Posted on 01/11/2005 8:28:40 AM PST by Columbus Dawg
Columbus- Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith accepted cash from an OSU booster last spring to pay overdue charges for a cellular telephone his mother obtained for former OSU tailback Maurice Clarett.
Multiple sources, both at OSU and close to Smith, confirmed that scenario, which led to Smith's suspension from the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 20.
Smith declined to comment Monday night, as did his mother, Tracy Smith.
Robert Q. Baker, the booster who gave Smith the undetermined amount of cash, did not return a telephone message left at his home in Springfield.
OSU Athletic Director Andy Geiger cited federal student privacy laws in declining comment on the specifics of the Smiths obtaining a cell phone for Clarett during the summer of 2003.
(Excerpt) Read more at cleveland.com ...
My buddy is from out of state and says with all the crap going on in Ohio (OSU, Larry Householder, etc.) that "this state is so corrupt."
It's not the state, its the program!!!
C'mon, I told you last week dawg, tressel is dirty and he will dirty up a program.
Maybe Cooper couldn't beat Michigan, but at least he wasn't slime.
I did say that in my opinion, he brings more good than bad. That being said, he has areas he has to improve. I mentioned media relations in a previous post. Where did this drip today come from? The Cleveland Plain Dealer, which has been very outspoken about Tressel.
He does have to get a hold of this program. I thought he handled the Irizarry situation poorly. He should have been booted off the team after assaulting his girlfriend and two other individuals. He was suspended, but Irizarry became more of a problem. Many of the problems as a result of Irizarry were not told in the media. I can tell you that a couple of individuals were deeply affected by what he did. Another example is Lydell Ross. He never did anything criminal, but he was just stupid. I can tell you that the incident at Pure Platinum was not a surprise to many people around the OSU campus. With Clarett, many people out there knew he had been a problem in the past. Three high schools in four years. Numerous other problems in Youngstown. He should have been more careful with him. He should have slammed the hammer on him at Northwestern in 2002. I think that incident was a big reason why Tim Spencer left the program. If Tressel would have put the hammer to Clarett at Northwestern in 2002, a lot of the stuff we have seen happen, would not have happened.
Tressel needs to watch the people he is around. He needs to be more leary of others. Certainly he knew Mickey Monus at Youngstown. Even though he denied it, there is no doubt he knew Bobby Dellimuti (Lying about that hurt his relations with the media, IMHO). He has said he knew Robert Baker. He has got to watch who is associates with.
Do I believe that Jim Tressel is having boosters pay the players? No.
Do I believe that Jim Tressel is setting up players to get special deals on cars? No.
If there is evidence found later that proves that that happened and other problems, Tressel needs to go.
Well, that is about as objective a response as I could hope for from a Buckeye. Dawg, there are so many incidents, it is hard to keep track of. I think the coach taking heat for it is justified.
Refresh my memory- what was the platinum incident again, and what went down at NW in 02?
It is getting to the point that you don't know what is going to come next!
The Pure Platinum incident involved Lydell Ross. Ohio State was demolished 33-7 by Iowa in Iowa City. The team flew back to Columbus that night and once he hit the ground, he made his way to Pure Platinum, a gentleman's club in northwest Columbus. Here is an article with the details:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/2004-11-04-osu-ross-cleared_x.htm
The club's manager was quoted as saying on the local news that Ross was a "frequent customer" of the establishment.
The Northwestern incident in 2002 involved Maurice Clarett. Clarett had about 2 or 3 fumbles in the early stages of the game. This was his first case of adversity on the field at OSU. The OSU running backs coach at the time, Tim Spencer, himself a former OSU running back, got after Clarett as he got back to the sideline and a shouting match occurred on national television.
http://www.theozone.net/football/2002/clarettspencer.htm
Here is the article on that incident. You will notice different versions from Tressel and Spencer. Spencer was a holdover from Coach Cooper's staff and left after last season. He is currently with the Chicago Bears staff. Tressel replaced Spencer with his brother, Dick Tressel.
Cooper was much dirtier than Tressel will ever be.
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