{"id":356795,"date":"2025-12-18T20:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T20:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/356795\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T20:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T20:34:09","slug":"details-emerge-after-ohio-football-coach-brian-smiths-firing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/356795\/","title":{"rendered":"Details emerge after Ohio football coach Brian Smith’s firing"},"content":{"rendered":"

New details have come to light regarding the termination of Ohio University football coach Brian Smith<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the weeks before Smith\u2019s firing Wednesday for \u201cengaging in serious professional misconduct and participating in activities that reflect unfavorably on the University,\u201d the coach met with administrators over an allegation he was in violation of \u201ca university and contractual policy related to \u2018alcohol and other drugs,’\u201d The Athletic reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Suzanne Durst, the director of employee experience at Ohio University, expanded on a meeting with Smith in a Nov. 24 letter, a gathering where the coach \u201cacknowledged storing alcohol in his office desk drawer and that he had consumed alcohol in his office after normal business hours,\u201d according to the note in Smith\u2019s personnel file obtained by The Athletic.<\/p>\n

\"OhioOhio University relieved football coach Brian Smith of his duties in December 2025. AP<\/p>\n

Additionally, Smith \u2014 in his first year as head coach of the Bobcats \u2014 had toasted \u201con occasion\u201d with some assistants, \u201call over the age of 21,\u201d postgame \u201cfor a single drink of bourbon,\u201d the outlet reported.<\/p>\n

Staffers cannot \u201cuse, possess, manufacture or distribute drugs and\/alcohol, or be under the influence of drugs and\/or alcohol, while in the workplace or in university vehicles and equipment and while on duty,\u201d as indicated in Ohio University employee policy 41.133.<\/p>\n

Smith stressed that alcohol did not impact his professional abilities and \u201cthat neither he nor others were under the influence during these instances,\u201d per The Athletic.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the meeting with administrators, including the university\u2019s athletic director, Slade Larscheid, Smith received a letter on Nov. 25 stating: \u201cFuture violations of University Policy 41.133 or other University policies, may result in further disciplinary action, up to and including termination of your employment. You are expected to fully comply with all university policies and maintain professional conduct at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BrianBrian Smith on the sidelines during an Ohio Bobcats game in August 2025. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Days later, on Dec. 1, Smith was put on leave<\/a> \u201cfor an undetermined period of time.\u201d John Hauser, the team\u2019s associate head coach and defensive coordinator, was elevated to interim head coach.<\/p>\n

The Athletic noted, \u201cThere were no other documents in the personnel file between the Nov. 25 reprimand letter and the Dec. 1 letter for administrative leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s attorney, Rex Elliott, said in a statement Wednesday they \u201cvigorously dispute Ohio University\u2019s grounds for the termination for cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith led the Bobcats to an 8-4 record this season. <\/p>\n

Hauser will coach the team in the Scooter\u2019s Coffee Frisco Bowl next Tuesday against UNLV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New details have come to light regarding the termination of Ohio University football coach Brian Smith. In the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,594,596,45587,85],"class_list":["post-356795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-college-football","tag-football","tag-ohio-bobcats","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}