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NCAA Basketball Investigation/Lawsuit Thread (merged)

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Have you ever heard of Troy Smith?" Murray asked.
Smith, Ohio State's starting quarterback in football the past two years, accepted $500 from a team booster a year ago. He was forced to sit out two games but played most of this season with the Buckeyes.
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Troy Smith was given money by a booster and not by the coach. :biggrin:
 
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Thump said:
Based on what I've read, am I the only one that thinks Obie has a chance at winning this lawsuit?
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No you are not. OSU really lookslike they may have left open some loopholes when they let Him go. Holbrook admiting in the stand that OSU didn't follow what was written in the contract as far as how to properly dismiss him has to be a big blow to OSU's case.
 
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Thump said:
Based on what I've read, am I the only one that thinks Obie has a chance at winning this lawsuit?
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not at all. my wife's a lawyer. a lot of talk amongst them is that osu may be on the hook for maybe a year's salary and possibly some punitive damages. most dont think he'll get the value of his entire contract, as the offense was firable, however, technically not until the ncaa hands down the ruling and states that osu would have missed a year of postseason play.
 
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I am not a lawyer but as a company director I have had some experience here under South African law with actions from fired employees.

If I am right, then the acceptance of Holbrook's assertions may be key. She is arguing that he was fired for the violation but not only because it violated NCAA rules but because it brought Ohio State into disrepute.

If it is found that he acted in bad faith, especially in not disclosing the payment, then it may be reasonable for a judge to conclude that O'Brien violated the spirit of the agreement. That is, he was employed for years past the payment and failed to disclose it because he knew it would bring Ohio State into disrepute.

He could win some relief, but I am not convinced that O'Brien is doing all that well. One thing seems pretty certain, he can forget a big time coaching job in college for a long while.
 
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"...and possibly some punitive damages."

R.C. § 2743.02(E)

The only defendant in original actions in the court of claims is the state. The state may file a third-party complaint or counterclaim in any civil action, except a civil action for two thousand five hundred dollars or less, that is filed in the court of claims.

Thus, the State is the Defendant in the OB action (That is, OSU is "the state")


By law, you may not recover punitive damages as against the State. See, Drain v. Kosydar, 54 Ohio St. 2d 49, 56 (1978)
 
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12/16/05

O’Brien violation major, expert says
Friday, December 16, 2005


[FONT=Verdana, Times New Roman, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]By JAY COHEN Associated Press Writer[/FONT]


COLUMBUS - Former Ohio State basketball coach Jim O’Brien committed a major violation when he loaned a potential recruit $6,000, regardless of his motive, a former NCAA investigator testified Thursday.

Dan Beebe, associate commissioner and chief operating officer for the Big 12 Conference, also said that the NCAA’s four-year statute of limitations wouldn’t apply because O’Brien showed blatant disregard for the NCAA regulations.

“You don’t even need a rule book to understand that that’s a major violation,” he said during testimony in O’Brien’s case against the school.

Ohio State fired O’Brien in June 2004 after he told former athletics director Andy Geiger he loaned $6,000 to the family of Aleksandar Radojevic, a 7-foot-3 prospect from Serbia, in late 1998 or early 1999 because the player’s father had recently died.

O’Brien is suing the school in the Ohio Court of Claims for $3.5 million in back pay and benefits for what he says was an improper dismissal in June 2004. The judgment could grow by millions if interest and other damages are awarded.

O’Brien attorney Brian Murphy questioned Beebe’s characterization of the loan as a major violation, citing a deposition in which Geiger stated that the loan didn’t provide a recruiting advantage.

Radojevic never played at Ohio State and never enrolled in classes at the school. After he signed to come to Ohio State from a junior college, it was determined that he had played professionally for a team in Yugoslavia and he was declared ineligible by the NCAA.

“Just because you cheated and missed doesn’t mean you didn’t create a recruiting advantage over the other rivals who were trying to obtain the services of the same youngster,” said Beebe, who served as a director of enforcement for the NCAA from 1987-89.

O’Brien says the loan to Radojevic was not a violation because he knew the player already had forfeited his amateur status. He also contends that the loan did not become known until after the NCAA’s four-year statute of limitations.

Jennifer Heppel, a former associate commissioner for compliance and enforcement with the Big Ten Conference, testified Thursday that the NCAA defines a prospective student-athlete as a student who has started classes for the ninth grade. That would make Radojevic a prospect even though he played professionally, she said.

She cited the case of an athlete who signed a professional contract at 15 and regained his eligibility with the NCAA in 2000.

“There’s nothing that precludes a professional athlete from being considered a prospective student-athlete,” she said. Closing arguments are expected today.
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12/16/05

NCAA resets Ohio St. hearing for February

Friday, December 16, 2005




The NCAA has rescheduled for February its hearing into whether Ohio State University self-imposed adequate penalties for alleged violations in its athletic program.

The NCAA infractions committee met Dec. 9 but adjourned the hearing after discussing procedural issues. Lawyers for the coaches had said before the hearing that procedural obstacles had hampered their ability to prepare.
NCAA spokesman Josh Centor declined to specify the coaches’ concerns. A message was left Thursday seeking comment from Ohio State spokesman Steve Snapp.

The university has conceded to nine NCAA violations, seven in the men’s basketball program and one each for the women’s basketball and football teams. Ohio State, however, argues it shouldn’t be held liable for some violations because former men’s basketball coach Jim O’Brien made it impossible for athletic administrators to know about them.

The university fired O’Brien, prevented the basketball team from playing in a postseason tournament last year and said it would have two fewer scholarships this season than the 13 maximum allowed.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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12/16/05

JIM O’BRIEN LAWSUIT
$5,000 for Penn’s tutor is questioned
Payment might have been NCAA violation, papers in lawsuit show
Friday, December 16, 2005

Kathy Lynn Gray
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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Former Ohio State athletics director Andy Geiger paid a friend of basketball player Scoonie Penn’s $5,000 for tutoring, court documents in the Jim O’Brien case show.

Depositions and a copy of a university invoice detail the 1999 payment from the university to Lucy Cormier for tutoring services. The question is whether she was tutoring only Penn — which would be an NCAA violation — or several basketball players. Schools are allowed to hire a tutor for teams.

By the time O’Brien was fired as coach in June 2004 and an ensuing NCAA investigation began, the four-year statute of limitations had passed on the potential tutoring violation. In a deposition taken Sunday by Ohio State, NCAA investigator Steve Duffin said the tutoring was investigated, but he didn’t know why it was not included with seven violations against the men’s basketball program.

Penn was a co-captain on the Buckeyes’ 1999 Final Four team. He played for O’Brien at Boston College from 1995 to 1997, then followed him to Ohio State. He sat out a season and played from 1998 to 2000.

O’Brien is seeking $9.5 million in a breach-ofcontract lawsuit against Ohio State, saying he was improperly fired. His case started Monday in the Ohio Court of Claims and is expected to end today.

The tutoring is noted in other depositions for the case, including one by Heather Lyke Catalano, Ohio State’s chief NCAA compliance officer.

She said the NCAA learned about the payment when Ohio State reviewed invoices for the men’s basketball program and found that Geiger had filed one to pay Cormier for "consulting services, academics and life skills." Lyke said Ohio State asked the NCAA not to include the potential violation in its findings because it was beyond the statute of limitations.

Attorneys for O’Brien brought the allegation to light because they have argued that a $6,000 loan O’Brien gave in 1998 to the mother of Aleksander Radojevic, a potential recruit, also was past the statute of limitations.
Michael Glazier, a Kansas lawyer who is advising Ohio State on the NCAA investigation, also answered questions about the tutoring in a deposition.

He said Cormier’s tutoring was questioned because, if she were helping one athlete, it could be a violation as providing an extra benefit for that athlete.
"What I had understood is that Lucy Cormier had been a mentor to Scoonie Penn when he was a student-athlete at Boston College," Glazier said in his deposition.

Glazier also said Geiger helped Cormier get a job at Catholic Social Services, where he was a board member.

In court yesterday, Ohio State called two final witnesses. They testified that O’Brien’s loan violated NCAA recruiting and ethical rules.

O’Brien showed "blatant disregard" for the recruiting process when he gave Radojevic’s mother the loan, official Dan Beebe said.

"You don’t even need the rule book to know this is a violation," said Beebe, senior associate commissioner of the Big 12.

The loan, Beebe said, created a competitive disadvantage for the many other schools who were interested in Radojevic, a 7-foot-3 Serbian.
Jennifer Heppel, a former Big Ten compliance official, testified that no matter what O’Brien’s motive, his loan was an inducement to a recruit and thus violated NCAA regulations.

Heppel said that she considered Radojevic a professional athlete at the time of the loan because he’d previously played in Europe for a salary. But she also considered him a prospective student-athlete because Ohio State was recruiting him.

Ohio State says O’Brien’s firing was allowed under his contract and that the coach breached that contract when he made the loan.
O’Brien’s attorneys say his contract did not allow Ohio State to fire him unless the NCAA determined that the payment was a major violation. The NCAA has investigated the case but has yet to rule on it.
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