http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=1919059 By Tom Friend and Ryan Hockensmith ESPN The Magazine Ending six months of silence, former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett has told ESPN The Magazine in this week's edition that he "took the fall" for the school during a 2003 NCAA investigation and that he's talking now because he wants to "clear his name" with National Football League owners and general managers. Clarett says that while he was at Ohio State in 2002 and 2003 head coach Jim Tressel, as well as certain members of his staff and boosters, provided him with improper benefits. He says he covered up Tressel's improprieties during the NCAA investigation and afterward, Ohio State "blackballed'' him from the football program. According to Clarett, Tressel arranged loaner cars for him and Tressel's brother, Dick, found him lucrative landscaping jobs that he did not even have to show up for. He says members of Tressel's staff also introduced him to boosters who'd slip him thousands of dollars, and the better he played, the more cash he'd receive. He says boosters eventually began inviting him into their homes or would meet him out in the community. "When you'd leave, [the booster] sets you straight," Clarett told The Magazine. "They say, 'You got any money in your pocket?' They make sure your money's straight." Clarett also says he likely would have been ineligible for Ohio State's national title season of 2002 if the football staff had not "aligned'' him with an academic advisor whose goal was simply to keep him eligible. He says the academic advisor enrolled him in Independent Study courses and also put him with hand-picked teachers who would pass him whether he attended their classes or not. He says his advisor also introduced him to a tutor who prepared outlines and told him what to write for assignments. Another former Ohio State player, linebacker Marco Cooper (2000-01; Spring 2002), corroborated many of Clarett's comments. Cooper, who was suspended from the team following two arrests for drug possession, says he also had bogus landscaping jobs, that a booster helped furnish his apartment, and that he was able to borrow cars from local Columbus dealerships in exchange for signed OSU memorabilia. Another former Buckeyes player, current Maryland running back Sammy Maldonado, says he was placed in so many courses that did not put him on the road to graduation that only 17 of a possible 40 credits earned would transfer to his new school. Ohio State officials have declined to comment on many of the allegations. School President Karen Holbrook, Jim Tressel and Dick Tressel refused to respond through spokespersons, while Athletic Director Andy Geiger said he would not answer questions until after the magazine story appeared, if then. Maurice Clarett says he received improper benefits during his time at Ohio State. "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.'' Clarett's former academic advisor and tutor also declined comment. The NCAA, which investigated Clarett for potential academic and financial irregularities in the summer of 2003, said it is against its policy to discuss the Clarett case. Clarett, 21, who gained 1,237 yards and scored 18 touchdowns in 2002, his only collegiate season, 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?'" The school suspended him for the entire 2003 season, and when Clarett asked to be reinstated for 2004, he says the athletic department systematically "blackballed him" by taking away the teachers and tutors. Clarett then tried applying for the 2004 NFL Draft, and was first ruled eligible and then ineligible, because he wasn't the requisite three years removed from high school. He says he was "depressed" by the court's ultimate decision to ban him, but is now working out in anticipation of the 2005 draft in April. He says he is hoping this winter to play in this winter's East-West Shrine game and the Senior Bowl, all-star invitationals that would be his first football games in two years. Several pro executives say, as of now, the running back could go as low as the fourth or fifth round. Clarett contends he will change any negative perceptions at the NFL combine in February. "I'm thinking, 'NFL GMs know college players take money,' " Clarett says. "It was nothing like I stole something. Nothing like I'm running from the law or I'm dragging a girl down the stairs. No domestic violence. No nothing. [But] I got to clear myself up now, because it's affecting the minds of the GMs."
Maurice is a great player, but trouble follows him. I am a fan of OSU so I am biased. I do believe D1 athletes get some favors most certainly. I played D3 football and baseball at a small school and we were very clean. I never saw anyone gettign any money or favors (closest thing I saw was when we won regionals in b-ball alumni would drop off alot of beer at the dorm to celebrate). But through my freshman year players were allowed to have work study jobs under their own coaches. I don't know if the NCAA, the conference or the school changed it but my sophmore year it wasn't allowed just because it looked bad (scholarship students aren't eligible for work study anymore, but it still is there at D3 schools). But a friend of mine went to a D3 school near Columbus and played basketball. They had a lot of talent (a transfer from OSU) an a 6'10 guy who ended up playing in Europe. My friend will talk about $20 handshakes after games (not for him but for the transfer and OSU transfer), and about how he and the 6'10 guy (my buddy was his roommate) lived for free in housing located above an alums office just off campus. So if it happens in D3 I have no doubt it happens in D1 in bigger sports. To what extent I don't know. Does it happen at every school again I don't know. So is there something to what Mo is saying. I would guess so, but I don't know why he is talking again unless he is being paid. The NCAA already investigated everything and said all clear, so I dunno.
I had a friend a while back who told me that at the larger programs, the stuff that goes on is unreal - sex, alcohol, money, expensive gifts, grade fixing, you name it. It is something that everyone has ignored because anytime they are caught, it is the fault of the player or the coach or the AD. It is NEVER considered an institutional problem. It is never a problem with the NCAA. And we, as fans, are just as guilty for allowing it to happen. There are kids busting their asses to get degrees without the benefit of anything but hard work. Non-athletic departments go woefully under-funded. Colleges could end this if they just got it out in the open and admitted what everyone already knows but conveniently ignores.
some college kids I know say they don't care as long as the team wins... Myself on the other hand.. if I knew of cheating etc going on.. I would be ticked off and the chancellor would be hearing about it immediately
Frankly, it isn't the students that bother me. It is the boosters and the AD's and the faculty and the school board more than anything. It is cheating for the sake of a game that, in the grand scheme of things, means next to nothing. I love sports, but it is still entertainment. This isn't life and death. This isn't something that will make the world a better place to live. It is just a game and people need to figure that out. To be honest, I wouldn't really care so much if they had the balls to admit it. The lying, deception and ignorance is what pisses me off because it is insulting to our intellegence and a mockery of everything an institution is supposed to stand for, particularly one's funded by our tax dollars.
Except a good bowl game will bring millions to a school alone. Not to mention who knows how much money a solid program like Oklahoma or UT brings to the tabel. Most schools entire atheletic program are funded by the football team alone. In the grand scheme of things, as long as it's providing the entertainment that can be profitable, it means quite a bit.
jeff .. I agree.. just think the students are adults and schools that do corrupt things.. the students should be raising havoc letting them know they pay big money to attend that university and will not tolerate cheating going on as should the alumni.. and board of trusts..
we took a big step last year in getting rid of the athletic department and putting athletics under the supervision of student life etc.... allowing athletic departments to operate almost seperately from the university.. encourages corrupt activity
There are better alternatives, you can get average players, and then put pictures of naked ladies into the game film to keep them awake. I just don't get it.
