REPORT: Urban Meyer's Agent 'Bailed' Amidst Zach Smith Fallout

During late summer, if you were observing Urban Meyer being combative with the media and generally refusing to even feign any regret or responsibility for a lack of leadership as stories poured out about Zach Smith and wondered who he could possibly be taking advice from, the answer to that question was apparently nobody.

Speaking extemporaneously about news of Meyer’s retirement on his ESPN Radio show with Stugotz on Tuesday, Dan Le Batard mentioned that he shares — no, shared — an agent with Meyer, but that “during that mess, my agent bailed — my agent got out of that because he wasn’t taking advice. He was just doing the same thing he always does — being smug, arrogant Urban Meyer. He got into this mess because he taunted the media with arrogance about that entire incident. That’s how it started, and people started following up.”

The agent Le Batard is referring to is Trace Armstrong, the former linebacker for the Bears, Dolphins, and Raiders. According to a Chicago Tribune profile from last year, Armstrong’s other coaching clients include Tom Herman, Kevin Sumlin, and Mike McCarthy. Armstrong did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment from The Big Lead; we will update if we hear back. This news had not been previously reported.

Later in the segment — listen here for full context — Le Batard provided another allusion to the idea that Meyer was ignoring professional advice. “Look, he’s not the victim but I can see through his eyes how he might feel like one,” Le Batard said. “Because his initial response was not to backpedal. Nevermind the initial response — the response after getting guidance from a lot of different people and lawyers on what to do was not to backtrack. It was to sit there and continue to tell us how he was wronged.”