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NCAA Basketball Investigation/Lawsuit Thread (merged)

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Case Settled

http://dispatch.com/bball/bball.php?story=dispatch/2005/12/07/20051207-A1-00.html

KATHLEEN SALYERS CASE
Lawsuit with OSU ties ends in secret
Basketball program faces more scrutiny
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Kathy Lynn Gray
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
20051207-Pc-A1-0800.jpg
Kathleen Salyers provided care for Slobodan "Boban" Savovic. Web extras

A lawsuit that toppled an Ohio State University coach with its revelations and shed light on major infractions in the men’s basketball program has ended with a secret settlement.
The deal comes just three days before Ohio State goes before a National Collegiate Athletic Association panel in Indianapolis on a charge that it failed to adequately monitor its men’s basketball program from 1998 to 2002.
The settlement this week involves Kathleen Salyers, who was seeking more than $600,000 in a claim against Dan and Kim Roslovic.
Salyers said the couple never paid her the $1,000 a month they’d promised to provide a home and care for OSU basketball player Slobodan "Boban" Savovic.
Yesterday, Franklin County Court of Appeals administrator Jack Kullman confirmed that the parties settled.
No other information was available from the court; the parties would not reveal the terms. Lawyers informed the court of the deal less than 24 hours before the case was set for a 9 a.m. hearing today.
Salyers would not comment yesterday, but in a recent interview said she was considering giving up on the case so she could move forward.
"There comes a point in time when you just have to cut your losses," she said.
She also talked about her disappointment with the courts.
"Our justice system in my opinion only works if you have money. When you’re trying to fight something in court and the other side has the cash, they can appeal decisions, take it to the Supreme Court and tie things up for years."
Salyers’ involvement with Savovic began in July 1998. The Serbian moved to Columbus that summer before starting classes at Ohio State.
He lived with the Roslovics in Bexley but had to move when OSU learned that the arrangement broke NCAA rules because the couple were OSU boosters.
Savovic then moved in with the Salyers family in Gahanna. Salyers cleaned house and babysat for the Roslovics. They asked her to take the athlete in, as did Paul Biancardi, then an assistant coach for the men’s basketball program, according to Salyers.
Told that the Roslovics would pay her, Salyers went into debt caring for the player as she spent thousands on gifts, spending money, Savovic’s international taxes and trips he took, she said. She eventually lost her home because of the extra expenses, she added.
Salyers moved in with her daughter and sued the Roslovics, who by then were divorced.
OSU officials will appear before an NCAA panel Friday to face nine counts, including the charge that it didn’t sufficiently monitor the men’s basketball program when Savovic was playing there.
That charge and six others came as a result of Salyers’ lawsuit. OSU is not contesting the other six charges.
There also is one NCAA charge each against the OSU football and women’s basketball programs.
A second major public embarrassment for OSU begins Monday when former basketball coach Jim O’Brien argues in an Ohio Court of Claims trial that the school fired him prematurely June 8, 2004.
The firing came after depositions in Salyers’ lawsuit revealed that O’Brien had given recruit Aleksandar Radojevic $6,000 to $6,700 in late 1998 to help his family in Yugoslavia.
O’Brien admitted loaning Radojevic money, but he argues that under his contract he could be fired only after an NCAA investigation.
O’Brien is seeking $3.5 million from Ohio State.
Salyers’ lawsuit aired other dirty laundry from the OSU athletics department:

• Two OSU teachers admitted they changed grades for Savovic.

• A story in an OSU game-day program detailed how close Savovic was with the Salyers family, but OSU officials took no action to stop that relationship, which included living arrangements, spending money and gifts.

• O’Brien provided Salyers with men’s basketball tickets, which the NCAA said was an infraction because Salyers was an OSU booster.

• Salyers and others wrote college papers for Savovic, which the NCAA labeled academic fraud.

• At least one other OSU booster, Michael A. Sierawski, admitted giving Savovic cash.
Salyers filed her lawsuit against the Roslovics in 2003. Franklin County Common Pleas Court dismissed it in May, saying it was filed under the wrong section of the law. Salyers appealed, and it was that appeal that was to be heard this week.
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12/9/05

OSU gets chance to state its case
NCAA hearing will let school address violations in men’s basketball

Friday, December 09, 2005

Bob Baptist

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




A year to the day after penalizing itself for breaking NCAA rules, Ohio State faces the ultimate judge and jury today when the NCAA infractions committee hears the case against the university.

The hearing, in a downtown Indianapolis hotel, will put many of the principals involved in the men’s basketball scandal in the same room for the first time since former coach Jim O’Brien was fired June 8, 2004, after admitting he gave money to the mother of a former recruit.

It will be several weeks before any decisions are announced.

O’Brien and former assistant Paul Biancardi, now head coach at Wright State, will attend the hearing, their attorneys said, as will former OSU athletics director Andy Geiger, who fired O’Brien. Biancardi, a member of O’Brien’s staff from 1997 through 2003, also is accused of breaking rules.
Ohio State president Karen Holbrook, athletics director Gene Smith, men’s basketball coach Thad Matta, associate athletics director Miechelle Willis and associate athletics director for compliance Heather Lyke Catalano also will be present, spokesman Steve Snapp said.

The 10-person infractions committee — six officials of NCAA member schools, a conference commissioner and three independent attorneys — will hear arguments from all sides, including NCAA enforcement officials whose investigation resulted in nine allegations being levied against Ohio State in May. Seven involved the men’s basketball program, one was in women’s basketball and one in football.

In a response to the allegations in August, Ohio State agreed with eight but disputed one, that it failed to monitor former player Boban Savovic’s housing arrangement with and other benefits he received from Kathleen Salyers of Gahanna. Her lawsuit against a former employer triggered the firing of O’Brien and the investigation.

Salyers will not attend the hearing, said her attorney, Jeff Lucas. Salyers’ lawsuit seeking more than $600,000 from Dan and Kim Roslovic, who initially housed Savovic after he arrived in Columbus in 1998, was settled this week. Terms were not disclosed.

The closed hearing today, which could continue into Saturday, allows the infractions committee to examine each allegation and how the school responded upon discovering it, said attorney Bill Donahue, who has represented the University of Minnesota in such hearings.

"It goes through each allegation, even if admitted to by the school, and they discuss it," Donahue said. "(The committee members) want to understand what happened, when the school learned about it, what they did after they investigated it, whether they did the right thing."

O’Brien and Biancardi also will present their sides of the story, their attorneys said.

Biancardi denied the allegations against him in a written response to the NCAA in August, saying Salyers’ claims that he orchestrated the arrangement between her and Savovic were "lies and fabrications."

Biancardi’s attorney, James Zeszutek, said in an e-mail that Biancardi will make the same argument in person because "we believe that the enforcement staff and the university have ignored (the previously filed material) that exonerates coach Biancardi."

That will be a tough row to hoe, Donahue said, because "the infractions committee almost always sides with the (enforcement) staff."

Donahue also was skeptical that Ohio State will prevail in its argument that it adequately monitored the men’s basketball program.

"It’s difficult to convince the infractions committee that you were in control if a violation took place," Donahue said.

About 80 percent of allegations made by the enforcement staff are eventually affirmed by the committee, David Swank, a former chairman of the infractions committee, told The Washington Post in 2004.

Swank, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma, did not respond to a message from The Dispatch seeking insight on the hearing process.

He is a potential witness for O’Brien in O’Brien’s $9.5 million wrongful termination lawsuit against Ohio State that is scheduled for trial Monday in Columbus. Swank wrote in a preliminary opinion filed with the court in August that O’Brien did not break NCAA rules when he loaned $6,700 to the mother of recruit Aleksandar Radojevic in late 1998 or early 1999 because Radojevic already was considered by NCAA standards to be a professional athlete. The payment is one of the eight allegations the university agrees violated NCAA rules.

The infractions committee is not expected to issue its final report and penalties for three to five weeks after the hearing, and possibly longer because of the holidays, NCAA spokesman Kent Barrett said. The findings and penalties can be appealed after that if the university considers them too severe.

One year ago today, Ohio State sought to mitigate its exposure to further penalties from the NCAA by self-imposing a postseason ban on the men’s basketball team for the 2004-05 season. The Buckeyes would have qualified for the NCAA Tournament or NIT after finishing with a 20-12 record.

In August, Ohio State further penalized the program, taking away two of the 13 scholarships available to it this season. The Buckeyes have 10 scholarship players on the roster.

The university will not self-impose further sanctions before the hearing today, Snapp said yesterday.

It has been speculated that there could be future scholarship reductions, as well as banners removed in Value City Arena, games forfeited and tournament revenue repaid from the 1998-99 through 2001-02 seasons, when Savovic played for the Buckeyes.

Another ban on postseason play is considered unlikely. But when five men’s basketball recruits signed binding letters of intent in November to play at Ohio State in 2006-07, each received a written guarantee, signed by Holbrook, Smith and Matta, that they would be released from the letter on request if Ohio State was banned that season.

"We wanted to make sure (they) had protection," Smith said.

As for whether Ohio State risks more wrath from the NCAA by continuing to dispute the allegation that it failed to monitor the men’s basketball program, one who has been through the NCAA wringer said the university should "stand by (its) guns" if it believes it did all it could to police the program.

"My guess is that . . . they were probably monitoring this as closely or more closely than most," said Mark Dienhart, who was athletics director at Minnesota when its men’s basketball program was sanctioned by the NCAA for an academic fraud scandal during the tenure of former coach Clem Haskins.

"The NCAA is all adults. They understand that when there’s all sorts of money and power together in an emotionally charged and highly visible area, bad stuff happens. Unfortunately, it’s awful when it does."

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12/9/05

OSU case could lead WSU to fire Biancardi

Coach's fate may depend on NCAA's rulings on Buckeyes

By Marc Katz
Dayton Daily News
INDIANAPOLIS | Wright State Athletics Director Mike Cusack is not expected to speak today at an NCAA Division I Infractions Committee hearing at a downtown hotel, but he certainly will be an interested observer.

Today is the day WSU men's basketball coach Paul Biancardi and former Ohio State head coach Jim O'Brien state their cases before the committee, each claiming extenuating circumstances leading to what the NCAA enforcement staff says are NCAA rules violations when both were at OSU, Biancardi as O'Brien's assistant.

While there are many shades of gray to the case, there are essentially three ways the Infractions Committee can rule. One of them — exonerating Biancardi from any wrong-doing — is best for Wright State.

A second ruling — and rulings are usually released six to eight weeks after the hearing — would place heavy blame on Biancardi with penalties attached. In that case, the NCAA would likely ask WSU to show cause why it should retain the coach, and Cusack and his staff would have a heavy decision to make. WSU would likely cleanse itself of the matter by letting the coach go, as much for denying to them he had anything to do with rules violations despite the evidence.

A third type of ruling would be murkiest. The NCAA could decide Biancardi broke regulations, but either not penalize him or penalize him mildly, leaving WSU alone to make the decision on whether or not to retain him.

At this point, Cusack, his staff and overseers of the department are not making comments. Current NCAA committee members do not address on-going cases with the public.

However, former Infractions Committee members can say what they want.
George Washington University law professor Jack Friedenthal — who was asked to sit in on this case but had to recuse himself because of a long friendship with former OSU athletics director Andy Geiger, a central player — was on the committee on infractions for nine years and was committee chair the last two, ending in September 2001.

"The committee's decision can only technically involve the school," Friedenthal said. "But what happens, when an individual is involved, then the school is in effect ordered to show cause as to what they intend to do about the coach or individual (if that person is found to be culpable).
"In essence, if they would do nothing, we would call them back in and maybe level a more serious penalty."

Roy Kramer, retired Southeastern Conference commissioner, also a former Committee on Infractions member and its chair, agreed.

"It doesn't have to be," Kramer said of the hearing. "It can be co-operative.

Obviously there are some areas where there is disagreement. That's the responsibility to listen to the presentation of the institution or the coach, whatever. It's up to the committee to listen to that and sort out the facts. Sometimes they agree with the NCAA (findings), sometimes the school. It varies from case to case."

Friedenthal explained until recently, if a coach broke NCAA regulations and was caught, the school would absorb any penalty (loss of scholarships, postseason opportunities, etc.), while the coach could find a job at another university unimpeded.

"The school would be left hanging with the penalty where the coach goes scott-free," Friedenthal said. "It is very unlikely Wright State will be penalized."

However, if Biancardi is found guilty and further penalties are imposed upon OSU for something he did, "That may be the problem (for WSU)," Friedenthal said. "It could be they will be in a difficult position if they don't terminate him."

In almost all cases, Friedenthal said, it is the university that absorbs penalties.

"Technically speaking, charges are only brought against the institution and only the institution is penalized. Only the institution belongs to the NCAA," Friedenthal said. "Individuals who are responsible may be named if they are felt to be primary people. In that situation, very often the school is at odds with its coaches or athletic director — the people being charged."

The case that most approximates the one involving Ohio State and Wright State is the one involving former Colorado and Washington football coach Rick Neuheisel, who was penalized even though the infractions were committed at Colorado and he had moved on to Washington.

While Colorado was penalized with a reduction in scholarships, Neuheisel was quarantined to his campus during two consecutive off-campus recruiting periods, a penalty Washington officials decided they could live with.

One reason why more cases such as that don't occur is because a coach has not found a new job before being found guilty of breaking any rules. In those cases, the NCAA usually imposes penalties on a coach that prevent him from finding a new job.

"The NCAA has a list," Friedenthal said. "The problem is, no school will hire a coach who is on that list," although Friedenthal said some coaches may eventually have their penalties reduced for good behavior.

Today's hearing takes place in a hotel room, and the NCAA publishes a room layout for the proceeding. The Committee on Infractions, usually eight strong, sits at a long table to the front. On one side is a table with the NCAA's enforcement staff. On the other sits the institution in question.

Any coaches or other individuals going through the process sit at a small table between the enforcement staff and the university, facing the committee.

"In many of the tough cases, a school will say, 'We were screwed,' " Friedenthal said. "We didn't sanction this. A lot of times the coach will say, 'No.' "

In this case, Ohio State says the coaches did them in. The coaches say they didn't think they broke the rules. Entering the room this morning, only O'Brien, Biancardi and their lawyers will think they have it right.

"Lawsuits can happen," said Friedenthal, who knows O'Brien is suing OSU over his termination. "That's typical. Very typical. The coach is fired and sues the university and says, 'I didn't do anything wrong.'"

Contact Marc Katz at 225-2157.
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