Sports
TOP SPORTS STORY - Ohio State Scandal
For anyone who has been sleeping under a rock for the last 2 days, there is a HUGE news story going on about Ohio State and it's athletic program: Former star running back Maurice Clarett, along with other former Buckeye players, have come forth stating that while enrolled as players they or people they know were given money, cars, and tutors to help them get through schooling.
The story started with Clarett claming that while he was enrolled as a student athlete at OSU, Jim Tressell and his brother Dick aided Clarett in receiving cars from local Columbus dealerships. According to the article from ESPN the Magazine Clarett was able to name a couple of local dealerships in town by name. Also, Clarett stated that Jim's brother Dick was able to find Clarett various landscaping jobs that Clarett had but was never really forced to work in. He was paid for a job that he was not forced to show up for. Along with the cars and the landscaping jobs, Clarett mentioned that various college boosters would slip him spending money and that the amounts of money grew larger the better he played.
On top of the money and cars, Clarett issued a statement saying that he would most likely have been ineligible for the NCAA 2002 National Championship game against Miami if the OSU football staff had not assigned him personal advisors to pick the easist classes for him and find tutors who would do most or all of his work on essays for classes. Some of the teachers picked for classes were friends of the football staff and Clarett accused them of passing him whether he was in class or not.
Other than Clarett, there have been a couple more guys that have stepped forward and claimed many of the same things.
Sammy Maldonado: A former OSU student who transfered to Maryland and is now their starting running back, made a statement that he was placed into courses that made it extremely hard for him to graduate and that only 17 of the 40 he was signed up for would transfer to the University of Maryland.
Robert Smith: Star running back during the 90-92 seasons, he is stating that while he was on the team he did not accept booster money but knew many of his teammates did. He also went as far as to state that many of his coaches and football staff were upset with him for taking harder classes than most other athletes would take because it provided a higher failure rate amongst students.
Officials at Ohio State have been very slow to comment and have only made a couple of short statements. Basically they are saying that due to Claretts past and the actions earlier this year with the car incident, it is proven that Clarett is a liar and that any accusations made towards the university are false. Many of the people Clarett called out by name, including a former academic advisor, declined to comment on the situation.
Wow, there are so many things that could happen to the OSU athletic program because of this that it's hard to explain. Along with these allegations there is still some turmoil regarding the booster problems with the basketball program and some of the former college athletes. If this is looked into deeply by the NCAA and OSU is found to be guilty of these charges, watch out Buckeye fans. Not only could this result in probation of the football program, possibly the entire athletic program for a year due to other stipulations in other athletic areas, but Ohio State also could be stripped of the 2002 National Title. I'll keep this updated as much as possible.
Look for more news and ideas to be posted soon.