<TABLE class=bdy cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=770 border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD>Clarett causes controversy for Ohio State again
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Pete Fiutak / CollegeFootballNews.com
<!-- Meta Tag For Search --><!-- meta name="modDate" content="November 10, 2004 22:49:38 GMT"-->Posted: 22 minutes ago<SCRIPT> // front-end hack to remove postedTime from Rumors page until a better way can be determined if (document.URL.indexOf("/name/FS/rumors") != -1) document.getElementById("postedTime").style.display = 'none'; </SCRIPT> </TD><TD width=10> </TD><TD align=right><!--this is for sponsorships or brandings--><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><!-- workingCategoryId: 24--></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=bdy cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=770 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=5></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=bdy cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=770 border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width=5></TD><TD width=450><!-- search:</noindex> --><!-- esi: /nugget/4000_3152574-->Unless you've spent the last 24 hours on Neptune, or if you read something besides the sports section, you've heard all about former
Ohio State star running back Maurice Clarett's recent allegations to an
ESPN The Magazine reporter of loaned cars, cash payments, and easy jobs that paid hundreds of dollars during his time at
Ohio State.
<!-- esi: /widget/story/videoAndPhotoGallery?contentId=3152574-->There are several major aspects to this story which will be scrutinized over the next several weeks and months over the integrity of head coach Jim Tressel and
Ohio State University in general, but here are the three main points:
1. Are these allegations actually true?
2. Why is Clarett doing this now?
3. True or not, what's going to happen to
Ohio State football because of the allegations? </SPAN>
1. If they're all true it's time to start from scratch.
<TABLE class=emailBoothFields style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000 1px solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #eee" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=220 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Even more Mo:
<LI>Ohio State denies accusations
<LI>Tressel responds allegations
<LI>OSU AD goes on offensive Video:
<LI>Buckeyes speak out
<LI>Max Kellerman on Clarett
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Tressel has always been a straight-laced, no-nonsense, button-down man who has won with class and dignity. Of course, that all goes out the window if everyone didn't play by the rules (as silly as they may be) and Ohio State will have no choice but to sack the coaching staff and revamp the entire program. Worse yet would be if the academic fraud charges are true. This is The <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = FSTL /><FSTL:CATEGORYLINK categoryId="86061">Ohio State</FSTL:CATEGORYLINK> University and it isn't right for an academic institution of this size and stature to be perceived as being a football program that just so happens to have a university around it. However, it has to be stressed again and in big, bold letters, that's IF the charges are true.
It doesn't matter if it's a case of sour grapes or not on Clarett's part and it doesn't matter if Clarett is simply a whining, self-serving jilted superstar who wants revenge. If those things happened, they happened. So yes, if Clarett is on the up-and-up, it's going to be ugly and it's going to be a new era in Columbus. Coaching regimes don't, and shouldn't, survive scandals. They're just football coaches. That's all. However ...
2. In a land where you're innocent until proven guilty, there's something that stinks about this and it's all thanks to Clarett.
If Craig Krenzel or Mike Doss were making these accusations it would a different ball game. The fact of the matter is that Clarett fell into the trap of the sports culture hype machine. He hung out with friends like LeBron James who was signing multi-million dollar deals right out of high school. He had people telling him how unfair the NFL draft system is and he should challenge it right away and get what LeBron was getting. He had people like Jim Brown and other high profile figures supporting his cause, to a point, and then abandoning ship once reality set in. That reality? He's not that great a pro prospect and he's not going to be a star NFL player unless something changes in a real hurry. He was a magnificent college player for one year, but he failed to listen to an honest opinion from anyone who really mattered and now he sounds like a desperate young man clutching for anything he can grab on to. Considering his extreme circumstances, he needed to be a workout warrior and wow the socks off the scouts when he had the chance following his freshman year. There was still a buzz about him, there was no question about his heart (on the field), and many thought he might have had a chance to potentially grow into a good player. But he got fat, lazy, and injured to the point of being unable to work out at his peak physical condition. When he did run, he was slowwwwww hovering around the 4.65 mark on his best attempts.
Poll
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Clarett now appears scared in a big way now seeing what all the NFL scouts see: he's not that fast, he couldn't stay healthy during his one freshman season, he's a head case, and he's a major league pain in the butt burning his bridges at Ohio State with all of his problems. Everyone saw that but Clarett and now he blames Tressel when he should be blaming the people advising him. Clarett's claim from ESPN's article that Tressel "wound up selling (Clarett) out" simply isn't true. There was nothing to sell out.
The sad part is that if Clarett had simply kept quiet and played ball, he would've been ready to go pro after this season and probably would have a Heisman in hand. But things didn't work out the way everyone around him said they would. Does that mean Clarett's charges aren't true? No, but it does mean it's going to take a lot more than just an interview with ESPN to bring down Tressel and the OSU program.
3. So what now for Ohio State?
Say what you will about the NCAA, but they're a thorough organization when it comes to investigations, especially when the biggest of the big-time programs are involved. It's naive to assume that Clarett protected Tressel and the program during all of the drama over the last few years; the NCAA wasn't going to simply take Clarett's word on anything without doing some digging of its own.
Unfortunately though, not only does Ohio State have to defend itself in the eyes of the public, it has to do the near impossible and show the world that the program isn't breaking all of these NCAA rules. How do you prove you're a clean program? How do you show that you didn't give a player any money or any cars? It might not be fair, but Clarett accomplished his goal by raising the question that these things might be going on.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=200 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD class=caption>Ohio State won the national title in Maurice Clarett's only year playing for the Buckeyes. (Ted S. Warren / AP)</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Going on the assumption that Clarett's allegations are false, Tressel is put in a horrible position. Here was a coach who did everything possible for his star recruit and helped him to become an instant success, and vice versa. But Tressel had to distance himself from the situation once the NCAA investigators had to get involved; he simply had no other choice. What Clarett perceives as Tressel turning his back and not helping out the draft status appears to simply be a case of a coach staying away from a situation he couldn't be a part of since there were actual legal issues involved. Former Nebraska head coach Tom Osborne got directly involved when Lawrence Phillips and Christian Peter got into legal problems and it turned into an ugly mess.
What was Tressel supposed to do, lie to the NFL scouts? Ohio State is a factory for NFL players and if Tressel had pumped up Clarett to the NFL types it would've hurt his credibility when it came time to hype up other players.
The problem is that perception is everything and this could be a major issue in recruiting. Even so, if you're a star football player, you know you can get to the NFL by playing at Ohio State, and in the end that's what really matters to the elite of the elite.
The fact that after all of the investigations and all of the charges and all of the alleged academic impropriety that the NCAA didn't nail the University has to tell you that either Clarett is now lying or that the investigators are totally inept. While both might be true, let's all let this play out before labeling Ohio State as a bunch of cheats and frauds.
But let's also be prepared to not be shocked if Mo is right. For more previews, predictions and prognostications, go to the
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