Clarett faces indefinite suspension (NC stripped from OSU?)

WBNS 10TV ^ | 9/9/2003 | WBNS

[smith288]

Clarett faces indefinite suspension
Is Maurice Clarett's OSU career over?

	Staff Report
	WBNS-10TV EYEWITNESS NEWS © 2002 WBNS-TV, Inc.

New information is coming to light in the investigation of Ohio State University running back Maurice Clarett. The university might not seek Clarett's reinstatement from the NCAA, as reports of him receiving extra benefits begin to surface.

10TV has learned that OSU tailback Maurice Clarett faces an indefinite suspension following an investigation into his finances, and other potential violations of NCAA bylaws.

In addition, WJW-TV in Cleveland reports that the investigation is complete and that OSU will make its recommendation to the NCAA regarding Clarett. WJW reports that the investigation concluded that Clarett has received thousands of dollars in extra benefits, in addition to Clarett's alleged uncooperative behavior with investigators. WJW also reports the university will not seek Clarett's reinstatement to the football team. That effectively ends his career at Ohio State.

[CSM]

"An athlete is only "who he is" because he has received free money from a school, most being publically funded."

I understand your point, but I don't think I agree. An athlete is "who he is" because of tremendous talant and in most cases a ton of hard work. In addition, most schools require an acedemic minimum performance that also requires their effort. A school benefits greatly in status and money by recruiting these top tier talants. The athlete benefits greatly by being able to get an education for free or at a greatly reduced price.

Many scholarship athletes still have part time jobs to pay rent, have social money, etc. What is the difference between a part time job and endorsing a product. Both are voluntary contractual agreements between an individual and a business. So what if one job pays differently than another job. Or are we saying that we should regulate through the NCAA a maximum wage that an athlete can earn on their jobs outside of school?

[HurkinMcGurkin]

What is the difference between a part time job and endorsing a product. Both are voluntary contractual agreements between an individual and a business. So what if one job pays differently than another job.

An endorsement is not strictly between the individual and the business. The athlete isn't simply "Joe Smith". No one would care. He is "Joe Smith who plays for the University of North Carolina Tarheels" or whatever. College is for amatuer athletes. Being paid based upon your association with the university and based upon your skills is not amatuer.

Do universities and others make tons of money off the backs of unpaid athletes? Sure they do. Does the free education, room and board compensate the athlete adequately? In most cases, yes. The blame lies partly with the fans for making college athletics such a money maker. The rest of the blame lies with the NCAA, who because of greed, wont disallow member schools and coaches from signing endorsement or television deals of their own.

[CSM]

"College is for amatuer athletes. Being paid based upon your association with the university and based upon your skills is not amatuer."

I had the understanding that endorsements were allowed for amatuer athletes. Olympic athletes do endorsements (even before pros were let in), and they retain their amatuer status.

I am really not all that set in my mind on this issue. I am very against paying any college athlete, I just think a gray area exists regarding endorsements. What if I bring in one of the well known athletes to work as a paid intern in my marketing and sales department. I allow him to take potential customers golfing every day and pay him 50K for the summer. I just hired him to be a sales man, but in reality he is an endorsement.

I don't know enough about the NCAA rules to know the details of what is allowed vs. what is not allowed.

[HurkinMcGurkin]

What if I bring in one of the well known athletes to work as a paid intern in my marketing and sales department. I allow him to take potential customers golfing every day and pay him 50K for the summer. I just hired him to be a sales man, but in reality he is an endorsement.

NCAA rules are explicit on this, as in the past, this is how boosters have tried to get around rules and get an advantage over other schools. This would be no different than Clarett getting that car on "loan" and the dealership trying to justify it as an advertisement or endorsment of the dealership. This stuff isn't allowed because I could think of dozens of ways to pay athletes and call it something else.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

I believe that the "amateur in one sport"/"professional in the other", came to a head with an Olympic skier/WR from Colorado last year where the NCAA, in typical draconian style, forced the guy to give up his sponsorships or give up football.

Players with baseball contracts playing in the minors(Drew Henson, etal.) escaped this narrow definition because they weren't endorsing any product. It's really sad that the NCAA sets the double standard that it's okay to get paid for one service(being in the minors), yet penalizes another(world class skier).

As for Clarett, it's obvious that he broke the rules(as they are), and made fraudulent claims on the car(was it an Oldsmobile?).

[Diddle E. Squat]

If Clarett were smart he would have went to a school in Florida. He then could have done all this, smoked crack, killed someone, and have his team rated as a top 25 team because of their geography. Not to mention that the Heisman would have been his last year and for as many seasons as he stayed in college.

You speak the truth.

And the NCAA won't strip OSU of their bogus mythical NC title, else they'd also have to strip half the bogus mythical NC titles handed to Miami, FSU, Tennessee, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.

[Diddle E. Squat]

How could I forget Alabama?

[Kenny Bunk]

NFL?

This young fellow's style of play(and bad shoulder) would last about 5 minutes in the NFL.

Prediction:
he'll get a lobux signing bonus from the CFL, or the Euro League. He'll take it. He'll get hurt there, too. He's just too young to play with the big boys in the pro leagues. My respect for OSU has increased a lot over the way they have handled this bad boy.

I hope he decides to stay, sit out the year's suspension, and play a couple more years of successful college ball. He's reputed to be quite intelligent, but with a learning disability, so more education would be great.

By the way, in my college days (Late Jurassic) it was well within a professor's authority to allow an oral exam in place of the written, for any student he judged to need it.

There is no truth to the rumor that I am trying to recruit him for Bowdoin.