Football Program Hit With Minor NCAA Violations

[Arapahoe]

The Lantern reported today that nearly 40% of tOSU sports teams committed some sort of NCAA violations within the past year. This isn't "breaking news" that should be covered on ESPiN and probably doesn't need to be discussed anymore than the release.... but I was bored. The football program only committed four, what I call minor and stupid penalities, but other fan bases insist on attempting to derogate our program and fan because of this. So, in an attempt to educate those uneducated fans, here is what's going on.

All of OSU's violations during that year were secondary infractions, rather than major ones. A secondary infraction is inadvertent and provides only minimal recruiting, competitive or other advantages, according to the NCAA. If a violation is deemed major, the NCAA will "impose an appropriate penalty."

The secondary violations are broken down into two categories: level I and level II. The NCAA says that level I violations are intentional or repeat offenses.

Level I violations can also affect a player's eligibility, and level II violations are only penalized by forcing restitution.

PDF file detailing more

10/27/07: Family members of three student athletes received received transportation to the Penn State game. Since the person who provided the transportation was not representative of the school, it's a violation. Level I.

12/1/07: Assistant FB coach was interviewed on live TV (STO) during the Division IV football championship. Level II.

4/27/06: Coach Tressel and Dick Tressel traveled to a recruits highschool to visit their head FB coach. During the course of the visit both the HS head coach and tOSU coaches had inadvertent contact with the recruit. Level I.

During 2008 Spring Evaulation period: Dick Tressel traveled to a HS in Illinois to evaulate a prospective recruit with the HS head coach. In the course of the visit both the HS coach and Dick Tressel had inadvertent contact with the recruit. Level I.

These are minor infractions and should not be taken as major, especially since the NCAA recognizes them as minor (seconday) infractions. All of Ohio State's infractions were self turned in. The knowledgeable fan should recognize that this isn't a big deal, but they shouldn't be naive, and think this doesn't happen anywhere else. Because in all reality this happens everyday at every school in the nation, they just don't want to recognize it. Programs like USC, Tennessee, Florida, Michigan, Penn State, just to name a few, all have current violations or recent violations by the NCAA.

The fact that Ohio State has the largest athletic program, "twice the size of most universities" Doug Archie OSU's associate athletics director for compliance and camps, 25 total violations isn't that big of a deal.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Follow-up piece by the Dispatch.........

Dispatch

Privacy concerns grow

Ohio State hasn't always considered NCAA violations private.

In 1993, then-athletic director Jim Jones issued a news release to report that Ohio State had broken the rules when it recruited high-school basketball player Damon Flint. An assistant Ohio State coach had given Flint $60 for a meal and travel expenses.

Back then, that was a major violation that kept the Buckeyes out of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, prevented Flint from playing at Ohio State (he went to Cincinnati), and landed the program on probation for a year.

Fast forward 10 years, and a shroud of secrecy surrounds Ohio State's records of violations.

In the summer of 2002, Derek Morris arrived in town from North Carolina as one of the country's top football recruits. He left Columbus weeks later with rumors circulating that he didn't have the necessary academic credentials to play football.

Records show that boosters, coaches and members of the Touchdown Club of Columbus gave Morris and his family:

• At least $1,175 in cash.

• Help securing a $3,000 loan.

• More than $500 in airline tickets.

• Housing and expenses.

• Legal advice.

• Outside tutoring from a woman who later filed a criminal complaint against the family for nonpayment.

• A job for the recruit's father.

Ohio State said it erred when it didn't remove Morris' name from the NCAA violation report before giving a copy to The Dispatch. In documents provided to The Dispatch in the same case four years ago, Ohio State edited differently, stripping away all details of the special treatment afforded the Morris family. The heavily redacted record also concealed the penalty, if any, OSU faced for the violation.

In May 2003, the shoe company adidas paid for a football player's trip to Los Angeles. The athlete flew on a private plane to the West Coast. Once there, he was treated to free meals, lodging, tickets to a Lakers basketball game and adidas apparel. OSU removed the athlete's name and the punishment he received, citing the law protecting education records.

Also that May, an undisclosed number of Buckeyes worked at a convention where they were paid $130 each to sign autographs and play golf. The athletes temporarily lost eligibility for taking improper jobs and had to give the money to charity to regain eligibility. OSU's report does not identify the athletes or the booster who hired them because of FERPA.

In October 2005, two football players stole a $60 alarm clock and a $10 hair dryer from the Hilton Minneapolis. The team was in town to play a game against the Golden Gophers. Their names were blacked out by OSU because of FERPA.

In February 2006, an undisclosed number of football players attended a charity event and signed autographs without permission. The athletes lost eligibility for a time but did not miss a game because it wasn't football season. Their names were removed from the record because of FERPA.

Investigation follows tip
The NCAA enforcement staff arrived on Ohio State's campus on July 30 after receiving an anonymous tip that the courting of a recruit in 2007 went too far.

Ohio State records say this about the violation involving a student athlete, "SA" for short: "See full report, which includes both a response to the NCAA Enforcement inquiry as well as a violation report. Report includes analysis of two issues: recruitment of current SA (name blacked out) and the relationship with (name blacked out) and former student athletes working at institutional camps."

It took two more public-records requests to obtain additional information from Ohio State. From those heavily edited records, this much also is known about the athlete: The recruit arrived in town sometime during the 2007 football season with three friends and went to a game.

The football player received a special, discounted hotel rate and free food while visiting Ohio State.

On Aug. 21, OSU declared the athlete ineligible and filed a violation report with the NCAA. He never missed a game, though. He paid back $158 for his extra benefits, and the NCAA restored his eligibility.

He was a freshman at Ohio State last year.

He was recruited by quarterbacks coach Joe Daniels.

tjones@dispatch.com

jriepenhoff@dispatch.com