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OhioState49
Hall of Fame
i saw this on the news tonight that OSU has to pay him. and im not big on OSU basketball, so did the guy he payed even come to OSU?
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
No the recruit never played at tOSU, the NCAA declared him ineligible to play in college.
If you want to know more details....click on this link
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
Dispatch
8/3/06
8/3/06
JIM O’BRIEN’S LAWSUIT AGAINST OSU
$2.25 million verdict
Improper loan to recruit doesn’t justify firing of former coach, judge rules
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Kevin Mayhood
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
- The Hot Issue: What do you think of the Jim O'Brien ruling?
- Where are they now?
- The case at a glance
- O’Brien and Ohio State
- O’Brien’s record
Awarding Jim O’Brien $2.25 million in damages "may seem unreasonable" after the NCAA socked him and the Buckeyes men’s basketball program with sanctions, a judge said yesterday, but the fired coach’s contract demanded it.
Ohio State University was locked into paying O’Brien after firing him because it gave him a favorable contract, Ohio Court of Claims Judge Joseph T. Clark ruled.
Ohio State, which has spent more than $4 million to pay off fired coaches during the past two decades, said it won’t relent in this case. The university suggested it would appeal Clark’s decision.
Former Athletics Director Andy Geiger fired O’Brien June 8, 2004, after learning that he had loaned the mother of a potential recruit $6,000.
O’Brien, who argu ed that he knew the player in question was not eligible for college basketball, sued for breach of contract.
The case is being watched by colleges throughout the country, said Matt Mitten, director of the National Sports Law Institute at Marquette University in Milwaukee.
"The lesson it sends is you have to be very, very careful in drafting the language in these contracts," Mitten said. Although coaches will continue to seek as much job protection as possible, "schools will want as much flexibility as possible to terminate a coach."
Mitten said he was surprised that Clark found earlier this year that O’Brien’s $6,000 loan to the mother of Aleksandar Radojevic did not rise to a "material breach" of the contract.
"O’Brien’s been coaching for years," Mitten said, "He should have known that could be a serious violation of NCAA rules."
Clark said the loan violated O’Brien’s contract but was not sufficient reason for OSU to fire him.
"The parties in this case negotiated a contract virtually guaranteeing plaintiff that he could not be terminated for an NCAA infraction, without compensation, unless the NCAA had made a finding that plaintiff had committed a major infraction that resulted in either a finding of lack of institutional control or the imposition of serious sanctions," Clark wrote in his ruling.
Ohio State didn’t wait for an NCAA finding, so it gave up the right to use that justification to fire O’Brien — even after the NCAA ruled in March that he had been involved in a major infraction, Clark said.
O’Brien essentially was banned from college coaching for five years and the university’s athletics program is on probation for three years and the men’s basketball team is forced to observe recruiting limits.
The NCAA findings were "clearly sufficient," to fire O’Brien, Clark said, But when OSU sacked him on June 8, 2004, the university cited only the clause that said he could be terminated for a material breach of contract, Clark said.
Ohio State officials disagreed with the ruling.
"I was disappointed, because I think what the institution did was the appropriate thing," said Athletics Director Gene Smith, who joined Ohio State in 2005. "In my view it was a clear violation."
The money due O’Brien would be paid by the athletics department.
Through June, Ohio State paid $441,750 for outside lawyers to assist in the case, said OSU spokesman Jim Lynch. He said the NCAA sanctions "reaffirmed we took the right action."
O’Brien had sought $3.6 million, plus legal fees, for a contract that was to expire in 2008. Clark ordered OSU to pay a lesser amount because the NCAA stripped the school’s Big Ten titles in 2000 and 2002, for which O’Brien received two 1-year extensions.
Clark said O’Brien also should repay bonuses he was given for winning those championships, but he couldn’t determine their size. Ohio State says they’re worth about $36,000.
That matter is scheduled for trial Aug. 28 but could be negotiated as early as Friday’s pretrial conference.
O’Brien’s attorney, Joseph Murray, said he and his client would not comment yesterday. Since leaving Ohio State, he was offered an assistant coaching job with the Boston Celtics of the NBA, but he turned it down.
The NCAA violations during the O’Brien era came to light because a lawsuit filed by Kathleen Salyers, who said OSU boosters Kim and Dan Roslovic promised her $1,000 per month to care for Slobodan Savovic. Depositions in the case revealed improper perks to players and recruits, including Radojevic.
Salyers, who settled her lawsuit with the Roslovics in December, moved but remains in central Ohio. She said people still badmouth her for filing her lawsuit.
Without naming names, she said yesterday, "I think it’s interesting that one person can destroy so many people’s lives and still do OK."
Dispatch reporters Ken Gordon and Rob Oller contributed to this story. [email protected]
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I love the picture of Obie with his hand out.
I can't think of any coach who has disappointed me more than O'Brien. I defended him through all the flack he took about recruiting and told everyone he was a man of integrity who ran a tight ship. Between the payola and Savovic he knows he done wrong, but will take what he can get regardless of what the deserves.
One thing I wish the judge would explain a bit better. He is reducing the award by the incentives he received for winning the Big Ten. We lost those championships because of what Obie did - so this is OK. But we also fired him for those same actions - which is not OK. Huh?
Further, the judge seems to be implying that Obie did stuff that should have gotten him fired, but that isn't why OSU originally said they were firing him - so OSU loses on a technicality. But now that he is being compensated as though he was never fired, can't OSU go back with the legitimate reasons for firing him and say "Give us our money back"?
I can't think of any coach who has disappointed me more than O'Brien. I defended him through all the flack he took about recruiting and told everyone he was a man of integrity who ran a tight ship. Between the payola and Savovic he knows he done wrong, but will take what he can get regardless of what the deserves.
One thing I wish the judge would explain a bit better. He is reducing the award by the incentives he received for winning the Big Ten. We lost those championships because of what Obie did - so this is OK. But we also fired him for those same actions - which is not OK. Huh?
Further, the judge seems to be implying that Obie did stuff that should have gotten him fired, but that isn't why OSU originally said they were firing him - so OSU loses on a technicality. But now that he is being compensated as though he was never fired, can't OSU go back with the legitimate reasons for firing him and say "Give us our money back"?
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fourteenandoh
My swing feels like an unfolding lawn chair.
What a savvy investor. He gives a kid a few grand and gets 2.2 million in return! wow
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And with the appeal, this cost will continue to mount. Depending on what happens in the appeal process, if tOSU still ends up having to pay for O'Brien's legal costs (as was just ruled), tOSU could easily end up paying over $1 million to all the lawyers in this case.
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I think in many ways it sends a horrible precedent. Schools now will have to look at this case and question at what point they can get rid of a coach that they find out is breaking rules.
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kentuckybuckeye
Ohioan for life
Yes, this case is telling all coaches everywhere that no matter what you do wrong you will still get 2 million dollars and retire to the tropical Paradise of your choice. So, we need to ask this judge how many violations it takes for it to become "wrong." O'Brien had the 1 biggie...that isn't enough. The basketball program had what...11? That wasn't enough. The school lost a final 4, money, and games because of O'Brien but according to the judge, it was nothing.
:osu:
WAKE UP!!!!
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Unfortunately, the NCAA and the law are two distinct entities. As for the ruling, if the contract is written the way the judge says it is, then the school has no one to blame but itself for writing itself into a corner.
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Yep. The real changes should be the way the contracts are written. Something along the lines of:
"In the event of any action or inaction by the coach which causes an NCAA violation which is grounds for termination of this contract (per section x.x.x), the University has the right to recover all compensation stated within this contract from the point in time when the violation occurred."
Or some legal BS which accomplishes that.
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I agree. I think what this says to universities everywhere is: No matter how much you want to keep a coach, you don't write in clauses that don't allow you to terminate their services immediately if a certain level of NCAA infraction has occurred.
Oh, and by the way, O'Brien, I think we all know what you did. Good luck ever finding a job worth diddle.
Oh, and self-respect? Well, I think you know all about that...
Oh, and by the way, O'Brien, I think we all know what you did. Good luck ever finding a job worth diddle.
Oh, and self-respect? Well, I think you know all about that...
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Mili is correct in that the U brought this on itself through shoddy lawyering. But in the end it was a profitable mistake.
It is easy to argue that what Matta is bringing to CBus will get the 2.25 mil back in short order.
For that matter, if the NCAA did go pro and a kid like Oden became part of a bidding war I could certainly see his asking price for one season alone equating to that amount.
It is easy to argue that what Matta is bringing to CBus will get the 2.25 mil back in short order.
For that matter, if the NCAA did go pro and a kid like Oden became part of a bidding war I could certainly see his asking price for one season alone equating to that amount.
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
Dispatch
8/4/06
8/4/06
COMMENTARY
Dragging out O’Brien mess only makes things worse
Friday, August 04, 2006
BOB HUNTER
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Over and above his salary, what’s it worth to Ohio State to have Thad Matta as its basketball coach?
$1 million? $2 million? $2.25 million? If there were enough cash in my cookie jar to pay outside attorneys the $441,750 that OSU officials have admitted paying through June "to assist" in the Jim O’Brien case, I might be willing to shuck out an extra $5 million to get a coach such as Matta who might ultimately bring in 10 or 20 times that amount to the university.
Yet in the wake of another ruling in the fired basketball coach’s favor on Wednesday — Court of Claims Judge Joseph T. Clark awarded O’Brien $2.25 million in damages because he said O’Brien’s contract demanded it — there was another round of hints from the university that it would appeal the decision.
This doubtless makes a lot of vindictive people happy. Since this whole case started 50 years ago — OK, it only seems that long — some people have supported OSU’s position that O’Brien is a cheater and that the university shouldn’t have to pay him one red cent for abruptly dismissing him.
I understand the sentiment. But there are just as many people who think that his giving $6,000 to recruit Aleksander Radojevic’s family, who was in severe financial hardship in Yugoslavia, was a humanitarian gesture. Most of them believe that while O’Brien shouldn’t have done it the way he did, OSU athletic director Andy Geiger was wrong to drop the ax on him without giving him a thorough hearing.
There are corollary issues involving former OSU assistant coach Paul Biancardi, nanny Kathleen Salyers and former OSU player Bo- ban Savovic, of course, but O’Brien’s knowledge of those incidents has always been in dispute. And frankly, the next time I have to type any of those names, I hope it’s for a feature story about the irony of them all landing in the same retirement home.
The point is this: Whether what OSU did was justified or not, it’s time to end this. The suggestion that the school would go through another round of hearings, keep running up the bill on outside attorneys and give the national media license to continue to debate whether a respected state institution is in fact Outlaw U. seems ludicrous.
We can argue all day over whether another round of bad publicity is worth $2.25 million. But we know that Matta, the coach who succeeded O’Brien, is worth every penny of that penalty. Since he took over, he has managed to lure one bigname recruit after another to Ohio State, including 7-footer Greg Oden, who likely would have been the NBA’s No. 1 draft pick last spring if the league hadn’t changed its eligibility rules. O’Brien’s program seemed stuck in neutral. Matta’s incoming freshman class this fall is generally ranked No. 1 or 2 nationally, and he has continued to augment that with commitments from big-name prospects in the years ahead. And remarkably enough, he’s done all this while negotiating the precarious mine field left by a pending NCAA investigation and the O’Brien lawsuit.
Even an ardent O’Brien supporter would be compelled to admit the school’s basketball program is light years ahead of where it was in his final days as coach. Fans are excited. Ticket sales are on the rise. Some analysts are predicting a national championship for this year’s team, which would be OSU’s first in basketball in 46 years.
Indiana badly wanted Matta to replace Mike Davis. Think IU officials wouldn’t happily pay an extra $2.25 million to have Matta instead of Kelvin Sampson, the ex-Oklahoma coach who has been losing in-state recruits to Purdue?
If O’Brien hadn’t been fired, Matta wouldn’t be at Ohio State. The program wouldn’t have Oden, wouldn’t have a shot at the national title and wouldn’t have piqued the interest of basketball fans all over the nation.
If you view this from the right angle, that $2.25 million due O’Brien looks like the best money OSU has spent in a long time. If all the bad publicity that comes from another round of hearings helps convince Matta he needs to move on, is that worth ultimately beating O’Brien in court?
Bob Hunter is a sports columnist for The Dispatch.
[email protected]
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