The Ohio State University has both metaphorically and literally “sent out a press release on Friday at 6pm” quite a few times this past year. They’ve had a lot of bad news to disclose to their media contingent regarding Jim Tressel, Terrelle Pryor, Boom Herron, Devier Posey, free tattoos, NCAA sanctions etc.
And that’s when you send out a media release of that sort, at the very end of the work week. Or better yet- the last work day before a long holiday weekend. And today’s news, comes at time that’s like a thousand Fridays before a holiday weekend, because everything is overshadowed by the current mess at Penn State.
The Buckeyes program is benefiting on a PR level from what’s happening within their very own conference; just one state over.
Today OSU and the NCAA enforcement staff announced that the joint investigation into the remaining infraction matters is complete. As a result, the university received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA and submitted their response. This the final step on the University’s part- they await the Committee on Infractions’ final response.
The latest charges involve booster Robert DiGeronimo, who arranged for cash payments of $200 each to four current or former players. Also, DiGeronimo arranged for five players to be overcompensated by a total of $1,605 while they were employed by businesses owned and operated by the DiGeronimo family.
The second allegation asserts that the institution took insufficient action to monitor DiGeronimo, resulting in a “failure to monitor” allegation. This allegation does not relate to any of the issues discussed at the Aug. 12 NCAA hearing.
The university will self-impose a reduction of five scholarships over a three-year period beginning next year. This action is in addition to the self-imposed sanctions previously identified to the Committee on Infractions Aug. 12. Those include vacating the 2010 season (including the Sugar Bowl), vacating the 2010 Big Ten football championship, imposing a two-year probation period, seeking and accepting the resignation of then head football coach Jim Tressel, and forfeiting the university’s share of the Big Ten’s payment for having played in the 2011 Sugar Bowl.
Documents related to Ohio State’s NCAA investigation can be found HERE
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, a Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports.
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