Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer, right, answers questions as athletic director Gene Smith and university President Michael Drake, left, listen during a news conference in Columbus, Ohio, Wednesday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer, right, answers questions as athletic director Gene Smith and university President Michael Drake, left, listen during a news conference in Columbus, Ohio, Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018. Ohio State suspended Meyer on Wednesday for three games for mishandling domestic... (Associated Press) 
 
 COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State suspended coach Urban Meyer for three games on Wednesday night for mishandling repeated professional and behavioral problems of an assistant coach, with investigators finding Meyer protected his protege for years through domestic violence allegations, a drug problem and poor job performance. 
 
 The superstar coach's treatment of his now-fired assistant was also clouded by his abiding devotion to the legacy of former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce, the grandfather of former wide receivers coach Zach Smith and an early coaching mentor for Meyer. 
 
 "I gave Zach Smith the benefit of the doubt," Meyer said. 
 
 The investigation turned up "a pattern of troubling behavior by Zach Smith: promiscuous and embarrassing sexual behavior, drug abuse, truancy, dishonesty, financial irresponsibility, a possible NCAA violation, and a lengthy police investigation into allegations of criminal domestic violence and cybercrimes," according to summary investigative findings released by the university on Wednesday night. 
 
 Meyer knew about at least some of the issues. 
 
 The report and punishment culminated a two-week investigation of how Meyer reacted to allegations that Smith abused his ex-wife, Courtney Smith. Zach Smith was fired last month after she asked a judge for a protective order. 
 
 Courtney Smith alleged her husband shoved her against a wall and put his hands around her neck in 2015. Zach Smith has never been criminally charged with domestic violence. The university put Meyer on paid leave and began investigating after Courtney Smith spoke out publicly, sharing text messages and photos she traded in 2015 with Meyer's wife, Shelley Meyer. Shelley Meyer is a registered nurse and instructor at Ohio State. 
 
 "I followed my heart and not my head," Meyer said, quickly reading a written statement during a news conference after his punishment was announced. "I should have demanded more from him and recognized red flags." 
 
 Investigators said Meyer and athletic director Gene Smith mismanaged Zach Smith's misconduct and kept him even though he was not an appropriate role model for OSU student-athletes. The review found neither Meyer nor Gene Smith condoned or covered up alleged abuse, but raised red flags of their own: 
 
 — Meyer, the athletic director and others throughout Ohio State thought it wasn't their place to do anything about allegations against Zach Smith unless law enforcement took more action like making an arrest or filing charges. Investigators called that a widespread misunderstanding of their reporting obligations. 
 
 — Meyer responded to Courtney Smith coming forward to a reporter by asking one of his staffers about changing the settings on his phone to delete text messages more than a year old. Investigators didn't find older messages on Meyer's phone but couldn't determine whether he deleted them before or after the media report. 
 
 — Meyer and his wife, Shelley, doubted the veracity of Courtney Smith's allegations of violence and abuse. Urban Meyer called the Smith situation a "he said she said" last month in a text with a former player. He also insisted to investigators he met with Courtney Smith after Zach Smith's 2009 arrest and that she recanted her original story to authorities. Courtney Smith told investigators she never met with Meyer or recanted any allegations. 
 
 — In June 2016 at Meyer's urging, Zach Smith was admitted to a drug treatment facility for addiction to an unspecified stimulant prescription drug, the report said, adding that Gene Smith was never told about it. 
 
 — Zach Smith ran up a big strip club bill in 2014 with a high school coach in Florida and spent $600 in personal funds. Meyer reprimanded Zach Smith but didn't report the issue to compliance officers or the athletic director. Investigators said they told the NCAA about the incident. 
 
 Trustees discussed how to punish Meyer in a marathon meeting of more than 12 hours Wednesday while Meyer waited in the building. Athletic director Gene Smith — who is not related to Zach or Courtney Smith — was suspended without pay from Aug. 31 through Sept. 16. 
 
 Both the athletic director and Meyer apologized and said they accepted the punishments, though Meyer said repeatedly that he did not fully know what was happening with the Smiths. 
 
 "I should have been aware of it," Meyer said. 
 
 Meyer said he was not aware of the text messages Courtney Smith sent to his wife. When asked if he had a message for Courtney Smith, Meyer said: "I have a message for everyone involved in this: I'm sorry we're in this situation." 
 
 Meyer, 54, will miss Ohio State's first three games against Oregon State, Rutgers and No. 16 TCU, though he will be allowed to coach practices leading into the Rutgers and TCU games. Co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Ryan Day is serving as acting coach while Meyer is absent. 
 
 Meyer insisted as the investigation began he followed proper protocols after learning of the 2015 accusations. But he also acknowledged lying to reporters a week earlier when he said he hadn't heard of the incident until shortly before he fired Zach Smith. 
 
 Investigators found that Meyer was determined to not disclose Zach Smith's issues to the media and went too far in his denials. 
 
 Zach Smith's attorney Brad Koffel said in a statement to USA Today that Meyer, Ohio State and Gene Smith were "collateral damage" for Courtney Smith's desire to seek revenge her ex-husband. 
 
 "Zach Smith married a woman he should not have married," Koffel said. 
 
 Mary Jo White, a former federal prosecutor, led the investigation that cost the university $500,000. She said more than 40 witnesses were interviewed, some several times, and more than 60,000 electronic documents were reviewed. Investigators reviewed 10,000 text messages of Meyer's and text messages and photos provided by Courtney Smith. 
 
 Meyer is heading into his seventh season at Ohio State, where he is 73-8 with a national title in 2014 and two Big Ten Conference championships. 
 
 His contract was extended in April by two years through 2022, increasing Meyer's salary to $7.6 million in 2018 with annual 6 percent raises. Meyer has about $38 million left on his contract. 
 
 In 2009, Zach Smith was accused of aggravated battery on his pregnant wife while he was working a graduate assistant for Meyer at Florida. The charge was dropped because of insufficient evidence. 
 
 The Smiths separated in June 2015 and divorced in 2016. 
 
 Meyer is one of the most accomplished coaches in college football history, with three national championships and a 177-31 record in 16 seasons at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and Ohio State, the team he grew up rooting for in Northeast Ohio. 
 
 Ohio State began investigating Meyer while also facing three federal lawsuits about its response to allegations of groping, leering and other misconduct by a deceased athletic department doctor who treated wrestlers and other students for two decades. The lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by Dr. Richard Strauss say Ohio State facilitated the abuse by ignoring complaints. 
 
 Since Ohio State announced an independent investigation in April, more than 100 former students have come forward with accounts of sexual misconduct by Strauss. The allegations range from 1979 to 1997 and involve male athletes from 14 sports, as well as his work at the student health center and his off-campus medical office. 
 
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 COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State on Wednesday night suspended head football coach Urban Meyer for the first three games of this season after a two-week investigation found that he mishandled domestic assault allegations made against former Buckeyes assistant coach Zach Smith and misrepresented what he knew about the situation in a public statement in July. 
 
 Meyer was suspended without pay and banned from interacting with the football team through Sept. 2. He can rejoin the team at that point, but he will not be able to coach in games against Oregon State, Rutgers and No. 16 TCU. 
 
 Meyer said Wednesday that his allegiance to former mentor and Buckeyes coach Earle Bruce, Zach Smith's grandfather, clouded his judgment and caused him to miss red flags about the former assistant's behavior. 
 
 "I followed my heart and not my head," Meyer said in a news conference. "... I gave Zach Smith the benefit of the doubt." 
 
 Ohio State also suspended athletic director Gene Smith without pay for more than two weeks. His suspension will take effect Aug. 31 and will finish Sept. 16. Smith said he failed as a leader to alert others to red flags about Zach Smith's conduct after he learned that police were investigating accusations of domestic abuse in 2015. 
 
 Bill Hancock, the executive director of the College Football Playoff committee, said Smith's suspension will "not affect Gene's status on the committee." Smith is one of 13 members on the CFP selection committee. 
 
 "Although neither Urban Meyer nor Gene Smith condoned or covered up the alleged domestic abuse by Zach Smith, they failed to take sufficient management action relating to Zach Smith's misconduct and retained an Assistant Coach who was not performing as an appropriate role model for OSU student-athletes," the school said in a statement outlining the investigation's findings. 
 
 "Permitting such misconduct to continue is not consistent with the values of the University and reflects poorly on Coach Meyer, Athletic Director Smith, and the University. Their handling of this matter did not exhibit the kind of leadership and high standards that we expect of our Athletic Director, Head Coach, Assistant Coaches and all on the football staff." 
 
 Following Wednesday night's announcement of the suspensions, Ohio State released a 23-page document detailing all of the investigation's findings. 
 
 Though the school said in its outline of findings that Meyer did not attempt to cover up any of Zach Smith's actions, the findings call into question Meyer's behavior after a story by college football reporter Brett McMurphy that detailed allegations against Smith made by his ex-wife, Courtney, that included a series of text messages. 
 
 Associate athletic director Brian Voltolini and Meyer "discussed at that time whether the media could get access to Coach Meyer's phone, and specifically how to adjust the settings on Meyer's phone so that text messages older than one year would be deleted," the summary of findings detailed. When Meyer turned his phone over to the investigative team, it had no text messages that were older than one year. 
 
 While that is not an admission of guilt, the investigators found it "nonetheless concerning that his first reaction to a negative media piece exposing his knowledge of the 2015-16 law enforcement investigation was to worry about the media getting access to info and discussing how to delete messages older than one year." 
 
 play 2:05 Meyer apologizes at OSU news conference Urban Meyer expresses remorse after receiving a three-game suspension for mishandling domestic assault allegations against former assistant Zach Smith. 
 
 Ohio State placed Meyer on paid administrative leave Aug. 1, shortly after Courtney Smith said in an interview with Stadium that she believed Meyer and others at the football program knew that her ex-husband was abusing her in 2015 and failed to do anything to stop it. Meyer fired Zach Smith on July 23 after a pattern of past allegations of abuse came to light in a report by McMurphy. 
 
 Meyer initially said he was previously unaware of any domestic issues between the Smiths that occurred during the time that Zach Smith was a coach at Ohio State. He backtracked shortly after being placed on leave, saying instead that he misspoke when first answering questions about Smith and that he followed proper protocol in reporting the incident in 2015. 
 
 Lead investigator Mary Jo White said she believes Meyer did not deliberately lie when answering questions in a July 24 interview but that he misrepresented what he knew about the 2015 incident. She said her investigative team believes Meyer has a "sincere commitment" to respecting women. 
 
 When asked during Wednesday night's news conference what message he had for Courtney Smith, Meyer said, "Well, I have a message for everyone involved in this: I'm sorry that we're in this situation." 
 
 Courtney Smith did not immediately respond Wednesday night to phone calls from ESPN seeking a response to Meyer's suspension and comments. 
 
 PDF: Read findings of Ohio State investigation Ohio State on Wednesday night released a 23-page report detailing its weeks-long investigation into Urban Meyer and other athletic staff members that resulted in Meyer's three-game suspension. To read full report: Ohio State PDF 
 
 Meyer said he supports and trusts university president Michael V. Drake, who made the decision to suspend him. Meyer said he was not aware of some of Zach Smith's behavior while Smith was a coach at Ohio State but that he should have been. 
 
 "I wish I could go back and make different decisions, but I can't," Meyer said. "These difficult lessons are a constant reminder of the duties and obligations that I have as a member of this university and this community. I take full responsibility, I take this responsibility very seriously and I will do better." 
 
 Zach Smith was arrested on suspicion of domestic assault in 2009 while working as a graduate assistant on Meyer's staff at the University of Florida. He was not charged with a crime. Meyer said he was aware of that incident, and he recommended the Smiths seek counseling at the time. 
 
 Gene Smith said he was not aware of the 2009 incident when Ohio State hired Zach Smith in 2012. Gene Smith said he spoke with the university's vice president of human resources this week about revising their hiring practices to make sure similar issues wouldn't go unnoticed in the future. 
 
 Zach Smith also was arrested on drunken driving charges in 2013 and pleaded guilty to lesser charges. He said he didn't tell Meyer about the arrest. 
 
 Meyer said he ultimately decided to fire Zach Smith last month when he learned that Smith failed to tell him about a criminal trespassing charge that occurred in May and a restraining order issued by an Ohio judge in July. Both of those incidents are ongoing legal issues. 
 
 Courtney Smith said in her interview with McMurphy that she exchanged text messages with Meyer's wife, Shelley, in 2015 and that Shelley Meyer -- who also is a university employee -- told her she would let Urban Meyer know about her accusations. Urban Meyer said Wednesday that he was not aware of those text message exchanges. 
 
 Suspended Ohio State coach Urban Meyer regrets giving former assistant coach Zach Smith "the benefit of the doubt" when it came to allegations of domestic violence. Paul Vernon/AP 
 
 The board of trustees convened at 9 a.m. Wednesday and announced its final decision more than 12 hours later. Drake said the board wanted to take its time to be as thorough and equitable as possible, knowing it would not be able to please all parties with the decision. 
 
 "We worked to refine our decisions and our actions to be able to do the best we could to achieve those goals," Drake said. "It's a very difficult and complicated situation." 
 
 White said the investigators conducted more than 40 interviews and reviewed 60,000 emails, 10,000 text messages and relevant reports from media and police. That information led the board to believe that "the handling of this matter did not exhibit the kind of leadership and high standards that we expect." 
 
 In a statement, the Big Ten said it supported Ohio State's findings. 
 
 "The hiring, retention and firing of institutional personnel lies solely in the hands of the individual institutions and their boards and is not something upon which we would have further comment," the conference said. 
 
 Ryan Day will continue to serve as the fifth-ranked Buckeyes' interim coach during Meyer's absence. 
 
 Meyer has a 73-8 record in seven years at Ohio State, and he won the national championship with the Buckeyes following the 2014 season. 
 
 Meyer had a 65-15 record at Florida and won two national championships there, following the 2006 and 2008 seasons. 
 
 His overall record in 17 years at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and Ohio State is 177-31. 
 
 Meyer has a salary of $7.6 million for the 2018 season and is under contract through 2022. 
 
 ESPN's Heather Dinich contributed to this report.
– Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer has been punished, but not by the firing he could have faced for failing to report domestic violence allegations against former assistant coach Zach Smith. Meyer has been suspended without pay for the first three games of the season and has been banned from interacting with Buckeyes players until Sept. 2, ESPN reports. Athletic director Gene Smith will be suspended without pay for 16 days. A 23-page report issued by Ohio State describes "a pattern of troubling behavior" by Zach Smith, including "promiscuous and embarrassing sexual behavior," drug abuse, and "a lengthy police investigation into allegations of criminal domestic violence and cybercrimes." The report states that Meyer and Gene Smith didn't attempt to cover up for Zach Smith, but they "failed to take sufficient management action" after becoming aware in 2015 that police were investigating domestic violence allegations, the AP reports. The report found that after Courtney Smith, Zach Smith's ex-wife, first went to the press, Meyer asked about deleting old messages on his phone. At a press conference Wednesday, Meyer said he had given Zach Smith the benefit of the doubt because his grandfather is former Buckeyes coach Earle Bruce, his mentor. "I followed my heart and not my head," Meyer said.