There’s no debating that Urban Meyer is one of the top tier football coaches in the profession.

There’s also no debating that Meyer’s core value system — especially that of treating women with respect — now rings hollow. While he didn’t commit a crime toward his wife, Shelley, or any other woman, he also allowed a then assistant coach, Zach Smith, to remain on the staff despite multiple allegations of domestic violence against his now ex-wife, Courtney, and lewd behavior.

That is sad, unfortunate and sickening.

It was announced late Wednesday that Meyer was suspended, without pay, for the remainder of August and the first three games of the upcoming season. The suspension stemmed from the results of an investigation into what he knew and when he knew it dealing with Smith after a report surfaced shortly after Big Ten Media Days last month in Chicago.

Shortly after the press conference concluded, Ohio State posted the 23-page report to the Internet. I read every word and found it very interesting and alarming on many levels.

And after reading it, I sat there and thought, ‘how did Meyer and Gene Smith (who was also suspended for two weeks) keep their respective jobs?’

On the Meyer side, I kept coming back to the same answer. He kept his job because of the first sentence of this column. If he was something like 50-31 during his career at Ohio State, I don’t think he’s still employed. As for Smith … I am still not sure how he came out of this with only a two-week suspension.

That’s sad because Ohio State athletics, and especially football, is bigger than Meyer and Smith and will continue to thrive long after both are gone.

Some of the parts that jumped out at me the quickest and seemingly in bold letters were:

∫ Meyer was trying to figure out how to clear text messages off his phone, so the media couldn’t eventually access them.

∫ Meyer didn’t know about text messages that his wife, Shelley, had received from Courtney Smith about the allegations against her then husband.

∫ Meyer continued to keep Smith on the staff despite his work falling off on top of the alleged domestic issues.

Now to take a look at those a little deeper, I can’t believe that if you had nothing to hide and knew nothing about what was going on the Smith’s personal life beyond what he claimed he knew, why does he need to worry about clearing messages off his phone?

Secondly, Meyer and his wife are thick as thieves and she’s kind of the true ‘First Lady’ of the program and involved on a lot of levels. I have real trouble believing information about a member of the staff allegedly committing domestic violence was never shared between the two.

As for the third point, Meyer is ultimate CEO as it pertains to running a program. When one aspect of the program isn’t functioning at the highest level, he “blows it up.” But, Smith was given continual passes and we’ll get into this in a bit.

So, Meyer still had a chance to help save a little bit of face and help to begin the process of repair his damaged image during the press conference.

Meyer is normally very articulate and prepared when he addresses the media. That was nowhere near the case Wednesday night.

I’ve watched, listened to or sat in on nearly every Meyer media availability since he was hired at Ohio State. Not once can I recall a press conference in which he seemed so unprepared. From stumbling through his ‘prepared’ statement to having to have multiple questions repeated, it was just a bad showing for Meyer.

Yet again, though, Meyer had a golden opportunity to win back some of his credibility, as a man, and again he failed miserably.

Meyer was asked directly, “what message do you have for Courtney Smith?”

He didn’t even mention Courtney Smith by name. He made it a plural and included everyone and spoke of the entire situation. That was bad and there’s no way around it. So, in essence, he didn’t treat a woman with respect.

Meyer consistently came across as very arrogant and terse and seemed as if he was only sitting there because either OSU President Dr. Michael Drake, who levied the suspension, mandated it. Again, not a good look or way of winning back respect.

I realize that Zach Smith is the person who allegedly committed the acts that this case centered around, but Meyer didn’t send a clear a message — through termination, suspension or even an investigation — that this type of alleged behavior would be nowhere near accepted within the Buckeyes’ program. Meyer not only allowed Smith to remain on the OSU staff until late last month, but he brought him to Columbus despite being aware of allegations during their time together at the University of Florida.

Quite frankly, Meyer risked his career and permanently damaged his reputation over a wide receiver coach.

Why?

It certainly wasn’t because Smith’s unit was performing at such a high level or he recruited at such a high level. Instead, it was because his grandfather is the late Earle Bruce, who was Meyer’s mentor.

Loyalty is a major part of coaching and that’s commendable, to a degree. It cost Jim Tressel his job with Ohio State, but that was loyalty to players and failing to report possible NCAA violations to his superiors.

Smith used Meyer’s relationship with Bruce fully to his advantage and pushed the envelope as far and for as long as he possibly could.

As stated in the report, Smith had sex toys sent to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, was involved in a sexual relationship with an OSU football staffer and took lewd photos of himself at the White House when the Buckeyes were being honored for the 2014 national championship.

All of which — if Meyer knew — would have gotten a player suspended or dismissed from the team and any other staffer would have been sent packing down Lane Avenue.

Instead, Zach Smith received a vote of confidence and continued employment.

Like so much of this, that’s just sad and embarrassing for everyone involved.

Staskey can be reached via email at sstaskey@timesleaderonline.com or at twitter.com/TLSportsSeth