They’re poking around," Geiger said. ‘‘Going to car dealers, going to stores. . . . They showed up at our academic support center and wanted to interview some people, wanted to interview the president of the university about independent study. They’ve been saying, ‘We just want to give you guys a chance to defend yourself,’ but the stuff they talked to them about was all covered by the NCAA during the Clarett investigation. They have all these innuendos and loose ends and those kinds of things, and they’re doing their best to poke around about it. I want to make people aware of it."
And how does Geiger feel about all of this?
‘‘To never be able to escape accusations from somebody who has already set some sort of record for an inability to get it right is very frustrating. But that’s where we are," he said.
In fact, no one knows precisely where OSU is with all this, even though it has been almost two years since Clarett last appeared in an Ohio State football game. Geiger flew to New York last February to meet with ESPN officials and persuaded them not to air a similar piece, so at least some of that material is presumably contained in the new story.
Geiger suspended Clarett for the 2003 season for allegedly receiving thousands of dollars of illegal benefits and repeatedly misleading investigators, a suspension that ultimately led him to sue the NFL for early inclusion in the draft. Because Clarett lost, he has had plenty of time to cultivate his anger and presumably change his mind about talking to ESPN. He repeatedly has refused requests for interviews from The Dispatch.
Network officials recently asked Geiger to appear on Outside the Lines to discuss their story, but he turned them down. He said he doesn’t know if and when the piece will appear, though he guessed during OSU-Michigan week.
‘‘We refuted most of it (the first time)," Geiger said. ‘‘We went over it all with them and talked to them. They thought they had all this goopy stuff, and very little of it holds water. They realized it and they stopped. If they have new stuff, we’ll have to deal with it. And if they don’t, we’ll have to take the hit, one more blow to the innocent."
Clarett’s cousin, Vince Marrow, said the difference may be that Clarett wouldn’t give the magazine what it wanted the last time, but he might have this time. Whatever he gave, it figures to damage OSU only if he deals in specifics rather than generalities.
Clarett repeatedly tried to lie his way out of trouble with the police, school officials and the NCAA, so he doesn’t exactly lead the league in credibility. And he supposedly blames Geiger and Heather Lyke Catalano, OSU’s assistant athletics director for compliance services, for his troubles. But if Clarett can cite specific instances when OSU officials or coaches broke NCAA rules, his comments could still do a lot of damage, not only to the school but to his former teammates.
Presumably, the national championship the team won in 2002 could be jeopardized, although how isn’t clear. It was presented by the Bowl Championship Series, not the NCAA.
‘‘We’re talking about a guy with 17 instances of violating NCAA Bylaw 10," Geiger said. ‘‘That’s the one about not telling (investigators) the truth."
True or false, the big question is whether Clarett offered ESPN the kind of specifics that would cause the NCAA to take another look. Even Pinocchio might get another look if he played on a team that won a national championship.
‘‘It’s frustrating because we did an exhaustive investigation of this," Geiger said. ‘‘It’s unbelievable we can’t seem to get out of this pattern. . . . This could go on for rest of our lives."
Bob Hunter is a sports colum nist for The Dispatch
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. Love when people do that. Whats the point?
