Report: Domestic violence civil protection order filed against Ohio State coach

Zach Smith pleads not guilty to charge stemming from May 12 incident

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski

Ohio State Buckeyes wide receivers coach Zach Smith had a domestic violence civil protection order filed against him Friday by his ex-wife, Courtney Smith, according to a report Monday by Brett McMurphy.

Smith faces a charge of criminal trespassing, according to Delaware County Municipal Court records. News broke Wednesday about that incident, which occurred May 12 in Powell.

McMurphy also reported Smith was arrested in 2009 when he was an assistant coach at the University of Florida under Urban Meyer. He would have faced a charge of aggravated battery on Courtney Smith, who was 8-10 weeks pregnant at the time, but she declined to press charges.

According to McMurphy, a Gainesville Police incident report stated Zach Smith picked Courtney up “by grabbing her T-shirt and threw her against the bedroom wall located upstairs in their apartment.”

Ohio State reacted to the Smith news on Monday.

"We are not going to comment at this time on the situation regarding Zach Smith,” a spokesman said. “This is a personnel matter and we don’t typically discuss such matters publicly. We are continuing to monitor."

Zach Smith's's attorney, Brad Koffel, spoke about the May incident on 610 WTVN Radio on Wednesday. He said Zach and Courtney have been divorced for a couple of years and have two kids and a joint plan for shared parenting.

On May 12, Koffel said Zach was returning their son to Courtney. The exact location hadn’t been discussed.

“They were texting each other as to where to meet,” Koffel said. “She told him to meet at their apartment complex clubhouse. He drove there. She wasn’t there. He dropped the son off at her apartment. She was waiting for him with her cell phone out and took a picture of him in her driveway. He left. Then she called the Powell police and said it was trespassing. She never presented a shared parenting plan to the police department. She never presented a shared parenting plan to the Delaware Prosecutor’s Office, and a criminal complaint was filed against Zach. He was never arrested. He went to the Powell (police department) to pick up the criminal trespassing complaint. At no point did he violate the shared parenting plan, and we entered a not guilty on June 5. That’s it.”

Smith, the grandson of former Ohio State head coach Earle Bruce, is entering his seventh season on Urban Meyer’s staff. He has a son, Cameron, and a daughter, Quinn Olivia.

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