Article published November 10, 2004
Clarett calls foul against Buckeyes
Ex-star alleges OSU arranged cash, cars
By RON MUSSELMAN
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
COLUMBUS - Former Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett leveled serious allegations against coach Jim Tressel, his staff, and boosters yesterday, saying they arranged for him to get passing grades and helped him receive money for bogus summer jobs, as well as thousands of dollars in cash and loaner cars.
Athletic Director Andy Geiger labeled Mr. Clarett's most recent charges lies. They appear in an article in ESPN The Magazine.
Mr. Geiger said most were covered in the NCAA probe in 2003, where Mr. Clarett was found to have lied to investigators, leading to his season-long suspension from the team.
"There is nothing new in any of this," Mr. Geiger said.
Ohio State coach Jum Tressel refuses to talk about the new allegations by former player Maurice Clarett at his weekly news conference in Columbus yesterday.
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"If new allegations arise from stories that come out and things that former players have to say, we will always investigate. We will investigate thoroughly and we will be the first to admit if there's wrongdoing.
"And we will certainly be the first to call the NCAA," he said.Mr. Clarett, who has not spoken publicly in months, said he agreed to the interview because he wanted to "clear his name" with NFL owners and general managers who may be considering drafting him in 2005.
According to the magazine, Mr. Geiger disparaged Mr. Clarett's character to league officials last spring, leading some teams to take him off their draft board.
Mr. Clarett had challenged the NFL's rule that preventing players from being in the draft less than three years after they graduate from high school. He won an initial federal court ruling, but then lost several appeals.
Thom McDaniels, Mr. Clarett's coach at Warren Harding High School, believes his former star player damaged his reputation even more with yesterday's accusations.
"I think it makes a sad story even sadder," Mr. McDaniels said. "I guess I'm kind of confused. I don't see how this would clear his name. Whoever is giving him advice is using a different logic than I do.
"I don't know how this enhances his reputation for status at the next level. I don't think it enhances it at all," Mr. McDaniels said.
Mr. Clarett alleges that Mr. Tressel set him up with a loaner car.
Mr. Clarett also said members of Mr. Tressel's staff introduced him to boosters who slipped him thousands of dollars in cash. And, the better he played, he said, the more cash he would receive.
Mr. Clarett said Mr. Tressel's brother, Dick, who is coach for Ohio State's running backs, arranged to get him a job working for a landscaper and was paid a lot even though he did not show up for work.
Marco Cooper, a linebacker who was suspended after two arrests for drug-possession, told the magazine he enjoyed many of the same perks that Mr. Clarett described.
"I can say without any reservations that all of the allegations made against me in that story are totally false," Coach Jim Tressel said in a statement. "Additionally, I have spoken to Dick Tressel and the allegations directed toward him, as the mentor of our summer jobs program, also are false.
"I have nothing but the utmost respect for college athletics in general and college football in particular, and I would never do anything to tarnish the image of this great game or The Ohio State University," the head coach continued.
In the article, Mr. Clarett is quoted that he lied to the NCAA last year to save his coach, lied because he thought his coach would convince Mr. Geiger to keep him eligible, and lied because he didn't want to implicate the money men in Columbus.
"I would remind you that the lead individual involved in this story had 17 areas of violation of bylaw 10, which is ethical conduct, and clearly, that behavior continues," said Mr. Geiger, who fired basketball coach Jim O'Brien in June after he admitted he violated NCAA rules by giving a recruit $6,000 who never enrolled at the university.
However, Mr. Clarett told the magazine: "What would've become of Ohio State if I said everything? Half the team would've been suspended, and it would've been worse for everybody. I was like, why don't I just take it?"
Mr. Clarett graduated from high school a semester early and arrived at Ohio State in January, 2002.
Before long, he said, his grades were literally guaranteed.
Mr. Clarett describes a system that kept him and other players eligible and was overseen by the football program.
He says his "grades were messed up" early on, that he wasn't supposed to be eligible for spring practice or the opening of training camp, but that his coaches simply fixed the problem.
"As soon as they'd seen me struggle, they switched academic advisers for me," Mr. Clarett said in the article.
"He turned me on to a tutor, and then we were cool.
"The tutor is a professor at the school. I'd sit there with a note pad, and I'd be playing or talking on the phone, and he'd just outline everything in the book, and say, 'This is what you write for your paper.' He'd take a note pad and say, 'Write this, write that.'
"And they'd tell you like, the old test from winter '02 is going to be the test for January '03. Or the fall of '01 is going to be the next test. They tell you how the tests rotate."
Former Buckeyes star linebacker Chris Spielman, who hosts a radio talk show in Columbus, said he was saddened by Mr. Clarett's allegations.
"I would be absolutely floored and shocked if any of it is true," Mr. Spielman said.
"I think they ought to give Maurice Clarett a lie detector test."
Contact Ron Musselman at:
mussel@theblade.com
or 419-724-6474.Timeline of events
A summary of events involving Maurice Clarett:
January, 2001: Commits to Ohio State soon after Jim Tressel
replaces John Cooper as coach.
Fall, 2001: Named Ohio Associated Press Mr. Football
and is USA Today’s high school offensive player of the year.
January, 2002: Starts classes at OSU after early graduation.
October, 2002: Misses two games with an injured left shoulder. Says he has received hate mail from Ohio State fans since an ESPN The Magazine article that quoted him saying he’s thought about leaving college early for the NFL.
Nov. 23, 2002: Returns from injury, rushes for 119 yards,
scores on a 2-yard run, and sets up another touchdown
with a 26-yard pass reception in a 14-9 win over Michigan.
December, 2002: Blasts OSU offi cials during Fiesta Bowl
practice for not allowing him to fl y to Youngstown for a funeral,
then says the university is lying when they say he didn’t fi le
necessary paperwork for emergency fi nancial aid.
Jan. 3, 2003: Provides the winning score on a 5-yard run,
in a 31-24 double-overtime victory over Miami. Ohio State has
its fi rst national title in 34 years.
July 12, 2003: The New York Times quotes an OSU teaching
assistant who says Mr. Clarett received “preferential treatment.”
She said he walked out of an exam but passed after an
oral exam from the professor.
July 29, 2003: Ohio State confirms the NCAA is investigating
Mr. Clarett’s claim that more than $10,000 in clothing, CDs,
cash, and stereo equipment was stolen in April from a car
he had borrowed from a local dealership.
Sept. 9, 2003: Charged with misdemeanor falsifi cation for
the police report on the theft.
Sept. 10, 2003: Athletic director Andy Geiger announces Mr.
Clarett’s season suspension. Mr. Geiger says Mr. Clarett
received special benefi ts worth thousands of dollars from a
family friend and repeatedly misled investigators.
Sept. 23, 2003: Sues the NFL, challenging the rule that
a player must be out of high school three years to be eligible
for the draft.
Dec. 17, 2003: Ohio State university committee fi nds no
evidence to support allegations of academic misconduct by
athletes, including Mr. Clarett.
Jan. 14, 2004: Pleads guilty in Franklin County Municipal
Court to failure to aid a law enforcement offi cer. He’s ordered
to pay a fi ne of $100.
Feb. 5: Ruled eligible for the NFL draft by U.S. District
Judge Shira Scheindlin in New York.
April 19: 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals puts on hold
the lower-court ruling.
April 20: Files an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme
Court.
April 22: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg later refuses to intervene.
A second emergency appeal is turned down.
May 24: The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules against
Mr. Clarett, who must wait for the ’05 draft to enter the NFL.
Nov. 9: Alleges in an ESPN The Magazine article that Coach Tressel or his staff arranged for him to get passing grades, cars, and money for bogus summer jobs. Mr. Geiger denied the allegations.
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