The Maurice Clarett Saga Unfolds (Merged)

[3yardsandacloud]

The Maurice Clarett Saga Unfolds

Jim Tressel Responds #2. Portions of this transcript have been edited out for brevity. Only comments dealing with the ESPN articles and Maurice Clarett are included. The complete transcript is found at the link provided.


11/16/04
Transcript From The November 16th Ohio State Football Press Luncheon - Ohio State Buckeyes •FB

Transcript From The November 16th Ohio State Football Press Luncheon
Nov. 16, 2004

TRESSEL: I missed Steve's points there, I was talking with Coach Bruce. Just like you, I'm sure you would, just as soon as we come to the Ohio State/Michigan week being focused on the greatest rivalry there is in college football and figuring out all the nuances between who's going to win and who's going to lose and what's it going to take and those types of things, we'd obviously like to do the same thing, but I know you have a job to do and I have responsibilities and so forth.

So I wanted to, at the outset, because I've gotten that question so much about have we had distractions and that type of thing, I guess I wanted to go back and talk for just a minute about the things that are outside of the Ohio State/Michigan moment, then get quickly into the Ohio State/Michigan moment and get ready to have a whale of a football game. Just as I mentioned to many of you mid to late last week, I feel good about how we do things here at Ohio State. I feel good about how we lead this program and the intentions and the ways that we do things. I understand the rules of the game and the rules of the NCAA very, very well and have great confidence that we follow them to the tee.

I feel the same way about our coaching staff. I know the first time I became a head coach, the advice given to me was, don't get caught up in finding experts, find good people who happen to know a little bit about the game of football. And I think that's what we have had here at Ohio State, that's what we do have here at Ohio State and I have great confidence in all of my coaches as to how they apply the rules of the NCAA and the institutional rules and everything involved with our responsibilities.

I feel the same way about our academic support areas. I've been asked questions, things have been brought up about the support systems and how we go about helping young people with what we think is their ultimate goal which is to have them graduate with a meaningful degree from Ohio State. We know at times their favorite class is football, but we also know that the thing that will serve them in the long run will be their degree. And I have tremendous confidence in our academic support services, our, what we call SASSO, our student-athlete support systems, and they do a tremendous job, and I think they give kids every opportunity and make them earn everything that they happen to get as a collegiate student.

Obviously, and I think I need to make as emphatic as possible, I have great confidence in our players. We have great kids here. We have kids that want to do things right. We talk about doing things right very, very often. They reflect that very, very often and they're kids that listen closely to instruction. Sometimes we have turnovers or miss a block or whatever it happens to be, but I think the intentions of our kids and the honor of our kids is extraordinary here at Ohio State. People ask that question, has it been a distraction, we're in the midst of a football season and so forth and so on. You would have to answer if you're a coach or a player, perhaps it's a distraction, but the last thing it is is an excuse.

We're playing the Ohio State/Michigan game this weekend, which is the greatest honor you can possibly have as a collegiate football player or a collegiate coach. And there's no way a distraction is an excuse for not playing the greatest football game we've played in 2004 ....

...

REPORTER: With regards to your opening statement, yourself and the program and the school has taken a lot of grief in the last week. Did you feel that was necessary for the school to get its side of the story out a little more publicly in terms of even just a public relations standpoint?

TRESSEL: I think you have to stand up for yourself as long as you're not talking about someone else. So I think for us to be able to say that we understand our responsibilities, we take them serious and we feel good about who we are is not unfair to anyone and it certainly is fair to us.

REPORTER: Have you met -- did you meet at all with any NCAA guy or anything yesterday?

TRESSEL: Uh-huh.

REPORTER: Can you enlighten us on what --

TRESSEL: Huh-uh.

REPORTER: A year ago at this session you were being asked about three players who were in trouble with the law. This week you have the NCAA here. The issue last year was squarely 100% your court, you had a decision to make. This year there's not really much you can do. Which was a bigger distraction?

TRESSEL: Well, the biggest distraction is always the one of the moment. To be honest with you, I don't vividly remember the last one. I'm sure if I went back and reviewed it, it might bring back some vivid recall. But what's going on this moment is always the biggest thing, so I guess I would answer it that way, if that's fair.

REPORTER: Coach, are you very confident that once the NCAA does complete its investigation, it won't find anything unsavory here?

TRESSEL: Very confident.

REPORTER: The linchpin of all the national media on this story is really in the Youngstown State file where they've basically said, well, maybe this is true because in that case Tressel didn't do an investigation and he didn't tell the president that he'd had it investigated. In retrospect, did you handle that investigation wrong?

TRESSEL: No, we felt that we handled it appropriately and I think the records show that.

REPORTER: Any of your freshmen that live off campus, do you think maybe there might have been too much latitude for a true freshmen to have had?

TRESSEL: Our institutional rule is during the first academic year that they're here that they be a part -- if they're on scholarship, which that's who we're talking about, that they be in the university housing. Institutional policy after that is that that's not mandatory. Now, they're allowed to be, for instance, Chris Gamble made him be as a sophomore, he was the only sophomore living there. She just thought that was the best thing and obviously we made that available to him. So do we have any freshmen living outside? I think the answer's yes because we had some guys here in the last academic year, it would be Marcus Freeman. I think he's out of the dorm. Steve Rehring.

REPORTER: Pittman?

TRESSEL: Antonio Pittman. So there were some guys that came in early and within the guidelines of the departmental policy, they would be living out. Do I think it's a great idea? If it was my druthers you know, I'd probably have them in, but I guess you choose your battles. And I'd like to have them in at least a couple years, but that's not the way it is right now.

REPORTER: So that was why Maurice came in early, so that's why he was allowed to do that?

TRESSEL: Right.

 

[3yardsandacloud]

The Maurice Clarett Saga Unfolds

Andy Geiger Responds #2. In a statement and interview session following Jim Tressel's Press Luncheon (lasting approximately 50 minutes), Andy Geiger discusses many aspects of the ESPN articles attacking OSU.


11/16/04
Transcript of Andy Geiger's Statement at the November 9th Ohio State Football Press Luncheon - Ohio State Buckeyes •FB

Transcript of Andy Geiger's Statement at the November 9th Ohio State Football Press Luncheon
Nov. 16, 2004

GEIGER: Thank you, Steve. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to just mention, obviously you've listened to Jim Tressel talk about the 101st renewal of the greatest rivalry of them all and that's the focus certainly on the athletic field for this week. And I know Steve and staff have done a good job of talking about some of the other activities. They're important certainly to the student-athletes that are involved and we're very, very excited and proud of the progress of women's basketball and volleyball who play nationally ranked opponents here tomorrow night.

We're proud of men's soccer team that's hosting first round soccer on Friday evening against Memphis. On Sunday, University of Tennessee is coming in for a round of 16 womens soccer game. So many of our teams are doing extremely well and we're proud of that and I hope the fact that they're playing here this week gets a little bit of attention so that maybe they can get some support. It's hard, I know, with the 101st annual Michigan/Ohio State game taking place.

I wanted to give a little update as to where we are on various aspects of investigations and respond a bit, if I may, to some of the charges and allegations that have been made over the past weeks. You know that an investigator was here yesterday, a staff member from the NCAA. We had a couple of interviews yesterday. There is no schedule for them to come back. That doesn't mean that they won't be coming back. There are some issues to follow up on, as always. NCAA is a partner of each of its member institutions in these kinds of things. Compliance is a common interest. It's a daily process. It's our internal audit procedure and we will be continuing to do the work that we normally do plus anything that's required over and above that, but we feel very, very good about where we are and working with the NCAA with enthusiasm and certainly with a welcoming attitude with regard to their presence on campus and their visiting with members of our staff or members of our teams.

I would remind you of the process that we're in with Maurice Clarett and the investigations that took place concerning some of his activities, the ones that caused him to be suspended from the team. That original NCAA investigation is pending, it doesn't become a report until we request his reinstatement and that will not be happening. The NCAA participated in those investigations and there was no finding of institutional violation in that process. The Matt Platz committee, the academic study, a select committee of faculty members and staff members with an outside consultant, Stan Eichenberry, former chancellor of the University of Illinois, and members of the NCAA enforcement staff, spent many, many meeting hours over a long, long summer and fall investigating the charges that were made in the New York Times article concerning Maurice Clarett and others and their academic pursuits at Ohio State. Again, that issue was closed, the report was submitted, the NCAA found no institutional violation. That is not to say that we have ongoing or don't have or do have ongoing activities, we do, indeed.

I think it's important for us to talk specifically about some of the allegations that were made. Please understand that I cannot talk about individual student records. Those records are protected by FERPA. That's a federal law. We already have been sued once under that law. That suit was not pursued and was withdrawn because it was really without merit, but we are extremely careful about student privacy, any student and every student.

One of the allegations is that tutors did outlines or class work for student-athletes. This was examined thoroughly by the Matt Platz committee. We do not believe that that allegation is true. Each quarter, our tutors go through a training session and they sign academic integrity statement which says that they have complied with and understand NCAA and university rules with regard to academic conduct and misconduct. They sign an agreement saying that they will comply with NCAA an university rules. We have a detailed educational manual for tutors, strict guidelines for what they can and cannot do. Obviously doing student-athletes' outlines or class work is a fundamental violation of what tutors can do. We will continue to investigate this allegation and it is part of our ongoing compliance effort to monitor what tutors do and what happens with tutors and student-athletes in their relationships and in their interactions. We have not found any evidence which would lead us to believe that this allegation is true.

A second allegation is that Jim Tressel or other staff gave benefits to a student-athlete or student-athletes. Obviously we are investigating this area and the NCAA was here to help investigate that area. To date, there is absolutely no evidence that any OSU staff person gave any extra benefits to Maurice Clarett or any other student-athlete. And I would add that it would be very much out of character for members of our staff to do so. We vet our search processes very, very carefully, whether it's a head coach or an assistant coach. We believe in the people we have on staff and we work with them constantly on issues of doing things the right way.

Another allegation is that boosters gave benefits to Maurice Clarett and to others. We have no evidence to date that this is true. We have an education program for booster groups and we have a very comprehensive education program for staff and for student athletes. I would remind you that every single one of our teams goes through a compliance orientation at the beginning of each season, that ticket lists are monitored very carefully, that people who are left complimentary tickets get telephone calls from staff asking how did you meet this individual, how do you know this player, what is your relationship with this player, and we also investigate everything from apartment leases to automobile registrations, all of those kinds of things. It's an ongoing part of a very active, very aggressive compliance program. We never stop working on these kinds of things.

There's an allegation that Clarett and others had summer jobs and got paid for doing no work. Obviously compliance is a shared responsibility. Everybody has to cooperate. It is impossible for investigators, staff, compliance officers, administrators to be everywhere simultaneously. We have an obligation with our student-athletes and they have an obligation to inform us if they have a summer job and they have forms that they fill out on which before the summer starts, they tell us whether or not they plan to have a summer job and after the summer when the fall starts, we ask them if they had a summer job. The information that Maurice Clarett has shared with the public is inconsistent with the information that he has represented to the university. We also telephone when student-athletes indicate that they plan to have a summer job or had a summer job, they tell us who the employer was and we telephone that employer to find out if the student showed up and if they, indeed, did work.

There is, as I said, a thorough employment monitoring system. Forms to student athletes, forms to employers. We continue to investigate this allegation, but at this time we have no reason to believe that this allegation is true.

There's an allegation that Jim Tressel arranged for the use of loaner cars. We have thoroughly investigated this allegation with the NCAA and it was part of the original Maurice Clarett investigation. The NCAA has determined that there is no violation. He was treated by this dealer in ways that the dealer has treated other potential car purchasers and they have documented this.

There's an allegation that Ohio State black-balled Maurice Clarett from teachers and tutors after he was suspended. This is absolutely untrue, in fact, the contrary was true. We made every effort to make sure that he understood that full services were available to him and he continued to attend the university with an athletic grant and aid.

After he was suspended, but while he was enrolled full-time at Ohio State and receiving that aid, our Student-Athlete Support Services Organization staff and academic tutors were fully available to him. There's an allegation that a player was enrolled in disability services without his knowledge and allowed to take untimed tests and tests, quote, with help, end quote. Let me explain to you how disability services works. Students are not enrolled in disability services without their knowledge. Let me repeat that. Students are not enrolled in disability services without their knowledge. They submit to many tests and must sign forms giving their consent in order to qualify for disability services. Disability services is not connected with the department of athletics. Students might be tested in high school and may be retested at Ohio State, in fact, probably will be retested.

Taking tests without time limits and/or taking tests with readers and describes are some of the accommodations might qualify for through disability services. Again, this has nothing to do with intercollegiate athletics. This is part of what disability services is all about. If a student is going to take a test that way, it has to be also with the complicity and involvement of the faculty member involved. It is not something that a student may elect to do on his or her own.

Independent study classes. Students register for classes on their own. Advisers and counselors do not register students for classes, may not register students for classes. Independent study is arranged with a faculty member and the faculty member has specific rules that he or she must follow in order to present an independent study class. Independent studies class have a 93 tag, 293, 493, 593, 693, at the graduate level, 893. Those are all independent study courses. And they are offered across the spectrum of the university in many majors, and in the catalog, if you see Spanish 293, for example, I don't know if that exists, but as an example, that's an independent study course in Spanish. Each professor varies in terms of how often they expect students to meet with them and what standards they set for the class, but the faculty member has to defend the class.

There is an allegation that academic advisers were switched for Maurice Clarett. We have absolutely no evidence that academic -- athletic academic counselors were switched. He had the same academic counselor for all five quarters that he attended.

When students switch from an undeclared major, for example, to a declared major, they switch college academic counselors. At Ohio State, the athletic counselors work in cooperation with college counselors. College counselors establish what the student's program is going to be, not the athletic counselors. Every quarter, a degree audit is submitted for each student-athlete. We are very concerned that our student-athletes make progress towards a degree. NCAA rules are getting more and more stringent continually as part of academic reform movements in college athletics, and the number, percentage of your actual degree program, which must be completed in time certain, 40% after two years, 60% after three years, 80% after four years, et cetera, is prescribed. It has to be certified by the registrar of the university, not the athletic department, not the athletic department. A degree program is prescribed by the college, not by the athletic department or anybody in SASSO.

Finally, there's an allegation that in Maurice Clarett's African-American studies classes, there were 40 people in them and "like 30 of them were football players," quote, end quote. We've checked the rosters of all of the classes that he took. At most, in one class, 19%, 19%, 1-9, people in the class were football players and the N in that class was approximately 50. Otherwise, there were only about 7% football players in his classes except for the several classes that he took where he was the only football player registered in the class.

Now, in our analysis and examination of our academic programs, as part of recertification, which happened not very long ago and as part of the Platz committee investigation and analysis of our programs, our student-athletes spread their majors over the spectrum of the university much like nonstudent-athletes do. There are over 200 majors at Ohio State and we have student-athletes in a plethora of them. There is no dominant major in terms of what student-athletes take and what football players take and we watch that extremely carefully. I would be pleased to try to answer any questions you have, remembering I can't get more specific with regard to a student's record than I have. Questions?

Continued on following post ...

 

[3yardsandacloud]

The Maurice Clarett Saga Unfolds

Andy Geiger Responds #2 - continued from previous post ...

REPORTER: Will Jim talk to ESPN, Andy and try to learn more about maybe their agenda here or why maybe it's their radio station web site or the network, sports center itself, it seems to be coming from one set place.

GEIGER: I do not know their agenda or their motivation, and it's a mystery to me as well, and, no, I have not talked to them. George?

REPORTER: Andy, you said based on the original investigation, there was no finding of institutional violation. Is that because you never applied for Clarett to be reinstated so the investigation was never completed?

GEIGER: No, George, if they had found institutional violations, we would have had to go through that process of a sanctioning kind of process, and the distinction here was there was no institutional violation.

REPORTER: Is it true that football players receive class credit for participating on the ball team?

GEIGER: Several people at Ohio State receive participation credit, band people, athletes, Lantern, musical organizations, theater groups, all of those kinds of things. We give nondegree credit for participation in those activities. We think the activities are valuable. We they intercollegiate activities is an important part of a person's education and to not value them in some way given the time and effort that students put into it and the role that it plays in their lives, I think, would be too bad.

REPORTER: So even though they -- it seems like you're in the minority in that because most schools just say a scholarship is --

GEIGER: Yeah, I think we've got it right. Other folks may not have it right.

REPORTER: During the Purdue telecast, which you probably were not privy to --

GEIGER: I saw myself looking pensive sitting in the press box.

REPORTER: -- it was constantly quoted what a distraction this was, it struck me as being incestuous that they were touting their own story.

GEIGER: I really don't want to talk about ESPN and their role in this story. I've talked to my commissioner and to others about what their agenda might be and we're all a little mystified.

REPORTER: Are you going to speak to Maurice Clarett about these things or any of the other guys that have made comments to ESPN that you know of, did the NCAA say they'd like to talk with Maurice Clarett again?

GEIGER: I can't talk much about what ESPN is going to do, they're going to do what they're going to do and other than what I've said I don't want to get into an investigation.

REPORTER: In the process you described in hiring Coach Tressel, in the ESPN article, President Cockran of Youngstown State said, I feel like I got crapped on, the file says that the coach had indicated to the president that he had done an investigation that the NCAA said was not done. When you vetted, how was that explained?

GEIGER: We used a headhunter and we used conference commissioners and other sources. We talked indirectly with people at the NCAA and indirectly and he got a clean bill of health.

REPORTER: Given the size of this community and the widespread of Ohio State football, isn't it difficult to monitor the activities of all your boosters, and I wonder, sensitive as it is, how you can speak with assurance that they're not doing a lot of this stuff that ESPN reports?

GEIGER: Well, what I told you was, as far as we know, there's no credence to the allegation. We're going to have 105,000 people in the stadium on Saturday and probably another 20 or 30,000 milling around outside. Can I vouch for every single one of those people? I would love to be able to do so, but obviously that's impossible. We can only hope that the message that we continue to give and will always continue to give is that we value the rules. We value the relationships with our sister schools. We know that we haven't been turned in for recruiting violations or illegal payments or those kinds of things. It has not surfaced in this program. This is not a privately operated program. It's a pretty visceral, pretty open kind of program. I have to operate on some parts actual factual knowledge, and some parts faith, hope, and credit.

REPORTER: During your time here, you've presided over, watched some NCAA investigations we know about, some we may not know about. It's been my experience that you've never addressed anything in the midst of an investigation, which appears we are now, I wonder if you could address why both you and Jim today have taken what appears to be more of a forward or offensive position in this which represents a change from the past.

GEIGER: I think, Bruce, that I've been an athletic director for 33 years and in the business for 43 years and I have never seen an institution attacked in this way before and I think that for us to be silent and to not stand here and I'll stay here until 5:00 if you guys want me to, I'll do the best I can. I can't violate the things that my lawyers have told me I can't violate, but I think it's very important for our university, for our fans, for our students, for members of my staff, who I'm so very proud of, it would be wrong to be silent. They deserve to have somebody stand up and say that we're doing well, we're proud of our program, we stand by our program, and we'll defend.

REPORTER: Do you acknowledge that this is a change in your approach to these kinds of matters?

GEIGER: I've never had one like this before, this is the first time I've had this and this is the first time I've responded to the first-time experience. So in that sense, it's a change, but it's a double-sided change, I think. John?

REPORTER: If a coach at OSU misled you in the context of an NCAA investigation, how would you handle that?

GEIGER: I think I've demonstrated how I'd handle that. Next question.

REPORTER: I want to go back to the car situation. You outlined a week ago here that Jim Tressel put him in contact with McDaniel or whatever it is in Marion and subsequent to that, there may have been dealings with a second dealership. First of all, was the only car McDaniel was involved with was the one they had to repossess?

GEIGER: Yes, I mischaracterized that, I want to straighten that out. They did not repossess that car and that was a mistake on my part. I misunderstood what I was told. Maurice had a car for a few days, was not satisfied with the car, wanted something fixed on it. They came down and got the car to do that, made an appointment with Maurice and his mother. In the meantime, I think, tried a different car, never showed up for that appointment, and the car was returned and that was the end of that relationship.

REPORTER: The second part of that is, did he establish his own relationship with this other car dealership completely?

GEIGER: I don't know about the other car dealership. Maurice had many, many cars. Many cars -- or drove many cars, let me put it that way.

REPORTER: It's been made pretty clear that Jim did make a call to McDaniel to say I've got a player or a student here that needs a car, keep it on the up and up, if it's on the up and up, why focus on one specific dealer?

GEIGER: The call to the dealer was not a violation, but it will never be done again. It will now not be accepted practice that anybody would call a dealer.

REPORTER: After the Platz committee, there was, obviously they looked throughout the university, alleged academic fraud dealing with athletes, not long after that, it came to light the lawsuit dealing with Boban Savovic and there was much in that deposition that dealt with out side people outside the university dealing with paper, again, dealing with that kind of approach to athletes. The Platz committee, if I'm not mistaken, was all composed of Ohio State professors, was it not?

GEIGER: Professors and staff.

REPORTER: Would you ever entertain the opportunity to have somebody from the outside to take a look at this?

GEIGER: We had Chancellor Eichenberry as part of that as an outside consultant looking at that. Rusty, I welcome anybody to take a look at what we do. We had a peer review as part of recertification. I confess to you much like Bob Hunter just asked a question about boosters and fans and those kinds of things, I don't know who's helping whom with homework, girlfriends and boyfriends and moms and dads and cousins and uncles and all those kinds of things that may help with homework. I've been guilty of helping my own sons with homework until they got out of junior high school and then I was over my head, but the issue of students doing their own work is fundamental to what a university should be all about and we would welcome anybody looking at it.

REPORTER: And also tied into that same situation dealing with Boban Savovic and depositions have been filed, one of the things that it said from there is that no one from compliance checked to see where Boban Savovic was staying.

GEIGER: You know, I can't really talk about an investigation that's clearly ongoing and I certainly can't talk about something that's involved in a lawsuit. So that's a big, fat duck of that question. I'll answer it eventually.

REPORTER: From the perspective of the NCAA and Ohio State related to academic fraud or finding of institutional control in that area, does the NCAA make a distinction in the case of a tutor that you hired at SASSO or at the Yonkin Center helping and a circumstance like you outlined, a mom, a dad, a friend, a boyfriend, would one put you in danger with the NCAA and would one not?

GEIGER: It's up to the university. I think if the university -- if there's a violation of common procedure, commonly accepted procedures at the university that that would be a problem and that would be the standard.

REPORTER: Staying on academics, some of the players were quoted as saying when they tried to transfer, very few of those credits were accepted at the other universities. Do you think that's true and if that is the case, does that not reflect very well on --

GEIGER: I know absolutely that those things are true and I know absolutely that from similar universities, we don't accept certain grades, certain courses from other schools. If they don't fit a degree at Ohio State, then we don't accept them. If it's remedial work, then we don't accept it. If it's a D, we don't accept it. If a course is evaluated as being below a certain level at school X and we do that sometimes here, then the credit is not accepted. Individuals do academic work and the unusual aspect of the allegations that have come through ESPN is that the individuals that they have selected as examples struggled and I can't say more than that.

REPORTER: Andy, is there anything to the Clarett claims that that information bad information is being casted to the NFL from OSU?

GEIGER: I have no knowledge of that.

REPORTER: We've looked back on almost two years from the day in Phoenix-Scottsdale when the incident came up about going home for the friend's funeral to today, can you just talk a little bit personally and to your staff, you mentioned in 33 years or 40 years never having been through anything like that. Is the aggravation or the frustration or the level of the fact that we've been here and we keep talking about the same thing because everybody in the community and even nationally now is saying, how long can this go on and how ridiculous can it get?

GEIGER: How I feel is unimportant. I'm doing my job and I will continue to do it as well as I can and that includes standing here and addressing these things. It's interesting to think about the last two years that we've had here. We're almost up to the anniversary of what should have been one of the great days in Ohio State athletic history that turned out to be a day of shame for the whole city because of the riots and the fires and all of the stuff that got out of hand. And then in Tempe, we had the outburst that dealt with Maurice Clarett -- he wasn't denied permission to go home, and we told him that if he had filled out or would fill out and have his mother complete the part that she needed to complete, the FAFSA form, which would qualify him for federal aid and would, therefore, trigger NCAA special assistance money, that we would reimburse him for his trip home, but he needed to do his part, otherwise he was not eligible for that money and I was not willing to risk his eligibility or anybody else's eligibility by letting him go without all of that being completed.

The young man who he wanted to visit in terms of a funeral had been dead for 10 days with 12 bullets in him. He had five days off in the interim where he could have gone and paid respects to the family and deal with all of that and yet we were called liars and we were pretty well whipped by him and we chose not to fight back. In fact, I complimented him, I believe, in print in public about his comment about the homeless and his concern about the position that he found himself in with regard to that. And we have been off to the races ever since then and it is the most unusual thing I have ever seen, but we will deal with it. We recruited him. He was part of Ohio State. We were eager to have him stay, not necessarily play football again, that was up to him, but we were certainly encouraging him to stay in school, to finish courses, to withdraw on time if he wasn't going to finish the courses so that some day in his life, if he decided to come back and finish, he would be eligible to do that. We still feel that way.

REPORTER: You indicated a bit earlier that at least one thing that comes out of this is you'll make a change in the fact that you won't allow a head coach to make a call, even if it wasn't a violation. Jim said when he was up here it's Ohio State policy that freshmen live on campus their first academic year. Maurice obviously was here for a quarter, some freshmen this past year were here spring quarter, they now live off campus, he said. Can you clarify for me the distinction between academic year which when I was in school thought meant once you had 45 hours in and is that an area where you might make a change in allowing guys, rather than one quarter and then letting them go off campus to making sure they're here a full year?

GEIGER: I think we look at all aspects of what we do constantly and that would be one that would be on the table and I would lien on the coach more for that than not. He's interested in and very concerned about the culture on his football team and where they live is an important part of that.

REPORTER: Can you tell us the difference?

GEIGER: I don't know the difference.

REPORTER: As you look back on the Maurice Clarett situation, was he given too much rope as a first-year guy? I mean, have you reassessed that, looked at that?

GEIGER: I think Jim Tressel spent more time with him by quadruple as an individual than any other player he's ever coached, certainly any player he's ever coached at Ohio State on the dos and the don'ts and all those kinds of things, Jim spent an extraordinary amount of time in counseling Maurice and working with him on a whole variety of issues. How to deal with media, how to deal with college, how to move into this culture as compared to the culture that he came from. I don't know that Maurice had any more or less rope than anybody else has. It's a team that has over a hundred individuals on it when you count walk-ons, 85 grant and aid recipients and I don't know that the treatment necessarily or as a regular practice is uneven in terms of who has more rope or who has less rope. Todd?

REPORTER: You mentioned that when people are left on ticket lists, they're called and looked into. Has the NCAA asked the school or is this an issue that you're worried about that they'll ask you about, if that's the case, why wasn't the school aware of the nature of the relationship between Maurice and Bobby?

GEIGER: I think that we became aware of the relationship and did something about it. I think we pursued it. Yes, Doug?

REPORTER: One of the perceptions, I think, is that Jim may not have been as vigilant as he needed to be with Maurice, as you mentioned, he had many cars. Is that a fair charge, do you feel?

GEIGER: I think that we're a lot more vigilant now. I don't know how much is enough. I want to emphasize something, folks. A clear orientation is given as to what you can and cannot do. The rules are spelled out and the young people sign a statement that they understand them and that they will obey and that they have obeyed. It isn't different on Tuesday than it is on Monday and it doesn't change by Thursday.

REPORTER: Andy, do you foresee any circumstances which the National Championship will be jeopardized and often the argument is made that it is under the aegis of the BCS, do you feel if it had been an NCAA championship that it would stand the same?

GEIGER: Unless and until there would be found an institutional violation, I don't think there's any jeopardy.

REPORTER: Concerning the way this has all come out, you were talking about the time Jim spent with Maurice and all that, what did you guys do wrong or do you think you did anything? To have thing going on as it has.

GEIGER: I play the overs game all the time, if I had it to do all over or if Jim had it to do all over, from everything, whether you go ahead and recruit or not and second-guessing is what you pay for it, I guess, whether you second-guess or I second-guess or Jim second-guesses, we all have something to think about at 3:00 a.m. when we're staring at the ceiling and this may be one I think about.

REPORTER: The NCAA has found no institution wrongdoing. Is there any individual wrongdoing on any level on either side that doesn't amount to institution wrongdoing?

GEIGER: Well, we suspended Maurice for what amounted to a whole season.

REPORTER: Is there any amount that can be on Ohio State's side that wouldn't involve --

GEIGER: Jeff, I'm going to try to do it again. The NCAA participated in every step of that. They know everything that we know. They found no institutional wrongdoing. I don't know how to make it clearer. I don't know how to do that. I mean, do you see what I'm saying?

REPORTER: I do. I didn't know if there was a difference in the verbiage.

GEIGER: There is.

REPORTER: Regarding the summer job you mentioned that athletes need to fill out proper forms, you have record of them, and then you said, I believe, that there's something inconsistent with what Maurice said to the records that you have. Are you saying he didn't -- do you have records --

GEIGER: I can't go to specific record. I can tell you it was inconsistent. That's as close as they'll let me come. She's sitting back here and she'll go like this if I say the wrong thing.

REPORTER: It was reported that Maurice told ESPN that Coach Tressel told him to get involved in reinstatement he'd have to do two months worth of 6:00 a.m. workouts and have a 3.5 grade point average and all these things, can you corroborate that in any way or were you ever brought into a discussion where Jim said this is what I want to do to merge Maurice back in or --

GEIGER: Jim Tressel has his own penalty systems. He has his own way of dealing with team issues and you'd have to ask him specifically what his standards were for Maurice Clarett, but I think he felt that Maurice had not contributed very much to the team over a period of time and that he wanted to see a demonstration of earnestness and willingness to be part of it and those may be the kinds of things he talked about.

REPORTER: There was a quote in the second ESPN story from Ray Isaac to ESPN that has proved to be a big fan of Jim, the quote said, Jim told him, I don't want to know what you know, just tell the truth and it kind of left the impression that Jim didn't want to be guilty of knowing, so instead he elected not to know anything at all. Are you at all concerned that this could be the exact same situation with Maurice?

GEIGER: I am not concerned about that at all.

REPORTER: Why not?

GEIGER: Because I think Jim runs an honest program and tells me the truth. I believe in what he says and what he tells others.

REPORTER: Did ESPN request to have game day here this week and did you decline to the extent that you're a Big Ten member and they're a partner with Big Ten, your feelings towards them reporting things, how can you exercise decisions in those kinds of regards that you may want to do in the future and still be collegial with your Big Ten partners?

GEIGER: The last I heard from Steve was ESPN called and said that we were on their radar screen for ESPN Gameday. To my knowledge, we'd never heard further than that. SNAPP: That's correct, it never went any farther than that.

GEIGER: So I was not, no. Now, I had a conversation with Dave Brown of ESPN, I think it was early last week, and he understands how I feel about ESPN and the inconsistency that we see in their behavior. We have been a very, very good partner of ESPN. I go back long enough to Bill Rasmusen coming around to all the conferences in the early 1980s with hat in hand talking to us about ESPN, this new concept that he had with his partners and would we please provide games for them, and we have all grown up together in that. ESPN Gameday and all of the commentating and all of the really intelligent things that are said on the air in those presentations can often be difficult to live with, just in normal times. ESPN Gameday, when it comes to your campus at a time when two years ago we had riots, we had all kinds of issues, ESPN Gameday requires a great deal of security on its own. We have homeland security here. This is on the watch list federally for potential problems. We use state police. We use city police. We use police from other jurisdictions around to try to manage the crowd and have a common sense peaceful quiet day. Given some of the emotion around ESPN in this community, and given the required security, it probably would have been our judgment, had we been asked, to ask them to go someplace else on this particular day. I understand that one of the stars of ESPN Gameday went off on us a bit last night on the air. I didn't hear it myself. This is secondhand, that we think we're getting bigger than college football. This is the same individual who, four weeks ago after we lost three straight games said on the air that he didn't see how he could recommend Ohio State to a young man who wants to play offensive football. I'm concerned about that. I'm concerned about that. And the juxtaposition of that and some of the kinds of things I've heard on and off the air with regard to that. So our welcome mat is perhaps not as thick as it once was with regard to some of those kinds of things. I don't know who is thinking that they're bigger than the game of football in this particular instance and it bothers me and I'm pretty outspoken about it and I'm pretty outspoken with the Big Ten about it and I talked with the commissioner about it today. I have talked to my colleague athletic directors and I'm not alone in my concern.

REPORTER: To the extent that we're still a ways away from next football season but you have a game early next season that might appeal to them, are these feelings that you envision could be sued by then or --

GEIGER: We'll do what's best for Ohio State football.

REPORTER: The fact that when Clarett had his car broken into and he asked Coach Tressel what to do and the Coach recommended that he call campus police, does that kind of maybe strengthen your claim that everything with the car was on the up and up or else why would Tressel say he should report that publicly?

GEIGER: Say that again. Ask your question again.

REPORTER: The fact when Maurice Clarett's car was broken into, he asked Coach Tressel what to do and Coach told him to report it to campus police. The fact that Coach Tressel told him to report it, does that kind of support your contention that things were on the up and up in terms of how he acquired the car?

GEIGER: How he acquired that car?

REPORTER: Yes.

GEIGER: That car is an interesting story in itself and I recommend that you investigate that further. It's an interesting issue. But I think he had legitimately had the car. You'd have to go to the folks at The Car Store and ask them.

REPORTER: My point was the fact that Coach Tressel recommended that he report the break-in to campus police, if Coach Tressel felt like he had something to hide, wouldn't a coach say, don't worry, we'll take care of it, you know what I'm saying, doesn't that support your claim?

GEIGER: Yeah, it does. It's consistent with how he behaves, absolutely.

REPORTER: Andy, with respect to the basketball program, I know you can't comment directly on Jim O'Brien's lawsuit --

GEIGER: I cannot.

REPORTER: -- but his lawyer has said that --

GEIGER: Why are you going forward if I've said that I can't comment?

REPORTER: Do you still stand by the way you've characterized the events that led to his firing?

GEIGER: I can't comment on pending litigation, okay? If I could, I would.

REPORTER: Will that investigation conclude if and until the lawsuit goes to trial?

GEIGER: Yeah, I think so. I don't think the lawsuit is part of the investigation necessarily, it's its own thing.

REPORTER: Andy, you said that Maurice had many, many cars. Is there a question -- do you understand how he obtained them or --

GEIGER: Yes, we know pretty much about all of them. Todd?

REPORTER: In the end, when this is concluded, is it your feeling that when the facts are all found by the NCAA that you guys are not guilty of anything and that's the confidence that the school has in this matter, that no matter what is played out in public relations or who has what agenda or so forth, the fact of the matter is, when the facts come out in the end, you guys are going to be okay, is that your feeling?

GEIGER: It's my hope. It's my belief.

REPORTER: Is it your certainty, though?

GEIGER: I think I said hope and belief, I'll stand by those.

REPORTER: You've talked about many, many cars Maurice Clarett had. I'm just curious how it got to be many, many, why there wasn't somebody who said, boy, Maurice is driving a different car than he was last week?

GEIGER: Somebody did. Brothers and cousins and girlfriends and all kinds of things.

REPORTER: You indicated on Saturday to some reporters that this relook at the Maurice thing could cost a lot of resources, et cetera. After yesterday, are you backing off the assessment of what it might cost?

GEIGER: I've spent all day on it. My salary was in the paper Sunday along with the cars that I drive and my wife drives. So you can assess the cost today. Those are resources.

REPORTER: I'm saying the cost of reopening the investigation. I mean, do you think this thing will be over sooner than later?

GEIGER: Yes, I think it will be over sooner or later, I guess I should say.

REPORTER: Seriously, what I'm saying, did you get any indication yesterday that this thing.

GEIGER: No, no. John?

REPORTER: Who would have the authority to take away a National Championship? You mentioned the National Championship earlier. Would it be a BCS governing board?

GEIGER: I don't know.

REPORTER: Have they approached you?

GEIGER: I don't know. If we get to that place, we'll find out, won't we? I don't think we will. Anything else? Thank you all very much.

 

[3yardsandacloud]

The Maurice Clarett Saga Unfolds

ESPN Article #14. Another repackaged story based on news from agencies and transcripts other than ESPN.


11/16/04
Geiger: No evidence to Clarett's accusations - ESPN •FB

Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Geiger: No evidence to Clarett's accusations
ESPN.com news services

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger and coach Jim Tressel defended the school's football program Tuesday against charges that players were paid by boosters and coddled academically.

Geiger had harsh words for former tailback Maurice Clarett and for ESPN, which he said has led an attack against the school by providing a forum for Clarett's allegations.

An NCAA investigator was on campus Monday to look into accusations that Tressel helped Clarett get a loaner car and that he and other players were paid for bogus summer jobs and received improper help in class.

"I'm not concerned at all," Geiger said of the investigation. "I think Jim runs an honest program and tells me the truth."

Clarett, who made the charges in stories reported Nov. 9 by ESPN The Magazine on ESPN.com, led Ohio State to the national championship in 2002. Under the current circumstances, Geiger said he did not believe Ohio State's title might be lost.

"Unless and until there would be found an institutional violation, I don't think it's in jeopardy," Geiger said.

Mark Shapiro, executive vice president of programming and production at ESPN, said Geiger's attacks on the network "are blatantly misguided."

Clarett was suspended after his freshman season for lying to investigators during another NCAA probe of allegations that he received improper benefits from a family friend. He then lost a court challenge of the NFL's rule preventing players out of high school less than three years from being drafted.

Family members say Clarett is working out with a trainer at an undisclosed location in preparation for next spring's NFL draft.

Alan Milstein, Clarett's lawyer in the antitrust suit against the NFL, declined comment Tuesday. Clarett's mother did not return a message seeking comment.

In additional stories that ran on ESPN.com, former Ohio State players supported at least part of Clarett's contentions.

"I do not know their agenda or motivation," Geiger said of ESPN.

He added, "I have been an athletic director for 33 years and have been in the business for 43 years. I have never seen an institution attacked in this way before. For the university, for the fans, the students and the members of my staff ... it would be wrong to be silent."

Shapiro said ESPN's reporting was objective and balanced.

"For anyone to accuse us of having an agenda against Ohio State is absurd," he said.

Geiger said Tressel did try to help Clarett buy a car through the dealership that leases cars to several Ohio State coaches and administrators. But Clarett and his mother did not meet with the dealer to make arrangements to buy the car, Geiger said, and the dealership came to Columbus several days later to repossess it.

The university has denied Clarett's allegations.

"The allegations are so sweeping, so over the top that we are going to be forced to spend huge resources, so much time and energy and effort, to try and get this right," Geiger said Monday. "This isn't going to be solved by the Michigan game or by [the time of] a bowl game. It will take months, I imagine."

The Buckeyes (6-4) take on No. 7 Michigan (9-1) on Saturday at Ohio Stadium in the biggest game of the year for Ohio State.

Instead of addressing the X's and O's of the old rivals, Tressel began his weekly news conference by discussing the distractions brought on by Clarett's allegations.

"I feel good about how we lead this program and the intentions and the ways that we do things," said Tressel, in his fourth season. "I understand the rules of the game, the rules of the NCAA very, very well and have great confidence that we follow them to the T."


Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

 

[Workin'Gal]

Information....

...Overload. Great reading. Thanks for posting all the articles.

 

[Steve19]

Andy Geiger

ESPN

 

[TallIndian]

Great Job Threeyards ....

I think you should ad in the Big Ten Commisioner stuff here as well.

 

[3yardsandacloud]

TI - Yep. I need to get this thread back up to date. There are several pertinent articles and comments to add. I've been a bit busy the past few days. Hopefully I can get back to this thread tonight.

 

[3yardsandacloud]

The Maurice Clarett Saga Unfolds - Related Article

A related article from Bucknuts that ties together many of the sources and their quotes from sources other than print media.


11/17/04
Analysis: ESPN Vs. Ohio State - Bucknuts •FB

Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Analysis: ESPN Vs. Ohio State
By Dave Biddle

Plenty of Buckeye fans have wondered what the ESPN side of things has been throughout the recent set of stories containing allegations about Ohio State. Dave Biddle takes a look at what ESPN has said publicly so far regarding the matter and offers up some thoughts on how things have been approached.

So why did they do it? Why did the editors of ESPN The Magazine allow Maurice Clarett's dirty laundry to be aired in their backyard? Clarett obviously had an axe to grind and ESPN gave him exactly what he wanted.

Well, ESPN says it is not to blame. It denies poor journalism was used and claims anyone in the industry would have ran with the story.

"I think there's probably no media organization in the country that wouldn't have gone with this interview," ESPN The Magazine editor Gary Hoenig said. "Did we think everything (Clarett) said was absolutely credible? We're asking the readers to make that judgment for themselves. We believe that some of his allegations are provable because we've gone out and done some of this investigation ourselves. But, there's certainly enough there to make it worthwhile to have the public make the judgment."

There are some points that can be made in ESPN's defense. The magazine did not go out "looking for a story." The author of the story, Tom Friend, claims someone in Clarett's camp contacted him to set up the interview. He admits the story just fell in his lap. He wouldn't say who set him up with Clarett, preferring to be vague.

"Well, it was in early October," Friend said. "I got a phone call from one of his associates who said, 'Would you be interested in talking to Maurice Clarett?' And obviously I said, 'Yes.' I hadn't heard much about him. He'd been out of the news. He'd been laying low.

"Everyone had talked to (former USC receiver) Mike Williams after he got denied by the NFL, but no one had talked to Maurice. I thought it was an opportunity to visit with him. I thought, basically, that the story would be about, you know, how the last year has been. What's been going on with him. What he looked like. What kind of shape he's in."

Friend didn't want to say exactly where he and Clarett met for the interview. But the person that set up the interview was likely involved.

"I met him at someone's home," Friend said. "Very quickly in the conversation he wanted to talk about Ohio State. How he felt wronged. How he felt the NFL people thought he was no good. 'They think I'm a bum, damaged goods, baggage.' (Clarett's associates) had made a call around the league to see what the perception was and it wasn't good. He had heard there were comments coming out of the Ohio State athletic department disparaging him and that didn't make him feel good."

So, there you go. How could anything Clarett said be taken seriously? His people contact ESPN and he admits he is still bitter towards the university. Shouldn't that send up red flags that he can't be trusted and this is merely a way of getting even with OSU for suspending him last year?

"Obviously when I hear a story like that as a journalist, I don't just run and put it in the magazine," Friend said. "Reporting has to be done along side that. Obviously when Maurice Clarett says something… you know his history, you know there's an axe to grind, so we need to go further.

"You have to understand, there were other players saying the same thing off the record. These other players also had some axes to grind. But, we continued to (investigate) the story. We reported the story and players were on the record now.

"I think in the process of journalism, we had the interview with Maurice, we had other players on the record and we decided that was a story. Even if Maurice says this alone, that is still probably a story, although that wasn't my decision."

Like Friend mentioned, there were other players that told tales of generous boosters and friendly professors. Never mind the fact that most of them were dropouts, or criminals, or both. Why not interview some ex-OSU players who actually played football at the school for four, or five years? You know, the ones that could make it past remedial courses. Or the ones that didn't get busted with drugs and guns.

"We did go to players who didn't have axes to grind," Friend said. "A lot of players who didn't have axes to grind just didn't want to go there. Ohio State is a big community and there is some fear."

Former OSU players like Marco Cooper and Sam Maldonado claim they were given the bait n' switch trick by ESPN The Magazine. They say they were told that the magazine was working on stories about their careers. However, the only places their quotes appeared were in the multi-part series about Clarett.

"I didn't interview Marco," Friend said. "I think everything was done above board there. I know he's taken back his comments, but in defense of Marco, he's living there. He's living there and that can't be easy. Maurice is not living there. It's a little bit easier for Maurice to hide.

"We have Marco's comments on tape. He is on the record. I don't know how he can take that back now. He is on the record. It's just like Clarett's comments. If someone goes on the record and tells you that, you are going to use it."

ESPN has a point in regards to having juicy comments on the record. That is gold in the journalism business. But when those comments include claims such as, "Mr. Such and Such gave me the money" it could turn into fool's gold real quick.

How does ESPN defend using these vague, second-hand statements? Why not actually do some research and find the true identity of Mr. Such and Such so people actually know he exists?

"We did pursue the identity of Mr. Such and Such and we have some information and our reporting is ongoing," Hoenig said. "But we did not have sufficient information to subject a private citizen to that exposure. There are rules that we have to play with that limit the amount of information we can expose in a piece like this. As long as we're willing to say, 'This is what Maurice says,' that's one thing. But when we're putting our own credibility on the line, we have to be very careful about accusations we're making about individuals - especially private individuals."

Whatever ESPN wants to say, a lot of journalists wouldn't have used the "Mr. Such and Such" comments. It would be too easy for Clarett to make something like that up. But Friend still defends his piece.

"I think it's not sophomoric," he said. "I think we tried to do the reporting on it and get these names (of the boosters). Of course we tried. We tried our best. (Clarett) wasn't going to say. I wish we had it documented. In a perfect world, we'd have every name. But we went to the dealerships, we went to Jim Tressel, went to Dick Tressel… or attempted to go to these people, and tried to do all the reporting around this.

"When Clarett's talking about the boosters, I don't think a coach can control all these kids. But he says the coaches would bring him in their office and say, 'Have you met such and such?' And if that's the way he wants to talk - if he doesn't want to name the names - that's his prerogative. He's saying a coach came to him and said, 'Have you met such and such? You should meet him here. You can go over to his house.' He's saying it was set up by coaches. You don't think every journalist would run that?"

Hoenig says he has been in the business for a long time and says the decision was an easy one to run the Clarett series.

"Maurice was willing to go on the record about a lot of specifics," he said. "Anyone that was in my business would have felt compelled to put it out there - especially if they had the information that we had."

But ESPN might be getting into a shady area. Are they going to run a story every time an athlete comes to them with an axe to grind?

"Any high-profile player of Maurice's status, on a team with a big-time football program like Ohio State's, that came to us with this kind of story, and was willing to go on the record, would get this same kind of forum," Hoenig said.

The editor warns that Clarett is not much different than many other athletes.

"There is almost no story you can do where the subject of the story doesn't have some kind of axe to grind," Hoenig said. "Sometimes it's not as obvious as this one, but they have a point in wanting to talk to the press. It's our job to sort through that and give the reader something to make their own judgment by, and that's what we did here."

There have been strong rumors that Clarett was paid for his story, but the magazine denies it.

"We would never do that in a million years," Hoenig said. "And anyone who suggests that is making an insult to the standards here at ESPN and ESPN The Magazine. It's absolutely not true. I know it's not true because we never gave him a dime."

OK, fair enough. Maybe ESPN gets the benefit on the doubt on that one. Clarett had plenty of incentive to crawl to them with his story, even with no promises to fill his wallet.

But where ESPN did cross the line was the way it piled on. It really didn't have many facts to report, so it juiced up the stories as much as possible. And why so many stories on this situation? If the magazine truly wanted to be unbiased and let the public make its own opinion, why run six stories, all of which bash OSU in some form? Where is the balanced reporting ESPN claims to have?

Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger is perplexed as anyone.

"I really don't want to talk about ESPN and their role in this story," Geiger said. "I've talked to my commissioner and to others about what their agenda might be and we're all a little mystified."

One good thing has come out of all of this: Geiger has proven once again why he is one of the best ADs in the business. Instead of sitting back and letting Clarett and ESPN take their shots, Geiger is firing back. He is defending his university and is confident the allegations will be disproven.

Geiger says he doesn't want to talk about ESPN's role, but at this point, he's forced to.

"I've been an athletic director for 33 years and in the business for 43 years and I have never seen an institution attacked in this way before and I think that for us to be silent… I'll do the best I can," Geiger said. "I can't violate the things that my lawyers have told me I can't violate, but I think it's very important for our university, for our fans, for our students, for members of my staff, who I'm so very proud of, it would be wrong to be silent. They deserve to have somebody stand up and say that we're doing well, we're proud of our program, we stand by our program, and we'll defend."

Geiger wonders why ESPN would only interview former players that were unable to make it at Ohio State if the magazine was truly interested in balanced reporting.

"The unusual aspect of the allegations that have come through ESPN is that the individuals that they have selected as examples struggled and I can't say more than that," Geiger said.

Note: Messages from Bucknuts.com to ESPN The Magazine have not been returned yet. The above quotes from Gary Hoenig and Tom Friend were borrowed from interviews from ESPN Radio's The Dan Patrick Show and WBNS 1460 The Fan's The Big Show, with Kirk Herbstreit and Damon Bruce.

 

[3yardsandacloud]

The Maurice Clarett Saga Unfolds - Related Story

A related article from the Columbus Dispatch detailing Andy Geiger's counter claims.


11/17/04
Geiger denies Clarett claims, but says there will be changes - Columbus Dispatch •FB

Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Geiger denies Clarett claims, but says there will be changes
Ken Gordon - THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Even as he methodically rebutted allegations against the Ohio State football program, athletics director Andy Geiger admitted there have been or will be some departmental policy changes.

On the day after an NCAA investigator came to Columbus and interviewed coach Jim Tressel and others, Geiger spent the better part of an hour ticking off the laundry list of allegations brought by former running back Maurice Clarett and other former players in recent ESPN reports.

"I’ve been an athletic director for 33 years . . . and I have never seen an institution attacked in this way before," Geiger said. "It would be wrong to be silent. We’re doing well, we’re proud of our program, we stand by our program, and we’ll defend."

The allegations included improper benefits by boosters (to which some coaches allegedly steered players), pay for no-show summer jobs, loaner cars arranged by coaches or staff members, and academic fraud by tutors or advisers.

Geiger either denied or defended the school’s practices one by one.

If last week was Star Wars, yesterday was The Empire Strikes Back.

Geiger said the NCAA official returned to the group’s Indianapolis offices, and there was no plan to come back.

Clarett, a star on the 2002 national championship team, could not be reached for comment. His cousin, Vince Marrow, did not know whether the NCAA planned to contact Clarett but said he thought Clarett would cooperate if asked.

"I’m pretty sure he’ll meet with them," Marrow said. "He’s come this far, why not talk?"

Also yesterday, Tressel stood up for himself and his assistant coaches.

"I feel good about how we do things here at Ohio State, I feel good about how we lead this program and the intentions and the ways that we do things," he said. "I understand the rules of the game and the rules of the NCAA very, very well and have great confidence that we follow them to the ‘T.’ I feel the same way about our coaching staff."

Geiger said the NCAA had already covered Clarett’s allegations of cars and tutors in its first investigation and found no violations by Ohio State.

He denied outright the charges that Clarett was ostracized by the university or steered into football-friendly classes.

But Geiger was less adamant when discussing the possibility that Clarett received money from boosters or was paid for bogus summer jobs. Those are hard to prove or disprove unless there is a paper trail.

He used the phrases, "we have no evidence to date that this is true" or "we do not believe the allegation is true."

"Obviously, compliance is a shared responsibility," Geiger said, referring to boosters, fans and employers. "Everybody has to cooperate. It is impossible to be everywhere simultaneously.

"We’re going to have 105,000 people in the stadium on Saturday and probably another 20,000 or 30,000 milling around outside. Can I vouch for every single one of those people? Obviously, that’s impossible.

"We can only hope that the message that we continue to give . . . is that we value the rules. I have to operate on some parts actual, factual knowledge and some parts faith, hope and credit."

Tressel has admitted calling McDaniel Automotive in Marion on behalf of Clarett, trying to ensure that the player would be treated fairly when purchasing a car. Geiger said although that was not a violation, "it will never be done again. It will now not be accepted practice."

He also left open the possibility of further tightening the department’s procedures on checking with summer employers, its boostereducation program and its policy on off-campus housing, among other areas.

"I think that we’re a lot more vigilant now," he said. "I don’t know how much is enough."

Marrow was asked if he thought Clarett’s allegations were true.

"Only three people know: God, Tress and Maurice," Marrow said. "When I was around, Tress was telling him to do the right things, but they did have a lot of private meetings."

Marrow said Clarett was in Columbus and might plan to speak with the media "to clear his name."


Dispatch reporter Rob Oller contributed to this story
[email protected]

 

[3yardsandacloud]

The Maurice Clarett Saga Unfolds

ESPN article #15. Insiders membership required to view.


11/17/04
Classes as important as cash and cars - ESPN •FB

Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Classes as important as cash and cars
By Rod Gilmore - ESPN Insider

Phantom jobs allegedly have existed in college football for decades, long before Maurice Clarett ever arrived on the Ohio State campus. A friend of mine, an Ohio State booster who requested anonymity, told me about a Buckeyes player in the 1950s whose job – supposedly arranged for by coaches – was to turn off the lights in the football stadium.

There were no lights in the football stadium.

According to Clarett, phantom jobs still exist at Ohio State. That, among other things, is what the former Buckeyes running back told ESPN The Magazine. Clarett alleges he and other players received cash from phantom jobs, cash from boosters and the use of free cars. Most of the public focus in Clarett's case has been on these alleged "extra benefits."

However, lost in the headlines about cars and cash is the part about the student-athletes. Clarett, and others, also have alleged a number of academic improprieties, including academic advisers steering players to football-friendly professors, Mickey Mouse classes and testing assistance. According to Clarett, this was all about keeping him and other players eligible to play football.

Clarett's allegations raise questions about the true arrangement between a university and its student-athletes. It is commonly understood that the bargain works like this: The student receives a free education and, in exchange, the university receives a talented athlete who helps the school win football games – and as a result, generate money to pay for non-revenue sports, administrators and million-dollar football coaches.

If Ohio State is not delivering the education, it is not living up to its end of the bargain – and the bargain becomes a sham. And if it is a sham, the cries for student-athletes to be paid become more reasonable. If universities don't take seriously their obligation to educate student-athletes they should simply pay the players.

Maurice Clarett alleges that Ohio State didn't hold up its end of the student-athlete bargain.
Some observers will say, in reality, many players attend Ohio State in order to pursue a career in the NFL, not to receive an education. Naturally, Ohio State coaches, like coaches at many other universities, do sell the NFL when they recruit players.

The fact that college football is the feeder program for professional football is the conundrum that confounds the NCAA's amateurism ideal. It often leads to student-athletes buying into a college coach's sales pitch about the NFL and ignoring the academic compact.

Is Ohio State delivering on its educational promise? That's one of the questions raised by Clarett's allegations, and the university should not be defensive about such an inquiry. In fact, it should welcome the scrutiny. It might be impossible for a university to be perfect on this issue, and Ohio State should listen to the claims of Clarett and other players.

For example, B.J. Barre, a defensive back in 2000, claimed he was steered into a learning disabilities program without his knowledge. According to Barre, this allowed him extra time and assistance on tests. Ohio State Athletic Director Andy Geiger vehemently denies this allegation. Geiger stated that learning disabilities are not determined or handled by the athletic department.

There are other examples. Sammy Maldonado, a former Buckeye running back, told ESPN The Magazine that after spending two years at Ohio State, only one year of credits was allowed when he transferred to Maryland. Maldonado said that while at Ohio State, he was advised to take those very classes that Maryland later disallowed.

Another player alleged an academic adviser steered him to a class on Yiddish Culture where approximately 10 other football players were enrolled. It seems unlikely, at best, that so many football players would have such an interest in Yiddish Culture.

Clarett and Marco Cooper, another former Buckeye, claim they were steered to African-American Studies classes that were populated with other football players. Geiger said "only 19 percent," or approximately 10 students, in the class of 50 were football players. That's still quite a few football players in a single class on a campus with approximately 35,000 undergraduates.

According to players interviewed by The Magazine, there are several notorious Mickey Mouse classes football players can take in order to help them remain eligible. Six officiating courses – baseball, basketball, football, softball, volleyball and wrestling – are available for three credits each.

A class on Coaching Football is available – taught by Jim Tressel, Ohio State's football coach. According to one player, the course teaches a basic version of the Buckeyes' playbook. According to Ohio State, football players do not generally take that course.

Ohio State is rightfully proud of the fact graduation rates have improved under Tressel. There are claims that under former coach John Cooper, only about 15 percent of football players graduated. The NCAA's 2004 report now pegs Ohio State's graduation rate for football at approximately 53 percent. Tressel also has encouraged former players such as linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer, who lasted only a short time in the NFL, to return to Ohio State to pursue his degree.

The increase in graduation rates is commendable. However, Ohio State's commitment to the student-athlete cannot be measured solely by those rates. The quality of those degrees also matters.

If football players are being steered to easy courses, then Ohio State is not living up to its obligation. The Buckeyes would not be alone – there probably are Mickey Mouse courses at most universities, especially those with major football programs.

But this should be an opportunity for Ohio State to solve these problems and steer football players in a different direction – in the right direction.

The headlines will continue to focus on whether Clarett and others received "extra benefits." However, the NCAA (not Ohio State officials) should investigate whether Ohio State football players are getting the basic academic benefits the school has promised.

And that can only be determined by listening to the student-athletes, regardless of whether you like what they have to say.

Rod Gilmore is an ESPN college football analyst and a regular contributor to Insider.

 

[3yardsandacloud]

He said ... they said - 11/18 & 19/04

11/18/04 Articles:

Elizabeth Conlisk
http://www.10tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2584447
Despite the negative publicity, Ohio State spokesperson Elizabeth Conlisk says the university has a great image.
"When they think of Ohio State and they think of big, they think of excellence in a big way," says Conlisk.


Mike Doss
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/10217381.htm
``No I did not,'' Doss said when asked about seeing improper gifts handed out at OSU. ``(Former OSU player) Robert Smith said hundred-dollar handshakes, I read that in ESPN Magazine. He said he didn't see it, but he heard about it. I never had the opportunity to see this or accept it (money).

``Perks are going to come by being an athlete and being a football player at a big university. But its not going to be to the extent where someone hands you thousands of dollars freely. I just dont see that going on.''

Clarett told ESPN The Magazine last week that loaner cars, cash, easy grades and no-work jobs were there for the taking at OSU. Three former teammates have echoed parts of Clarett's story to ESPN.

School official have denied the claims, but an NCAA official returned to the Columbus campus on Monday for the second time in two years to investigate the football program. Clarett helped lead the Buckeyes to a 2002 national title before being suspended the following season for accepting illegal benefits and lying about them to the NCAA.

``Now you may go to a restaurant and the owner may give you a discount on your dinner or say bring your family in, we'll look out for them after a game,'' Doss said. ``Different things like that, but never to the extent where anyone was putting money into any players' pockets or (players were) driving vehicles around.''

Doss praised Clarett's ability and contribution to the title, but characterized him as headstrong.

``He just wanted to do it the Maurice Clarett way, and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't,'' Doss said. ``It was unfortunate that his career ended the way it did at Ohio State.... He didn't make the best decisions off the field and they crept up on him.''


Kirk Herbstreit
http://www.detnews.com/2004/um/0411/18/f01-9161.htm
Still, even though Tressel's contract -- worth more than $1.5 million annually -- runs through the 2008 season, such conjecture no doubt will continue until this latest Clarett saga is finally put to rest. And perhaps even until one of the nation's top young coaches, Utah's Urban Meyer, moves to another job.

Meyer, an Ohio native and former Buckeyes assistant, has an escape clause in his contract that allows him to leave without penalty for the coaching job at any one of three schools: Michigan, Notre Dame and Ohio State.

"I understand the speculation, but I think it's absurd at this point," said ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, a former Ohio State quarterback. "It's ridiculous to even think about what kind of job security Jim Tressel has, not only because they won a national championship, but because of the way he runs his program and the way he conducts himself.

"When (NCAA officials) step to the podium and say, 'Here's what we have found, and what Maurice Clarett has said is, in fact, true,' then maybe we can talk about who would be the next coach. But I know too many people, and I know the man himself, and I find it a little bit bizarre to even talk about a replacement."


Jack Rall
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/2004-11-17-osu-troubles_x.htm
"No one at the university can feel happy about this because it's such a distraction," says Jack Rall, a professor in the department of physiology and cell biology.

A former chairman of the faculty Athletic Council who now heads the Faculty Council, Rall is supportive of the athletics staff and coaches, including football coach Jim Tressel. He was part of the committee that interviewed Tressel before he was hired in January 2001 and says he believes him to be a good and honest man.

Even so, Rall worries, "This fits with people's conceptions of the abuses of big-time sports. ... It's a public relations disaster.

"I don't know quite how to trace the history of this, whether it's related to Woody Hayes being a very colorful figure. But Ohio State has always had this football-factory image. And it really hinders the good story we have to tell about the university, its diversity and its improvement."


Mike Nugent
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/2004-11-17-osu-troubles_x.htm
"If it was a different source, a really reliable person, everybody would be like, 'Maybe something is going on,' " Ohio State kicker Mike Nugent says. "With this kind of source, everyone is like, 'Who cares?' It happened before ... it'll be over soon."


Kirk Herbstreit & Andy Geiger
http://www.newsnet5.com/sports/3926309/detail.html
Former Ohio State quarterback and current ESPN college football commentator Kirk Herbstreit said he was surprised and denied statements made earlier Tuesday by athletic director Andy Geiger.

The feud stems from allegations made in ESPN The Magazine by ex-Buckeye tailback Maurice Clarett.

Geiger said he did not want ESPN's "College Gameday" in Columbus on Saturday for the annual showdown between Ohio State and Michigan, WCMH-TV reported.

Geiger mentioned that he was upset at the network due its continued pursuit of the Clarett story.

Some of the comments Geiger made were directed at Herbstreit.

"I understand that one of the stars of ESPN 'GameDay' went off on us a bit last night on the air," Geiger said. "I didn't hear it myself. This is secondhand, that we think we're getting bigger than college football. This is the same individual who, four weeks ago after we lost three straight games, said on the air that he didn't see how he could recommend Ohio State to a young man who wants to play offensive football.

"I'm concerned about that. And the juxtaposition of that and some of the kinds of things I've heard on and off the air with regard to that. So our welcome mat is perhaps not as thick as it once was with regard to some of those kinds of things. I don't know who is thinking that they're bigger than the game of football in this particular instance and it bothers me, and I'm pretty outspoken about it, and I'm pretty outspoken with the Big Ten about it and I talked with the commissioner about it today. I have talked to my colleague athletic directors and I'm not alone in my concern," Geiger said.

Herbstreit spoke with Valpredo on Tuesday night, saying he was sorry his objectivity got misconstrued for a lack of loyalty.

"My loyalty to my university is something I hold as sacred to me as my own family, and when someone questions that I'm incredibly sensitive to it," Herbstreit said.

Geiger spoke to local media members after head coach Jim Tressel's regularly scheduled chat with reporters to discuss the NCAA's recent investigation into allegations Clarett and other former Buckeyes made to ESPN.

Geiger said he didn't know what ESPN's agenda or motivation was for publishing and broadcasting the former players' claims.

He also said ESPN had called the university about possibly hosting "College GameDay" from Columbus. Geiger said ESPN said the location was "on their radar screen," but discussions never went further.

"I had a conversation with Dave Brown of ESPN, I think it was early last week, and he understands how I feel about ESPN and the inconsistency that we see in their behavior," Geiger said. "ESPN 'GameDay' and all of the commentating and all of the really intelligent things that are said on the air in those presentations can often be difficult to live with, just in normal times. ... Given some of the emotion around ESPN in this community, and given the required security, it probably would have been our judgment, had we been asked, to ask them to go someplace else on this particular day."

Tressel also addressed allegations made against the football program. He said he has no doubt that his program is clean.

"I feel good about how we do things here at Ohio State," Tressel said. "I feel good about how we lead this program and the intentions and the ways that we do things. I understand the rules of the game and the rules of the NCAA very, very well, and have great confidence that we follow them to the 'T'. "



He said ... they said - 11/19/04

11/19/04 Articles:

John Cooper
http://www.marionstar.com/news/stories/20041119/localnews/1619616.html
The upcoming battle against the Wolverines was just one of many subjects Cooper expressed an opinion, including Ohio State's recent troubles in regards to allegations made by former player Maurice Clarett.

"The national image of Ohio State right now isn't very good," he said. "It has been tarnished."

He added he does not believe Clarett's claims of free rental cars, getting paid for work not done and tutors doing his school work has not been a distraction for the coaches and players.

"Don't believe that for a minute," Cooper said. "I think it hurt our football team last week. You are always defending yourself and it is time consuming."

He added it has been probably harder on the coaches because players have been focused on going to classes and football practice.

Despite everything that has gone on the past few weeks, Cooper had high praise for the job Tressel has done along the coaching sidelines.

"He has done a great job of coaching since he's been at Ohio State," he said. "He is not going to beat himself. He makes the other team beat you."

 

[3yardsandacloud]

The Maurice Clarett Saga Unfolds - Related Article

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany addresses the Clarett/ESPN saga.


11/20/04
Delany: Truth problem in Clarett's claims - Associated Press •FB

Saturday, November 20, 2004, 4:04 PM EST
Delany: Truth problem in Clarett's claims
The Associated Press - By RUSTY MILLER - AP Sports Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany believes the NCAA will have a difficult time uncovering the truth in its investigation of Ohio State's football program and accusations by former Buckeyes star Maurice Clarett.

"This Clarett kid has got issues," Delany said before Saturday's Michigan-Ohio State game. "Anybody who has seen this story unfold realizes that maybe Ohio State has issues, too. That's going to be determined by the NCAA."

The latest round of accusations by Clarett, who led Ohio State to a national title in 2002 as a freshman, were reported by ESPN two weeks ago. Clarett said coach Jim Tressel arranged for him to get a loaner car, that boosters gave players money, and that players received excessive pay for no-show summer jobs and were coddled by football-friendly professors.

Ohio State athletic director Geiger has denied the accusations.

Delany said he was upset with ESPN - a corporate partner of the Big Ten that holds broadcast contracts.

"The thing that I don't understand, you have statements which I think have been uncorroborated, not vetted," Delany said. "I'm looking for something other than just regurgitation of broad statements that were made, discredited and then remade."

ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said Saturday the network stands by the story, adding "this comes as a surprise because if the conference has an issue with us we would expect them to contact us directly."

Delany, who was an NCAA enforcement officer from 1975-79, cautioned that the NCAA will take its time to determine if Ohio State broke association bylaws.

"At the end of the day, the NCAA will decide whether NCAA violations occurred. Not Ohio State. Not Jim Delany. And not ESPN," Delany said.

An NCAA investigator visited Ohio State on Monday.

"I think the NCAA is going to have a hell of a job trying to figure out who's on first and who's on third," he said.

Delany said the individual accusations against Ohio State and Tressel are "all potential tinderboxes."

 

[3yardsandacloud]

He said ... they said - 11/20, 21 & 23/04

11/20/04 Articles:

Former YSU Players and Community Figures
http://www.news-herald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13405347&BRD=1698&PAG=461&dept_id=21848&rfi=6
Further, Clarett said while Tressel may not have had direct knowledge of the sources of those improper benefits, he was aware that players were receiving them and turned a blind eye on such activities.

The ESPN stories also cited former Youngstown State players Ray Isaac and Shawn Patton as confirming that they received improper benefits while playing for Tressel at YSU.

The accusations by Clarett, Isaac and Patton do not ring true to former YSU players Pat Danko and Randy Smith. Both were recruited by Tressel, played four years for him and since have been elected to the school's Athletic Hall of Fame.
Danko, now 34, was the starting noseguard and co-captain of the 1991 national championship team on which Isaac was the starting quarterback.

"There's no way any of the stuff Ray (Isaac) and Clarett are saying is true, in my opinion," Danko said during an interview earlier this week in his Youngstown office. The former Warren John F. Kennedy High School star and YSU graduate is quality manager for Lear Corporation, a leading manufacturer of automobile seats.

"Coach Tressel ran a straightforward program," Danko said. "There were study halls we had to go to. You had to sign up for classes. Whatever you got, you paid for. Everything was structured.

"I have nothing but great things to say about Tressel," Danko added. "The guy is all about business. He's a great teacher not just of football, but of life. Most of us came to think of him as a second father."

Smith, 31, was a defensive back and kick returner recruited to YSU by Tressel in 1991 out of Rockport, N.Y., near Buffalo. He also earned a degree at YSU and is a youth counselor in the Youngstown area.

"Coach Tressel had high standards for everybody when I played for him," Smith said. "Whether you were a star or a walk-on, it didn't matter. If you got into trouble, you were suspended and didn't play. The program came first.

"I don't believe Clarett, Isaac and Patton because the Jim Tressel I know is an honest man, a guy you could count on," Smith added.

Danko and Smith both said Clarett comes up the loser in any battle of credibility with Tressel.

"I think he (Clarett) is getting some bad advice," Danko said. "I also think it's highly suspicious that all this is coming out right before the Michigan game."

Smith said, "Maurice and those guys were caught doing something they shouldn't have been doing and right away, started looking for someone else to blame."

Many members of the Youngstown corporate community who got to know Tressel during his years at YSU also are siding with him in the dispute with Clarett.

Julie Ault was a deputy director for the Ohio Lottery Commission during Tressel's years at YSU. She's now the director of public relations and marketing for Covelli Enterprises, the leading owner of Panera Breads outlets in Ohio.
During an interview this week, Ault said she worked on "numerous projects" with Tressel and described him as "a fine gentleman with total integrity, a total passion for football and for this community."

Vic Rubenstein, owner of the Rubenstein Associates consulting firm and a 1966 YSU graduate, had a number of professional dealings with Tressel during his stint in Youngstown.

"I don't think folks down here believe much of any of what Clarett and those guys are saying because they know about Jim Tressel's level of integrity," Rubenstein said.

Rubenstein said he has mixed feelings toward Clarett, who has spent the last two seasons out of football after an unsuccessful attempt to enter the NFL draft.

"As a fan and as an observer, I've never seen anything quite like the anticipation caused by him (Clarett) going to Ohio State," Rubenstein said. "There was pride beyond belief. Everybody was hanging their hat on this kid. Other than having him go to YSU, nothing could have been finer than having him go to Columbus to play for the Buckeyes.
"Although he's been a tremendous disappointment for a lot of us here," Rubenstein added, "there are still some people here who hope he finds a brighter future."



He said ... they said - 11/21/04

11/21/04 Articles:

Dustin Fox
http://www.dispatch.com/football/football.php?story=dispatch/2004/11/21/20041121-E3-01.html
Buckeye fans, however, might have shrugged off a Clarett bow at game’s end, when Michigan was sent packing in defeat and the smiling Buckeyes floated with peace of mind.

"Maybe for a day or two, people won’t ask us about No. 13," senior cornerback Dustin Fox said.


Brandon Joe
http://www.dispatch.com/football/football.php?story=dispatch/2004/11/21/20041121-E3-01.html
Credit Tressel for getting this team ready to play despite his program and his own integrity coming under attack because of the latest scandal related to his former star tailback.

"Our practices were intense. We kind of walled everything out," Joe said.


Jim Delany
http://www.dispatch.com/football/football.php?story=dispatch/2004/11/21/20041121-E2-03.html
"I have a question of whether this is in the best tradition of news gathering . . . until I see some corroboration or some vetting I have not seen yet," Delany said before the Ohio State-Michigan game.

That’s coming from a former investigator for the NCAA. He acknowledged that Clarett’s most serious allegations — coach Jim Tressel helping him acquire a car, of boosters slipping him cash and tutors helping him with academic work — probably merit inquiry.

What’s not new in college football, he said, is that there are boosters who might overstep the bounds in support of their team, or that liberties might be taken on a work site, or that in some isolated cases there might be academic support that isn’t appropriate.

"But that’s a long way from, ‘Hey, this system is corrupt. Nobody works. Coaches in the middle setting it up. Nobody is doing their academic work,’ " Delany said. "Those kinds of things have been looked at (in the investigation of Clarett in 2003 when he was suspended), and they will be looked at again.

"My major point is the NCAA is going to be involved now. At the end of the day, they will be the trier of fact, and that the news function that I see being played out at ESPN is not unlike the news function that I think has failed from time to time."

NCAA officials were on campus Monday, meeting with Tressel and others.

"I think the NCAA is going to have a hell of a job trying to figure out who’s on first and who’s on third," Delaney said.

Delany stood up for the character of Ohio State athletics director Andy Geiger, whom he said he has known for more than 25 years.

"Some of the charges the young man has made in reference to Andy Geiger don’t pass the smell test as far as I’m concerned, because Geiger, I think, if anything, is a builder, an honorable guy," Delany said. "I’ve seen him in many, many tough circumstances, and never once have I seen him try to finesse a tough situation related to an NCAA rules violation.

"It’s investigation, self-disclosure, turn yourself in, deal with the reality. For (Clarett) to imply something other than that is going on in this case, to me, doesn’t make sense."


Heather Lyke Catalano
http://www.dispatch.com/football/football.php?story=dispatch/2004/11/21/20041121-A1-03.html
NCAA rules allow athletes to work as long as they are paid the going rate for work actually performed. They also allow coaches to help players find jobs.

"Coaches serve as liaisons," said Heather Lyke Catalano, associate athletics director for compliance issues. "How else do you get the word out?"

In May 2003, a Columbus oxygen and healthcare company hired football players to appear at a Dayton convention and sign autographs. Ohio State learned of the job from a Dayton newspaper story that mentioned that several players attended the convention.

The incident prompted Ohio State to report itself to the NCAA for possible violations. No wrongdoing was found, Catalano said.

"There wasn’t any institutional responsibility," she said. "The company was using their name for profit without their knowledge."



He said ... they said - 11/23/04

11/23/04 Articles:

CBS Spoof Stirs Controversy (Video Included)
http://www.10tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2599041&nav=LUEUTPL8
Did a network commercial parody of Ohio State's image go too far? Or was it just innocent fun?

A commercial parody that has Ohio State as the punch line lasts just 17 seconds, but some fans are having a mixed reaction to the spoof.

Fans at the Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe said the spot that aired during the CBS' NFL Today show was both funny and in poor taste.

The voiceover in the ad said, "Ohio State board and tuition, zero dollars. No show landscaping job $25 per hour. A booster's SUV stuffed with stereo equipment, $1. Giving your alma mater a bigger black eye than Woody Hayes, priceless. Some things in life are just handed too you, for everything else there's Coach Tressel's OSU credit card."

The commercial, introduced by a computer generated sportscaster, attempts to make light of allegations made by former OSU player Maurice Clarett.

Clarett claims OSU boosters paid him and other players.

Some fans are tired of hearing about it now matter how it's portrayed, saying, "Every time you hear Ohio State, you hear Maurice Clarett nobody wants to hear it."

Even if there's a little humor involved.

A spokesperson for CBS sports says the piece stands on its own and makes no apologies. He adds that the network has not received any complaints.

OSU Athletic Director Andy Geiger had not seen the ad and had no comment.

 

[3yardsandacloud]

The Maurice Clarett Saga Unfolds

ESPN article #16. More former players back up the allegations of Maurice Clarett.


11/24/04
Three more former Buckeyes support allegations - ESPN •FB

Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Three more former Buckeyes support allegations
By Seth Wickersham - ESPN The Magazine

The NCAA is now interested in talking with former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett about possible improprieties surrounding the Buckeyes football program, ESPN has learned.

It remains unclear whether the NCAA, which visited Columbus on Nov. 15, will convene a new investigation into academic fraud and booster misconduct after Clarett implicated the school during an interview published in ESPN The Magazine earlier this month.

Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel and athletic director Andy Geiger have dismissed Clarett's charges during recent media gatherings, but new sources from within the program have told ESPN they believe Clarett, and the NCAA has reason to listen to the allegations.

Three former Ohio State players -- the son of a former Buckeyes assistant coach, an Academic All-Big Ten selection and a current NFL player -- spoke about tutors doing classwork for members of the football team and of a booster culture that spawned "$100 handshakes" and high-paying, low-effort summer jobs.

Former Buckeyes linebacker Fred Pagac Jr., whose father Fred Sr. was an assistant coach at Ohio State for 19 years, says, "There are always people who will help you and cross the line. I've personally seen it happen. You had tutors who if you asked them for help writing a paper they'd end up writing it. You'd go in and ask help about specifics, and then it would end up getting written."

Jack Tucker, an Academic All-Big Ten selection at fullback, also believes tutors complete homework for football players. "Absolutely," he says. "For someone to think it doesn't [happen], they're crazy."

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Drew Carter describes a culture in which football players would find a "hookup" -- a tutor who does their homework for them or a booster who provides an easy, high-paying job -- and pass the information to their teammates. "Someone would be like, 'Man I got a paper due' and teammates would be like, 'Go to this guy,' " Carter says. "He'd write out a rough draft and say, 'Here, do it for yourself.' "

Though a number of other former players have told ESPN they never saw any wrongdoing in Columbus, Carter says it was common knowledge which tutors would do other people's work. "Yeah, the hookup," he says. "When you find that hookup, gotta help your teammates by letting them know about it."

Carter says "hook-ups" were also responsible for finding players cushy summer jobs. "A fan or an [alumnus], that's the hook-up. You go up to the guy through a friend; you don't even know him. It wasn't like, 'Oh, I need an easy job this summer, Coach.' Not like that at all. Somebody on the team has a job and you ask them, 'Is it hard?' And they say no and you say, 'OK, I'm gonna try and get on it.' "

Carter did odd jobs when he was at Columbus for which he says he was paid up to $20 an hour. "You get a paycheck, $1,000 or something like that. It wasn't under the table; my job had my Social Security number and everything. But you still got paid quite a bit of money for sweeping, cleaning up stuff, doing like very, very light work. What you would call nonstrenuous work."

Clarett said he received money "in the thousands" from boosters after posting big rushing totals in games. On the subject of fans and boosters offering "$100 handshakes," Tucker responds as if it were common knowledge. "Yeah, I believe that happens," he says. "I mean, tell me something I don't already know."

Carter, Pagac and Tucker do not believe Tressel set up Clarett with vehicles. But Carter says it should have been obvious to the administration that Clarett was driving expensive cars. It was certainly a popular subject of conversation among players.

"I don't know how he got those cars, but he had them," Carter says. "It was blatant. I'd see him changing cars like every couple of weeks and it was like, damn. I don't know how the coaches could not have seen it."

Asked for a response, Steve Snapp, Ohio State's associate athletics director of communications, said: "In my opinion it's another example of selective journalism on [ESPN's] part and and an attempt to run an unbalanced story."

Last week Geiger criticized Clarett and the players who have backed his claims as "colossal failures."

Carter is offended by Geiger's statement and hopes he, along with Tucker and Pagac, will lend credibility to his former teammates. "Those are good guys who made some mistakes," he says, "but I don't think they're colossal failures. They're my friends, we went through it all together. If guys like Freddie and Jack and me went through it and didn't get in trouble and did everything right, but still, you know, got some perks because of it, are you gonna call us colossal failures, too?

"That's why Ohio State is being afraid -- because if other people, legit people, like Freddie and Jack and myself, say stuff, then they'll be like, 'Oh no.' "