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QB Troy Smith (2006 Heisman Trophy Winner)

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LRABuck said:
Where's the story that said Smith & Pittman went to Poly-Care to get a job, Smith told the guy he needed the money bad to pay off the phone, the guy slipped him the envelope, and when Smith asked what he would have to do, the guy said "Don't worry about it" then offered Pittman cash too but he declined? That was in a story that came out a few days ago... I remember reading it but can't find the article.

I was surprised to see that he has to pay back the money in order to be eligible for the Texas game. I guess that was a given, that he would have to pay it back, but I didn't realize his return to eligibility hinged on it.
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The article you are referring to was in Sunday's edition of the Canton Repository. I will try to find the link and I will post the article for you.

Here is the link: http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?Category=17&ID=209061&r=1

The Article:

Colleges remain on constant watch for rogue boosters


Sunday, February 20, 2005 <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>By TODD PORTER Repository sports writer




COLUMBUS — The connotation of the word has changed.

Think college sports. Think big-time college football. Now consider the word “booster.”

Maybe you’re thinking about the guy handing out $100 handshakes. Or paying for the running back’s cell phone. Or picking up the tab at a restaurant.

The word “booster” has become synonymous with slimeball, the main character in the dirty underside of college football.

“I’m an old-fashioned guy. Boosters, to me, are the moms bringing in spaghetti for spaghetti dinners or selling candy bars to buy the basketball team warmups,” Ohio State Head Football Coach Jim Tressel said. “It’s a word assigned to people who have an interest in a college program and maybe give money.”

These days, some boosters have graduated from spaghetti dinners to payoffs worth thousands. When one fouls up and crosses the NCAA line, he grabs headlines.

And it sours a program’s reputation.

Tressel and Ohio State have had their share of problems with boosters. The Buckeyes want to do something about rogue boosters.

“The boosters ... we’ve got to address and protect players against are the ones who don’t have a healthy agenda when they’re trying to, what they consider is helping a player,” Tressel said. “Booster clubs at the high school level boost athletic programs to enable them to do something they couldn’t. The bad ones ... they’re only boosting their own ego.”

Ohio State’s athletic department has begun an initiative to educate the school’s boosters.

First, let’s define a booster.

“It ... includes anyone who’s ever contributed money to the university, provided financial support for the athletic department, bought a (personal seat license), season tickets or a suite. ... any parent of a player, employers of student-athletes,” said Heather Lyke, Ohio State’s associate athletics director for NCAA compliance. “Even if you’re not a traditional booster — what you’d think of a booster — and you’re providing benefits to a student-athlete, then you become a booster.”

The stepped-up education of boosters is a result of Buckeye quarterback Troy Smith taking money from Ohio State booster Robert Q. Baker. Last spring, Smith visited Baker’s office in hopes of landing a job. Smith needed cash to help his mother pay for an overdue cell phone bill. Smith’s mother signed for a phone that was given to former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett.

Smith felt desperate.

“If a youngster is in financial trouble, we have funds and legal ways to assist them,” Ohio State Athletics Director Andy Geiger said. “The people talking about NCAA compliance, who wear the suits in administration, are not the people to watch out for. We’re the people to seek out in times of stress.”

Smith chose to accept the money, knowing it was against NCAA rules.

“The bottom line is the player knows what can and can’t be done,” Lyke said.

Tressel said he talks with players about not accepting benefits or jeopardizing their eligibility. But dealing with young adults isn’t foolproof.

“When I was 19 or 20, I know I didn’t make all the right decisions,” Tressel said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to keep our guys from being vulnerable to bad boosters.

“This does not take any responsibility away from the player. I want to give more responsibility to us. Ultimately, when a kid makes a poor decision, we make a poor decision. What we’ve got to do is make an environment as devoid of those possibilities as we can.”

Lyke is making sure boosters do better, too. Ohio State will triple the number of publications it sends to season-ticket holders, those who endow scholarships and general boosters. Players are counseled each season, often repeatedly.

According to an internal investigation, Baker knew Smith was vulnerable. He used the that to get closer to the quarterback.

Baker, who bought a luxury suite at Ohio Stadium, has been disassociated from the Ohio State athletics program. He no longer can attend games.

The NCAA infraction was uncovered only after an internal investigation done by Baker’s employer, Poly-Care. According to Poly-Care attorney Geoffrey Webster, two other Poly-Care employees became suspicious of Baker’s relationship with two Ohio State football players, Smith and running back Antonio Pittman.

A source close to the investigation said Pittman was with Smith when Baker handed Smith the money. Pittman declined any money and left.

According to Webster’s investigation, Smith asked Baker what work he needed to do for the money. “He was told: ‘Nothing, just take it and leave,” the investigation said.

After Smith accepted the envelope of money, Baker told another employee, “Good, now I own him,” according to Webster’s investigation.

That is the kind of rogue booster Ohio State and other athletic departments across the country hope to weed out.

“They try to ingratiate themselves to a player so they can brag to a buddy, ‘Hey, I know so-and-so,’” Tressel said. “To me, that’s not a booster, but it’s real, and we’ve got to do our due diligence to educate our guys on the difference between honorable helpers vs. those who are dishonorable.”

Booster problems aren’t limited to Columbus. Alabama football booster Logan Young recently was convicted on four counts of conspiracy, bribery and money laundering when he paid a high school football coach $150,000 to deliver a prized recruit to Alabama.

It may be the worst violation by a school’s booster in NCAA history. Young, a millionaire, faces prison time.

The player, Albert Means, signed a letter of intent and attended Alabama. Word got out that his high school coach, Lynn Lang, took money not only from the Crimson Tide booster, but other programs as well. Lang reached a plea deal and was the prosecution’s star witness against Young.

In 2002, Alabama was hit with a series of NCAA sanctions, including probation, bowl bans and a reduction in scholarships.

Ohio State is trying to avoid that. Officials need to show NCAA investigators institutional control.

“We’ve started a booster task force,” Lyke said. “We’ve got three publication we’re sending out. One is the kitchen-sink version, one is a guide for boosters and the third is a rules-of-the-game version.”

If a booster is anyone who buys a ticket, Ohio State must keep tabs on thousands.

“The message we’re trying to filter out is ask before you act,” Lyke said. “If you have a question about what’s right and what isn’t, call the compliance office. When in doubt, ask for permission, not forgiveness.”

As the university’s most visible coach, Tressel comes in contact with more boosters than most coaches. Some have tried to connect him to Baker, because Baker played football at Baldwin-Wallace for Tressel’s late father, Lee Tressel. But when Baker was playing at B-W, Jim Tressel was working as an assistant at Syracuse.

Tressel worries that the day is coming when he must be skeptical of all boosters.

“How do you tell a good booster from a bad booster?” Tressel said. “When we got here four years ago, there were a bunch of things we agreed upon that we needed to work on. We wanted to embrace former players and make them feel welcome. We want to appreciate fans and appreciate the people who allowed us to have the kind of department we have — i.e. people who helped rebuild the stadium and endowed scholarships. So ... I was focused on embracing people.

“To me, that’s the challenge: How do you know who has the wrong agenda? My nature is inclusive to start. Is the sad solution that you have to be skeptical of everyone? I hope not.”

What’s the answer?

Tressel wants to address 15 areas. He plans to work closely with Lyke.

“We’ve got to put a little more energy into separating the known question marks from the people who are simply Ohio State through and through, and they wouldn’t ... knowingly do anything wrong. It’s a big city here. There’s a big following ... It’s a frenzied fanaticism. “When we came here ... we wanted to get better with our strength and conditioning, we wanted to improve our relationship with high school coaches in Ohio and the community within the school. ... We have to be honest and add another we may need to give a little more energy and focus to.” You can reach Repository sports writer Todd Porter at (330) 580-8340 or e-mail:

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>




This article may be somewhere else on BP. Mods feel free to erase if this article is posted elsewhere.
 
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Good call, strohs. That's been missed in a lot of this.

Also, that whole "Now I own him" line is still so beyond creepy. I mean, what exactly did this a-hole think he was going to do? Try to make him throw a game or something? Get free autographs? I mean, what could possibly be your agenda for risking a backup QBs (at that time) eligibility?
 
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I was surprised to see that he has to pay back the money in order to be eligible for the Texas game. I guess that was a given, that he would have to pay it back, but I didn't realize his return to eligibility hinged on it.
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That's an NCAA policy. Just like Mike Williams had to pay back all of his endorsements to try to become eligible again last year.
 
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Hey, Tibor, last time I was in Columbus working (2000), you could get a $200 to $800 bonus by signing on to work at many of the fast food restaurants on North High and in the kitchens of the fancy restaurants at Tuttle. The $800 is gone now, but I think it was a Max and Erma's on the Northwest side where an OSU student told me he got that.

I don't believe that Smith took that money without knowing it was wrong, especially because Antonio Pittman refused and left (way to go Antonio!) but what if Smith was naive and thought this is how things worked?

Can we give this kid, and he is a 20 year old kid, the benefit of the doubt after he pays his NCAA penalty and let him move on?
 
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Steve19 said:
Hey, Tibor, last time I was in Columbus working (2000), you could get a $200 to $800 bonus by signing on to work at many of the fast food restaurants on North High and in the kitchens of the fancy restaurants at Tuttle. The $800 is gone now, but I think it was a Max and Erma's on the Northwest side where an OSU student told me he got that.

I don't believe that Smith took that money without knowing it was wrong, especially because Antonio Pittman refused and left (way to go Antonio!) but what if Smith was naive and thought this is how things worked?

Can we give this kid, and he is a 20 year old kid, the benefit of the doubt after he pays his NCAA penalty and let him move on?
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I'm not saying that he doesn't deserve to play again, but spare me the idea that this was all just a misunderstanding. None of you would believe it if it was a scUM player, so why should you believe it coming from an OSU player who has a record of getting into trouble before?
 
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tibor75 said:
I'm sure Smith is telling the truth when he says it was a "misunderstanding". Yeah, and Marlin Jackson was really trying to throw that bottle in a dumpster. I'm sure all college kids get advances before taking a job. :roll1:
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"Misunderstanding" or no -- here is my take on this....
Do you really believe that Smith fully understood the implications of what this all meant -- back when the exchange took place? I tend to think the answer to that is no. I'm not sure from what you have written if your feelings are that he did understand _fully_ what this all could lead to.

Do you think he understands pretty darned well now? - This answer to this second question is definitely a yes, IMO.

If you answer yes to the 2nd question and even answer yes to the 1st, isn't it then still time to let Smith learn from the mistake he made -- and move on?
 
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I think that if the entire team really didn't hold it against him none of us have a right to do so. They are the ones directly affected by all of the negative publicity. We are fans, and in the near future our record will clean up and we'll have tons of success under Tressel. These guys on the other hand have to play amidst all of this controversy, some whose entire career was filled with this filth. So if they can forgive Smith quickly and not lose respect for him, we have no right to do so.

Sure he should start at the bottom of the totem pole. But it changes the entire argument when it seems that Smith did not lose the respect of the team.

Zwick struggled to bring success to his team (under adverse conditions, for many reasons), whereas Smith turned a trainwreck into a decent season, including a truly astounding performance against scUM. Zwick played ok in the Alamo Bowl, but due to injury and lack of competition he didn't have to do much.

I doubt that Zwick won over too many players from the Alamo Bowl. I think the team will support any of the QBs, but they seem to truly rally behind Smith. Until Zwick proves that he can also generate that kind of following and success, I think Smith will be back eventually (Texas may be a little too soon to be starting, but he'll play against them).
 
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As much education as these kids receive on NCAA rules and regulations, I think that Smith knew full well the implications of what he was doing and chose to do it anyway.

The only thing that Smith didn't know is that he'd get caught breaking an NCAA rule and drag the name of the Ohio State university/football team through the media mud.

To even think that Smith is this naive is laughable. IMO, it's an insult to Troy Smith's intelligence to impy that he didn't know what he was doing was wrong.
 
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ysubuck said:
As much education as these kids receive on NCAA rules and regulations, I think that Smith knew full well the implications of what he was doing and chose to do it anyway.

The only thing that Smith didn't know is that he'd get caught breaking an NCAA rule and drag the name of the Ohio State university/football team through the media mud.

To even think that Smith is this naive is laughable.
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ysu, we have agreed often on the need to set a high standard for Buckeye athletes with regard to all this crap. And I know you aren't laughing any more than I am about this.

Like I said, I don't see how Smith could not have understood this. But, I am in no position to judge whether he had parents in his household who worked and developed the knowledge of the working world or had other experiences that would let him understand that this was not an advance. In my marketing research work, I have been amazed at what people don't know about things that I understood as a five-year old. A few years back, even I was amazed when a woman with three children didn't recognise the business end of the male anatomy during HIV/AIDS prevention research. Seems she was married twenty years and her husband only came to bed with the lights off and would not allow her to see him nude (I wanted to ask if he had played football for TSUN but it would have jeopardised the validity of the research, beside, I mean really, do you have to ask when presented with that evidence?)

I would take a lot of convincing to believe that Smith took this money thinking anything other than what you and I think he was thinking. But the question is, could he possibly have thought it was some kind of advance or signing bonus and then just thought, "hey, that guy hasn't called me, I'll just keep my head down and maybe he'll forget." Essentially dishonest? You bet! But, did he have an awareness of all the implications, I can't see how he wouldn't but none of us can say he didn't. The other question is, how long does this kid have to pay for this?

That said, it's not like he fondled himself on sorority porches or held up 7-11s, is it? He will have served his sentence and provided he can play against Texas, he should, IF he is the best quarterback.

As I have said repeatedly, IMHO Ohio State should come out with a tougher written policy and enforce it in these instances: Take more than some nominal amount, say $100, and you're out of here permanently no matter who you are.
 
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Excuse for taking money

The PR spin of why Troy accepted the money belittles the intelligence of any sane and rational fan. Anyone that accepts even a little piece of this is an apologist for this wrong-doing.

Troy made a mistake and the way to move forward is to accept that the mistake was made and take the punishment.

Once the punishment dictated by the NCAA and Jim Tressel is completed, the best qb on the football club should be the starter. IMO, that is Troy Smith but I haven't seen Todd Boeckman play yet.
 
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