After six months of silence, Maurice Clarett brought his name and Ohio State University to the headlines once again Tuesday. This time the former running back, who helped carry the Buckeyes to a national championship less than two years ago, brought up allegations which included the university helping him to pass classes, the coaching staff helping him with finances, and transportation and Buckeye boosters filling his pockets with money.
While the situation continues to unfold, it is obviously still too early to determine how true these allegations are. And while I do not condone the attitude or decisions of Clarett, we must not turn our backs that such allegations may be true.
The first thing many people probably thought when they found out about the allegations is that Clarett got screwed by the university and he is just trying to get back at them for what the ordeal has caused him. OSU officials, including Athletic Director Andy Geiger, quickly jumped on that train in hopes that he could make everyone believe that, saying, \If you want to give him credibility when he's been unable to tell the truth under any circumstance since I've been around him, I'm not going to respond.""
Why would those athletes who have had success at OSU try to bring up these violations? Obviously the players who have had negative experiences are the players who will say, ""Look at what is going on here.""
The point is, this kind of activity is going on around the country. Schools have been caught and punished, but these things still go on.
Case in point: the University of Michigan. Two years ago, the school came under scrutiny when it was revealed that the basketball players, including Chris Webber of the Fab Five, received in excess of $600,000 from a Michigan booster. Michigan was forced to lower its championship banners from those years in violation and also lost one year of postseason eligibility.
Webber had previously tried to cover up the shady deal, but to no avail, and was charged with lying to a grand jury and obstructing justice.
Obviously this is not the only case. Just this year the University of Missouri has been punished for recruiting violations involving impermissible benefits. The University of Minnesota got four years probation and was stripped of five scholarships when it was revealed that the university had tutors do work for its athletes. And how soon we forget the University of Wisconsin and its discount shoe scandal? While it seems a lesser offense, it was still a violation.
It would not surprise me if Ohio State was guilty of these violations. In fact, it would not surprise me if the majority of Division I schools were guilty of violating this policies. The truth is, college athletics is a business.
Big-name schools in big-time sports draw big-time profits and you need big-time recruits to keep that chain intact. So schools and their boosters are doing all they can to get prized recruits to come to their schools, including handing them money.
Just like any business there is competition, and there will always be members of the competition in the NCAA that will violate the rules to get better players. If one school is doing it, then in order to get that player, other schools are going to have to do the same or better. It is a long dirty chain that the NCAA needs to try to fix.
It's a slippery slope and something needs to be done. Maurice Clarett will get his shot at the NFL, Tressel will continue to coach-if not at OSU then somewhere else and boosters and programs will continue to give players special treatment. The NCAA needs to do a quick and thorough search, and reprimand all who need to be reprimanded, doling out tougher and tougher punishments to schools who continue to break the rules despite harsh penalties.
Eric is a junior planning to major in journalism. Feel free to report any NCAA violations to him at ejschmoldt@wisc.edu.
