Former Ohio State football player Maurice Clarett now claims he was given loaner cars in arrangements by coaches, given cash and no-work jobs by boosters, and had academic work done for him by tutors and hand-picked instructors. The claims are contained in a new article in ESPN The Magazine, it was reported today at ESPN.com.
First of all, the revelation that bigtime NCAA college football players are sometimes slipped cash by boosters, and that jobs are sometimes arranged for players that require little or no actual work, will not exactly shock the American sports establishment to its foundation. Nor will charges that OSU provided (gasp!) academic tutors for him to help him pass courses. His charges about Coach Tressel arranging loaner cars for him to use should be easy enough to substantiate or refute. I'm not sure how the NCAA views this issue anyway. Tressel was asked about the loner car business today
In fact, the biggest unanswered question seems to me to be; was Clarett lying in the 2003 NCAA investigation, or is he lying now? Being the consummate "team player" that he has always been, Clarett says he was just taking the rap to save the team back then. What a guy!
Clarett...says he was asked during the 2003 NCAA investigation whether he received a loaner car from Tressel, and, to protect the coach, he says, he answered no. He says when he was asked about other indiscretions, he answered, "I don't know" or "I don't remember," which was a violation of NCAA Rule 10.1, requiring forthright answers."What would have become of Ohio State if I said everything?'' Clarett told The Magazine. "Half the team would have been suspended, and it would have been worse for everybody. I was like, 'Why don't I just take it?'"
This statement (to steal a line from Jonah Goldberg) is nonsense on stilts. Anyone remotely familiar with Clarett knows that he never in his brief college career at Ohio State put the team's interests above his own. His grandstanding and baseless criticism of the OSU administration in Tempe the week of the National Championship game in 2002 is but one of many examples of his self-absorption.
Clarett has seen his pro stock plummet since the 2002 season, and he has cost himself millions through his own selfishness and poor judgment. ESPN cheapens themselves by running with the story, if this is the sum total of the allegations by Clarett. OSU Athletic Director Andy Geiger provides some background and context:
"We went through a yearlong investigation of our academic programs, everything that [Clarett] has to allege," Geiger said. "He vowed to me that he would do something to try to get us and this may be what he's trying to do. So he's on his own."We dealt with this guy [Clarett] for 18 months. I just hope you've checked into the background and history of who you're dealing with."
Something tells me that like Ohio State, the NCAA is happy to be rid of this guy. In April, he'll be the NFL's problem. What a talent! What a waste!
UPDATE 11/9: OSU Athletic Director Andy Geiger held a press conference today, part of which was reported by sportsillustrated.com
Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger was not surprised by the accusations, saying Clarett had vowed to try to hurt the program."In moments of frustration during the investigation, he might say, 'I can blow the whole program up,' and we'd say, 'OK, blow it up,"' Geiger said.
People who are program "insiders" posting to the discussion forums at bucknuts.com say that Clarett is simply lying, and that the OSU football program and administration have expected that sooner or later there would be some mud-slinging from Clarett. For ESPN to be relying for corroboration for their story on the word of Marco Cooper, a player who barely played a down at Ohio State and was dismissed from the program on the basis of an arrest for drugs and felony gun possession, and Sammy Maldonado, another player who transferred after running afoul of Jim Tressel, is at best weak. Why ESPN has it in for OSU is anybody's guess, but word is that this piece is the first of a 4-part series on Ohio State. Great.
UPDATE 11/9: Much more from the Andy Geiger press conference via Bucknuts.com.