>>PHOTOS: Urban Meyer through the years 
 
 UPDATE @ 6:15 p.m.: Ohio State University has announced that Urban Meyer has been placed on paid administrative leave while the investigation into the domestic violence allegations continues. 
 
 »RELATED: Social media reacts to Meyer news 
 
 Offensive Coordinator Ryan Day will serve as acting head coach, according to the university. 
 
 »RELATED: Who is Ryan Day, the Buckeyes’ acting head coach? 
 
 Meyer is 73-8 in six seasons at Ohio State, including 47-3 in Big Ten play. He led the Buckeyes to the 2014 national championship. 
 
 INITIAL REPORT 
 
 Urban Meyer knew of domestic violence allegations against Zach Smith in 2015, according to a new report by college football insider Brett McMurphy on Wednesday. 
 
 McMurphy reported he obtained text messages sent by Courtney Smith, the ex-wife of Zach Smith, to Shelley Meyer, the wife of the Ohio State Buckeyes coach. 
 
 According to McMurphy, the text messages, an interview with Courtney Smith and other information prove Meyer knew about the allegations against Smith, the wide receivers coach who spent six seasons on Meyer’s staff and was fired on July 23. Meyer’s mentor was late Ohio State coach Earle Bruce, who was Zach Smith’s grandfather. 
 
 At Big Ten Media Days in Chicago in July, Meyer spoke about the 2015 allegations. 
 
 “I got a text late last night something happened in 2015,” Meyer said. “And there was nothing. Once again, there's nothing. Once again, I don't know who creates a story like that.” 
 
 Meyer also said he would have fired Smith in 2015 if he had known about the incidents. 
 
 “I was never told about anything,” he said. “Never anything came to light, never had a conversation about it. So I know nothing about it.” 
 
 Courtney Smith told McMurphy all the coaches’ wives knew of the abuse. She also did an interview with the Stadium network about the situation. In a clip posted Tuesday, she said she told Shelley Meyer about the physical abuse in 2015. 
 
 “Shelley said she was going to have to tell Urban,” Courtney said. “I said, ‘That’s fine. You should tell Urban. We can’t have somebody like this coaching young men.’” 
 
 Courtney told the network Shelley Meyer never told her whether she talked to Urban Meyer. 
 
 “She would reach out to me, ask me how I’m doing, tell me she was worried, if I needed anything she was there,” Courtney said. “When somebody is crying out for help, I believe the coach, the coach’s wife have a duty to do something to help instead of worrying about winning games or who his mentor is and who is family is and trying to protect that. Somebody’s safety and the safety of their children and the environment that they’re in needs to be more important.” ||||| FILE - In this April 14, 2018, file photo, Ohio Setate coach Urban Meyer watches the NCAA college football team's spring game in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State has placed Meyer on paid administrative leave... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this April 14, 2018, file photo, Ohio Setate coach Urban Meyer watches the NCAA college football team's spring game in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State has placed Meyer on paid administrative leave while it investigates claims that his wife knew about allegations of abuse against an assistant coach... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this April 14, 2018, file photo, Ohio Setate coach Urban Meyer watches the NCAA college football team's spring game in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State has placed Meyer on paid administrative leave while it investigates claims that his wife knew about allegations of abuse against an assistant coach... (Associated Press) FILE - In this April 14, 2018, file photo, Ohio Setate coach Urban Meyer watches the NCAA college football team's spring game in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State has placed Meyer on paid administrative leave... (Associated Press) 
 
 Urban Meyer's Ohio State program has been one of the best in college football and for the most part has avoided major off-field issues and player behavior problems that tarnished his championship teams at Florida. 
 
 Now Meyer appears to be in jeopardy of losing his job as Buckeyes coach over the handling of a longtime assistant who has been accused of domestic violence. 
 
 Ohio State placed Meyer on paid administrative leave Wednesday while it investigates claims that his wife knew about allegations of abuse against former Buckeyes assistant Zach Smith, who was fired last week. 
 
 Smith's ex-wife, Courtney Smith, told Stadium that she told Shelley Meyer in 2015 that Zach Smith had assaulted her . Courtney Smith provided text messages to former ESPN reporter Brett McMurphy between her and Shelley Meyer about Zach Smith's behavior, and threatening text messages she said were sent to her by Zach Smith. 
 
 "Shelley said she was going to have to tell Urban," Courtney Smith told Stadium. "I said: 'That's fine, you should tell Urban.'" 
 
 Courtney Smith said she did not know if Shelley Meyer told Urban Meyer about the allegations against Zach Smith, who has never been convicted of a crime or charged with assaulting his ex-wife. 
 
 Zach Smith's attorney, Brad Koffel, said in a statement to ESPN on Wednesday: "Once he gets his chance to tell his side of events, don't be surprised when it is corroborated by every police who ever responded to Ms. Smith's calls." 
 
 Ohio State will now look into what Urban Meyer knew and when, and it could determine whether he remains coach of the Buckeyes. 
 
 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. Shelley Meyer is a registered nurse and is employed as an instructor at Ohio State. Both Meyer and his wife could be in violation of Ohio State's Title IX sexual misconduct policy on reporting allegations of domestic violence against university employees. 
 
 Violation of the university's policy could result in Meyer being fired with cause by the university, according to provisions placed in his contract when it was extended by two years in April. The new deal runs through 2022 and increases Meyer's salary to $7.6 million in 2018, with annual six percent raises for the bulk of his compensation. 
 
 Offensive coordinator Ryan Day will serve as acting head coach for the Buckeyes, expected to be one of the top teams in the nation again this season. Ohio State's first preseason practice is scheduled for Friday. The season starts Sept. 1 with a game against Oregon State in Columbus, Ohio. 
 
 Meyer said in a statement he and athletic director Gene Smith agreed that his being on leave was best for the investigation. 
 
 "This allows the team to conduct training camp with minimal distraction. I eagerly look forward to the resolution of this matter," Meyer said. 
 
 Meyer is on the short list of most accomplished coaches in college football history, with three national championships and an .851 winning percentage in 16 seasons at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and now Ohio State, the team he grew up rooting for in Northeast Ohio. 
 
 Meyer won national championships with Florida in 2006 and '08, but his teams also had more than two dozen players get into trouble with the law. He resigned twice at Florida, citing health reasons, first in 2009 season after the Gators lost the Southeastern Conference championship game while trying to repeat as national champs. He changed his mind soon after and coached another season. The Gators went 8-5 in 2010, and after, Meyer stepped down for good. 
 
 Meyer was out of coaching for a season, but was hired by Ohio State in November 2011. The Buckeyes had fired Jim Tressel, another national championship-winning coach, before that season for lying to the NCAA and university of about rules violation committed by some of his players. 
 
 Since returning to coaching, Meyer's program has been one of the most dominant in college football, and his players have mostly stayed out of major trouble. 
 
 Meyer did face some criticism in 2013 for allowing running back Carlos Hyde to return to the team after he was charged with striking a woman in a bar. The case was dropped by police when the woman chose not to pursue charges, but Hyde was suspended three games by Ohio State. 
 
 Zach Smith is the grandson of late Ohio State coach Earle Bruce, who Meyer has long praised as a mentor and one of the most influential people in his life. Smith played for Meyer at Bowling Green and began his coaching career under Meyer in Florida. 
 
 In 2009, Zach Smith was accused of aggravated battery on his then-pregnant wife while he was working for Meyer in Gainesville, Florida. The charge was dropped because of insufficient evidence. 
 
 Meyer hired Smith to join him at Ohio State in 2012, and fired Smith last week after an Ohio court granted a domestic violence protective order to Courtney Smith against her former husband. The firing came on the same day the 2009 allegation against Zach Smith was reported, along with police reports detailing two other accusations Courtney Smith made against Zach Smith in fall of 2015. Charges were never filed in those cases. The Smiths separated in June 2015 and divorced in 2016. 
 
 Zach Smith was charged in May with misdemeanor criminal trespass. He pleaded not guilty, and a hearing is scheduled for Friday. 
 
 At Big Ten media days last week, Meyer said he knew of the incident in 2009 and that he and Shelley Meyer addressed it with the Smiths. He was also asked about the 2015 incident alleged by Courtney Smith. 
 
 "I can't say it didn't happen because I wasn't there," Meyer said. "I was never told about anything and nothing ever came to light. I've never had a conversation about it. I know nothing about it. First I heard about that was last night. No, and I asked some people back at the office to call and say what happened and they came back and said they know nothing about it." 
 
 ___ 
 
 More AP college football: https://collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25 ||||| Ohio State announced Wednesday evening that Urban Meyer, the head coach of its storied football team, had been put on paid administrative leave while the university investigated allegations that Meyer knew a longtime former assistant coach had been accused of domestic abuse in 2015. 
 
 Meyer, one of the most successful coaches of the past two decades, said last week that he had not heard of the domestic abuse accusations until recent days, but a report on Wednesday suggested that Meyer had known about the accusations for far longer. 
 
 In a statement Wednesday released by the university, Meyer said he and Athletic Director Gene Smith had agreed “that being on leave during this inquiry will facilitate its completion. This allows the team to conduct training camp with minimal distraction. I eagerly look forward to the resolution of this matter.” 
 
 Ryan Day, a 39-year-old co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach who joined the program a year ago, will serve as acting head football coach, the statement said. Two other Ohio State coordinators, Greg Schiano and Kevin Wilson, have experience as head coaches at major college programs.
– One of college football's most successful coaches has been placed on paid leave during the investigation of allegations that could result in his firing. Ohio State says it is looking into claims that Urban Meyer was aware in 2015 of domestic violence allegations involving former assistant coach Zach Smith, the New York Times reports. The university announced that Meyer had been placed on leave hours after former ESPN journalist Brett McMurphy published a report on Facebook alleging that Meyer's wife, Shelley, had known in 2015 about two domestic violence incidents involving Smith and his now ex-wife, Courtney Smith. McMurphy said his report was backed up by text messages. "Shelley said she was going to have to tell Urban," Courtney Smith said in an interview, per the Dayton Daily News. "I said, 'That’s fine. You should tell Urban. We can’t have somebody like this coaching young men." Smith was fired last week after a court granted Courtney Smith a domestic violence restraining order. Meyer could lose his $7.6 million-a-year job if he is found to have violated Ohio State's Title IX sexual misconduct policy on reporting domestic violence allegations, the AP reports. In a statement, Meyer said placing him on leave was a good move. "This allows the team to conduct training camp with minimal distraction," he said. "I eagerly look forward to the resolution of this matter."