Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer didn’t wait to decide if Storm Klein had a future with the Buckeyes.

Klein was charged with domestic violence and assault last week, charges to which Klein will plead not guilty. That made little difference to Meyer.

Klein was dismissed from the team last weekend. In a statement, Meyer put it bluntly:

“It has been made very clear that this type of charge will result in dismissal,” Meyer said.

Notice Meyer didn’t say proof or conviction, but charge. This is the price football players at Ohio State will pay for the transgressions of the past, which included the tattoo scandal and the fallout that claimed the job of head coach Jim Tressel after he failed to notify the NCAA of violations.

This is also a reaction to something that happened far away from Ohio State — a rash of arrests during Meyer’s waning days as head coach of the Florida Gators.

It’s obvious Meyer won’t tolerate his players appearing in the police reports, which he shouldn’t. But the question is: Should Meyer be the judge, jury and executioner without a conviction?

Given the media attention these arrests generate, coaches have to act immediately to salvage their program’s reputation.

Players are highly privileged. They are given a high profile, scholarships and soon iPads as part of a new program at Ohio State. They are judged on a different level, and Meyer has made that clear.

But players have rights like all of us, including the presumption of innocence — a presumption they no longer have with Urban Meyer.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2455 or bjbethel@DaytonDailyNews.com.