Ohio State placed on 3 years probation

[Reds Fanatic]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2362496

The thing that is not clear is is this just probabtion, do they have to give back sholarships or are their postseason bans. None of that is mentioned.


Updated: March 10, 2006, 11:10 AM ET
OSU receives three years' probation for violationsAssociated Press


COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State was placed on three years' probation by the NCAA on Friday for violations by its men's basketball program.

The school also has been ordered to pay back basketball tournament revenue.

The NCAA's announcement marks the final resolution of a two-year investigation into the Buckeye basketball program run by fired coach Jim O'Brien.

[Danny Serafini]

If something that big happened it would've been mentioned. Looks like they just have to keep their noses clean for 3 years.

[Reds Fanatic]

This article makes it more clear. They basically are just under a probation period for 3 years and have to pay back $800,000 they earned in tournaments. The good news is there are no postseason bans as part of this.


COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The NCAA placed Ohio State on three years probation on Friday and ordered it to pay back tournament revenue for violations including using an ineligible player, the resolution of a two-year investigation into the men's basketball program run by fired coach Jim O'Brien.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said the amount likely would be about $800,000 in tournament revenues for the four years in which Boban Savovic played. He received improper gifts, including housing and cash, from a booster.

Ohio State also will lose credit for all records from its four NCAA tournament appearances from 1999 through 2002 and must take down the 1999 Final Four banner which hangs from the rafters in Value City Arena.

Ohio State escaped another year without postseason play. The NCAA's announcement came about two hours before the top-seeded Buckeyes' quarterfinal game against Penn State in the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis.

The NCAA came down hard on O'Brien and former assistant coach Paul Biancardi, now the head coach at Wright State University in Dayton. If O'Brien tries to get a job at another college, he and his new school must appear before the NCAA's infractions committee to discuss whether he will face additional limitations.

Biancardi was prohibited from recruiting until Oct. 1, 2007, and Wright State was required to make sure that he does not or else it will have to face additional scrutiny from the NCAA's infractions committee.

[LoganBuck]

Wow that penalty on Biancardi, really hurts the already scuffling Wright State Raiders. It still irks me that the judge sided with Obrien. If you can't fire a coach for cheating, then what can you do?

[Larkin411]

I really dislike the NCAA. I can't muster up that much dislike for O'Brien since it seems like the ineligible recruit he helped really needed the money but my annoyance with the NCAA continues unabated. I can't believe they're making us take down the banner. Of course, I might be just a tad biased being a huge OSU fan and all. Oh well, here's hoping we get a new banner this year.

[traderumor]

This actually seems like a fair adjudication by the NCAA. The truly responsible parties, regardless of some slick contractual wording, are getting hit hard by the NCAA. I agree that taking the banner down is a bit much, but I just think that's standard. Glad to see this is now behind the program and they can look forward to what appears to be a record setting future with Matta.

[max venable]

Here's the link to the ESPN story:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2362496

And here's one from bucknuts: http://ohiostate.scout.com/2/507341.html

The best news, aside from no post-season ban is that there will be no loss of scholarships.

And, oh yeah, Matta stays! :thumbup:

[Heath]

Paul Biancardi - Thanks for coaching - see you down the road.

[REDREAD]

Wow, you OSU guys ought to consider yourselves quite lucky. The 3 years probation is nothing. It never really bothered me to take down old banners, because as a fan, I'd always have the memory of the actual game. Not being eligible for postseason hurts more.

[GAC]

The 3 years of probation doesn't bother me one bit. It's basically a "slap on the wrist". Keep your nose clean (which all school's should be doing), and you have nothing to worry about.

While I agree pretty much with LF's summation/views concerning the NCAA - what bothers me is this - what does the "offender" (O'Brien) get out of all of this? Did I miss something somewhere? Yes, he was simply trying to help a fellow human being; but the bottomline is... his actions violated NCAA rules that caused the school to take a pro-active course of action (knowing NCAA rules) by firing him, and then imposing a self ban on post-season play last year.

What punishment, if any, does he get out of all of this? Being fired should have been suffice IMO. Here is the perplexing "dilema" for me... the court stated that O'Brien did wrongfully breach his contract by giving a $6,000 loan to a recruit, but stated that the offense alone did not merit termination. The Judge stated the University based the firing solely on the offense, and O'Brien's coaching performance was not a factor in the decision.

So he breached his contract.... but obviously, according to the court, it wasn't serious enough to warrant termination?

Meanwhile - the NCAA steps in and imposes the current "punishment" on the shool/program, which is based on O'Brien's actions.

So basically - OSU gets something out of this; but O'Brien nothing? Except possibly a nice settlement from the school. ;)

Oh well - from my standpoint - I'm glad O'Brien is gone. I pretty much had quit following OSU basketball under him. I followed Matta while at Xavier, and when OSU hired him I was overjoyed.

I have a hard time anymore with people in charge whose last name is O'Brien. ;)

[StillFunkyB]

I really dislike the NCAA. I can't muster up that much dislike for O'Brien since it seems like the ineligible recruit he helped really needed the money but my annoyance with the NCAA continues unabated. I can't believe they're making us take down the banner. Of course, I might be just a tad biased being a huge OSU fan and all. Oh well, here's hoping we get a new banner this year.

Point your hatred to OB, and Geiger. Like he didn't know what was going on.

I have a feeling that eventually the Maurice Clarett truth will come out, and they will take away the National Championship.

Geiger should have been fired a long time before he "retired".

That was a great year for OSU hoops, and I lived in Columbus at the time.

[max venable]

Point your hatred to OB, and Geiger. Like he didn't know what was going on.

I have a feeling that eventually the Maurice Clarett truth will come out, and they will take away the National Championship.

Geiger should have been fired a long time before he "retired".

That was a great year for OSU hoops, and I lived in Columbus at the time.
The NCAA has already ruled on the Clarett issue. They're done there. And besides, they can't take away the national championship. It's a BCS thing, not an NCAA thing.

[traderumor]

Point your hatred to OB, and Geiger. Like he didn't know what was going on.

I have a feeling that eventually the Maurice Clarett truth will come out, and they will take away the National Championship.

Geiger should have been fired a long time before he "retired".

That was a great year for OSU hoops, and I lived in Columbus at the time.
The Maurice Clarett truth does keep coming out. Last time it appeared in court accused of armed robbery ;)

As for Geiger, if he was doing such a bad job with compliance as AD, I am curious how they proceed through two thorough investigations of both the football and basketball program without findings of institutional problems and only three years probation after a coach and asst. coach admitted to making payments to players? Clarett was found to be a liar more than once and O'Brien has been ratted out for what he truly was. Lesson with O'Brien, do not fire him, or you will be sued, regardless of what caused the firing.

I think Geiger's legacy as doing what he could to run a clean program in a humongous athletic dept. with a fanatic, well-heeled financially booster base was secure with the limited slaps on the hands they received from two in-depth investigations of the athletic dept. There was a lot of smoke, but no fire. There are not too many programs that can say that which have been in Ohio State's position. They are normally found to have big problems once the investigating starts.

[ochre]

The court ruling in regards to the unlawful termination didn't say that OSU shouldn't fire him (O'Brien). It said they fired him without the required due diligence stipulated in his contract. At least that's how I read it.

As a general ohio sports fan, I've, as they say in Deutschland, had a full nose with cats named O'Brien.

[Larkin411]

So basically - OSU gets something out of this; but O'Brien nothing? Except possibly a nice settlement from the school.;)

Actually O'Brien was also penalized by the NCAA. Although obviously it doesn't really matter since he wasn't going to be getting another coaching job anytime soon.

[Heath]

As a general ohio sports fan, I've, as they say in Deutschland, had a full nose with cats named O'Brien.


Little known the "other" Jim O'Brien took the Dayton Flyers and ran them into the ground.

Something about O'Briens and Ohio don't get along.