Article published November 17, 2004
Geiger goes on attack against Clarett
Michigan game takes back seat to controversy
Ohio State AD Andy Geiger said it was all downhill with Maurice Clarett after an incident just before the 2003 Fiesta Bowl.
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By DAVE HACKENBERG
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
COLUMBUS - The Ohio State-Michigan game is in the immediate future and, after that, Andy Geiger suggested OSU should be looking forward to the two-year anniversary of one of its greatest athletic triumphs, a national football championship won at the Fiesta Bowl.
Instead, it is shaping up as the two-year anniversary of the beginning of the end in OSU's relationship with running back Maurice Clarett.
That issue, not Saturday's 101st meeting of the Buckeyes and UM, took center stage yesterday when coach Jim Tressel and Geiger, the OSU athletic director, appeared at the school's weekly football media luncheon.
Geiger recalled it was in Tempe, Ariz., in days leading up to the January 2003 Fiesta Bowl, that Clarett, the school's star freshman running back, first became a problem child by publicly ripping OSU officials for not letting him travel back to Ohio to attend a friend's funeral.
"The young man who he wanted to visit, in terms of a funeral, had been dead for 10 days with 12 bullets in him," Geiger said. "[Clarett] had five days off in the interim [before the Buckeyes traveled west] where he could have gone and paid respects to the family."
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Still, Geiger insisted anew that Clarett was not denied permission to go home; rather that he and his mother had failed to complete forms that would trigger NCAA special assistance money to pay for the trip."Yet we were called liars and we were pretty well whipped by him and we chose not to fight back," Geiger said.
That all ended yesterday as Tressel and his boss opted to go on the offensive in response to Clarett's latest charges of improprieties in the football program that were reported last week by ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine.
"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."
Tressel went on to praise his coaching staff for its compliance with NCAA rules and said he has "tremendous confidence" in the program's academic support systems.
"And I want to be as emphatic as possible that I have great confidence in our players," Tressel said. "We have great kids here, kids that want to do things right. We talk about doing things right very, very often and our kids reflect that very, very often. I think the intentions and the honor of our kids is extraordinary."
Tressel said he met with the NCAA investigator who was on campus Monday, but would divulge no details. He did say he was "very confident" that any NCAA investigation would find nothing unsavory about the OSU football program.
Both the university and the NCAA conducted earlier investigations into the Clarett matter when the player was suspended in September, 2003 after running afoul of the law, misleading NCAA investigators and receiving special montary benefits from a family friend.
More recently, Clarett told ESPN.com that:
●Tressel arranged for loaner cars for Clarett to use.
●Clarett was given lucrative summer employment that did not necessitate him reporting for work.
●He received cash from boosters which dried up, along with academic assistance, after he lost his eligibility.
Geiger went point for point through allegations made by Clarett and a couple other former Buckeyes, including ex-Whitmer High athlete B.J. Barre, via their ESPN.com forum.
In each case he cited NCAA and university policy, insisted procedures had been followed and ended his comments on just about every accusation by saying, "To date, we have found no evience which would lead us to believe this allegation is true."
Geiger said that the original NCAA investigation is pending because "it doesn't become a report until we request his reinstatement, and that will not be happening." However, he said that if the NCAA had found any institutional violations, Ohio State would have been drawn into an immediate process.
Geiger admitted that he went on the offensive yesterday because he felt OSU had absorbed too many undeserved body punches.
"I've been an athetic director for 33 years and in the business for 43 years and I have never seen an institution attacked in this way before," he said. "There are things I can't say, things our lawyers have told me I can't violate. But I think it's important for our university, for our fans, for our students and for members of my staff, who I'm so very proud of, to speak up. To continue to be silent would be wrong. 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 it.
"To date, there is absolutely no evidence that any OSU staff person gave extra benefits to Maurice Clarret 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. [As for football,] I think Jim runs an honest program and tells me the truth. I believe in what he says."
Contact Dave Hackenberg at:
dhack@theblade.com
or 419-724-6398
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