coach: they said it was a non-criminal personnel issue and confirmed there were no student-athlete safety concerns. They didn’t reveal anything sensitive, but they set guardrails so the public understood the basic category of issue.

Both coaches ultimately returned after their reviews concluded.

That’s the middle ground OU didn’t use. You obviously can’t share allegations, but you can responsibly tell people what kind of situation this is or isn’t. If the intent was to protect Smith’s privacy, the ambiguity is doing him a disservice.

Maybe the athletic department can sell cat bags to raise NIL money. I'd buy one that says 2024 MAC Champions.

Brian Smith is free to provide information on this leave of absence at any time.

Athens is a media vacuum. There's very little media coverage of Ohio University sports. The university undoubtedly takes advantage of that.

But they seem to be missing that this is a much, much bigger crisis for Smith. And his camp isn't making any effort to control the narrative or even respond at all.

This is well said and I agree.

People keep tossing out the phrase "crisis comms" and talking about the crisis comms playbook.

But they seem to be missing that this is a much, much bigger crisis for Smith. And his camp isn't making any effort to control the narrative or even respond at all.

The University is giving him the option to go quietly. Despite what his lawyer claimed last week, there's a 0% chance Smith is actually in the dark here. If that were the case, his lawyers would be raising hell about this, releasing statements left and right about the lack of insight, and threatening lawsuits. The guy's professional reputation and future earning potential is very much at risk here.

Given the lack of action on his part, it seems like he's gonna take them up on the leave quietly option. The silence on Smith's part is much more relevant here than the silence on OU's part.

Yeah, I think we need to keep this is mind. His lawyer claims that he doesn't know why he was put on leave but, in all likelihood, he probably has at least an idea.

Heres hoping rumors are just that, and they're forcing him to take some time to solve what is turning out to be quite a messy, public divorce.


Unfortunately, the big picture (if you believe the rumors) all makes sense, but if it's all speculation and rumors... then good lord... this dude has the shittiest luck of all time. When it rains, its a torrential downpour.

Yeah, I think we need to keep this is mind. His lawyer claims that he doesn't know why he was put on leave but, in all likelihood, he probably has at least an idea.

The University would not have done this if they were not close 100% certain that they were going to fire him and, n all probability, 90%+ plus sure that they could fire him with cause.

There was situation a few years ago where Miami's women's basketball coach was fired because she allegedly had an affair with a player. Miami dismissed her with cause and she wound up not contesting it. The school was not going to release the reason but, I recall, someone leaked it because they probably didn't want any future schools to not know why. We don't know what happened but it is doubtful that he University will ever officially let us know what happened unless it is forced upon them in a lawsuit or something.

While there are people who have their belief in rumors, I think we should all also keep in mind that it might be something that isn't that bad in most contexts but still absolutely imperative that the school acts. An example might be that They have near irrefutable evidence that he placed a $15000 bet on Ohio beating Miami this year. But he is, again, free to release what he knows about the accusations at any time.