Tom Herman really OUGHT to get out in front of this Ohio State story

"Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so."
James 3:10

Drip, drip, drip:

Zach Smith may have outed Tom Herman as the unnamed Ohio State assistant football coach who accompanied him to a strip club during a 2014 high school recruiting trip ... and it's all on his IG.

The incident was mentioned in the OSU investigation report into Urban Meyer -- which says Smith "ran up a significant bill at a local strip club along with another OSU football coach" in Florida on May 8, 2014.

Because Smith was on an official OSU recruiting trip -- and at least one high school football coach was also at the club -- Meyer reprimanded Smith and threatened to fire him if it happened again.

The report did not identify the other OSU coach -- but Smith's Instagram page may hold the clue. On May 7, 2014 Smith posted about being in Florida with Tom Herman.

Hoo boy....

Now, look, visiting a strip club isn't the worst thing in the world.  Nobody was abused.  Nobody was assaulted.  But it's still a lame, douche bag, move.

In other words: It's embarrassing, but it's not criminal.

But here's the thing: This is the second time in two weeks that Herman's name has come up in relation to the ongoing scandal at Ohio State.  And it probably won't be the last.  And with each slow drip, it looks like Herman has something to hide.

At this point, based on publicly available information, it's looks like Zach Smith's sketchy behavior didn't begin until after Herman left Ohio State.  Herman left for U of H in December 2014.  Zach Smith's egregious behavior started in 2015.

So, at least for now, Herman's alibi checks out.

But the fact that we're talking about this again is a problem.  It doesn't look good.  Even a hint of this sort of scandal isn't cool.

And that's why Herman really ought to open up about what he knows.  At a minimum, for three years he worked closely with a guy who went psycho shortly after his departure.  Questions are natural.  It's also natural to assume the worst when questions go unanswered.

Bottom Line: For now, the story simply bears continued monitoring, but more information sure would be nice....