"It was only 7 violations, your honor."
Despite giving recruit Aleksandar Radojevic $6000 in cash and failing to report it to Ohio State officials, an appeals court today awarded Jim O'Brien 2.4 million in damages. The court's logic is that OSU breached O'Brien's contract by firing him for an offense that didn't warrant termination. I know OB was trying to help the kid's family, but he knew the rules and hid the fact he broke them. If not for the allegations getting ready to be made public involving Boban Savovic, this violation would likely have never come to light. A minor win for the university is that the court did not award the additional 1.3 mil O'Brien was seeking for getting the boot before the NCAA officially deemed him a cheater.
So there it is. Crime does pay. O'Brien should have plenty of cheddar to hold him over while he waits for the ban on his coaching collegiate athletics to expire in 2009. Look on the bright side, O'Brien's firing paved the way to bring in a coach with a vision of being an elite program. OB caught lightning in a bottle with Redd, Scoonie and company and was a great X's and O's guy, but his reluctance to even attempt to chase big time recruits put limits on what the program could become. You think OB would've even attempted to pursue Oden, Conley or Cook?
Comments
I loved watching that '98-'99 team go to the Final Four... So many great wins that season. It's a shame we had to have that appearance stripped for O'Brien's actions.
I guess Matta's already made up for it, though. Thad is rad!
'99 was insane...what's even more insane is what kind of player Michael Redd has become. You could see his talent while at OSU but it was raw, especially that jumper. Now he's a legit sharpshooter and can still put it on the deck with efficiency. It's great to see him succeed, he's a class act.
Yeah, Redd is a class act and an amazing talent. I'm really glad that he's had the success that he has. It's too bad he can't play for the Cavs with LeBron! I actually have a Final Four program from '99 with the entire team's autograph, including Redd's. It's pretty cool.
Sad thing is, Redd could've been LeBron's teammate but he rightly took the 6/96mil deal from Milwaukee over Cleveland's 5/70 offer. The way the NBA has the free agent rules set up to give the current team the ability to exceed any other teams offer makes it a no brainer to stay put. Redd took part of that 26mil difference and bought his pops a church.
That '99 program sounds dope. Scoonie and Redd were sick but I gotta give love to Ken Johnson. He was a raw dude offensively but he loved blockin' shots.
'99 never happened. So they say.
Yeah, and this is the new head coach of the Pacers, a team already with a history of lawlessness. How did they go from a class franchise to the Jailpacers so fast?
Travis: It's a different Jim O'Brien that coaches the Pacers.
First, I totally agree that OSU is better off with Matta, and glad that OB isn't part of the program anymore.
However, IMHO, "cheater" is a bit of a strong word for OB's violations. Not to re-hash the entire incident, but remember that Radojevic was not a "recruit," per se, at the time of the infamous loan. "Cheater" implies an attempt to win unfairly, and there was absolutely zero benefit given to OSU by OB's action.
At any rate, there were two issues there... an NCAA one and a Geiger one. There's no question that OB violated his contract with OSU. But there's also no question that OSU violated their own terms of the contract, by the way they went about firing him. Had Geiger and the AD's lawyers done handled the OB situation competently, OB would have faded away into nothingness, rather than continue to draw headlines for himself several years later.
Just my two cents. Keep up the good work!
Monkey -- Fair point. I dont disagree that OSU made their own bed with how they went about it, giving OB a legal crack to exploit, but I'll always believe he cheated unless somebody can show me other examples of him graciously giving non-7ft Centers with NBA potential $6k out the goodness of his heart.
And beyond this instance, the real reason he's dirty is the Boban stuff. Do you think he had no knowledge of Boban's set up? If so, didn't he fail to monitor his own renegade assistant coach?
We were 13-15 in OB's last year, we just needed an excuse to get rid of him. I agree with Chris, the Boban incident was the back breaker for Jimmy Boy. Thad is Rad and there is no reason to look back any more.
OB did "cheat" in regards to the $6000. The kid was still being actively recruited by OSU at the time and did commit to the Bucks soon afterwards. It didn't become known that he would be ineligible until later. So at the time, OB knew it was against the rules, he may have done it for humanitarian reasons or maybe to curry favor with a 7ft pus stud. who knows,,,but in the end the reason OSU has to pay is due to Geiger.
He extended OB's contract with the ridiculous stipulation that OB had to have been found guilty of violating a "major ncaa infraction" before they could fire him,,,how ridiculous is that. At the time Geiger let him go, this wasn't true, hence OB's angle for the suit.
To sign that deal, and then to fire the guy in violation of that deal is doubly ignorant. I for one am glad Geiger is gone, his last few years representing OSU were an embarrassment.
He can't coach in the NCAA until 2009. Why? Because he cheated.
Easy on Geiger - he was the mastermind of one of, if not THE most powerful sports machine on earth. Coaches, Facilities, and Athletes. He is a great Buckeye.
I've got love for Geiger. He focused on facility upgrades and coaching hires for the future. Markell, Matta, Tressel, Schott, Stadium refurbishing....
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