Gov. John Kasich weighs in on OSU Coach Urban Meyer controversy

Gov. John Kasich, an Ohio State University alumnus, said he isn’t sure what the university president and trustees will decide on Head Football Coach Urban Meyer but “I hope he is going to be fine.”

“So, I hope this will all be resolved. I hope that he’s going to be in a position where he can — this has been difficult, I’m sure, for he and his family — I hope can get his reputation back because it’s been damaged and it might not be fair,” Kasich said on Tuesday. “And I want him to be back on top again. I don’t root against people.”

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The university trustees are scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday in executive session to discuss the results of an investigation into how Meyer handled allegations of domestic violence made against assistant coach Zach Smith. The university put Meyer on paid administrative leave on Aug. 1, appointed a panel of trustees and others and hired an outside law firm to conduct the review.

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Kasich was an OSU undergraduate in the early 1970s where he was heavily involved in campus politics and showed an early interest in national politics.

In 2016, Meyer and his wife endorsed Kasich’s run for president, saying in a video: “Shelley and I would like to tell you and Karen (Kasich) the leadership that you have shown the state of Ohio since we’ve been back and even before, your friendship, as a friend and as a true supporter of what you stand for - now that I really know what you stand for - we’d like to tell you we really wish you the best. Go win this darn thing.”

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Kasich said he told Meyer in their last conversation that he’s seen a change in the head coach.

He praised Meyer for his efforts to develop athletes as young men and not just as players. “I have seen him invest in these programs, because I was early on a part of it, to get kids internships, to be more worried about developing them as people than as a football player,” he said. “I told him, I said, in the years you’ve been here and the years I’ve known you, I’ve seen this happen.”

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