As I have said in a few comments, I was not a supporter of Urban’s hiring at the time. I was not concerned as much with his winning as I was the bad reputation coming out of Florida. It was less trying to embrace the spread offense than it was Aaron Hernandez and the like. Urban felt more like a mercenary than a guy I wanted helping to form young men. In the years since he has more than won me over in the way he goes about his business. I do accept without doubt his devotion to the core values after seeing him support those in his actions. You simply do not bench Carlos Hyde for three games unless you believe in what you preach.
I remember reading a story back around 2012 where Urban recalled his time listening to the Buckeyes on the radio with his Dad. I share that experience with him. Those days are where my lifelong membership in The Buckeye Nation were formed and I can’t help but believe Coach Meyer’s loyalty was forged in very much the same way. He is one of our own and we need to remember that.
Urban is infinitely human and while we know the world of social media and clickbait news will not allow for that, we absolutely need to. His mistakes were self admittedly out of loyalty to his friend and mentor, Earle. Loyalty is a virtue that is sadly becoming too rare in our world and I can easily forgive mistakes made striving to hold true to one’s word.
I think the greatest mistake Urban and Shelley made was being too close to the Zach and Courtney Smith situation. They tried to do what was best for that damaged family and it has cost them dearly. I will not offer my unqualified opinion on the Smith family problems. But I think anyone who looks can see that it is more than complex and probably outside the scope of what a well-intentioned boss can possibly save. Nepotism is always dangerous in any business. But I doubt that is how Urban thinks. I would venture a guess that he felt he could control the situation and make things better for them. It’s clear now he couldn’t. A completely human mistake.
Many in the various medias are working overtime to make Urban a monster. It’s unfair, but not unexpected. I read far too many comments here that try to reduce this to settlements/money. This man, who I believe to be a good man, has had his character attacked daily in every facet of the news. This is what I truly believe is most painful to him. And I also imagine that he can let the unqualified attacks roll off his back, he is a grow man. But I think our opinions matter more. But I would implore the Buckeye Nation as a whole, to allow for human error. To give, at least, partial credit for his loyalty to Earle and try to understand the unwinnable position he found himself in was created from that loyalty. He is just human after all like the rest of us.