Former recruit says he received money from O'Brien

The payment became public when a lawsuit was filed.
DAYTON (AP) -- A former Ohio State basketball recruit admitted he received at least $6,000 from then-Buckeyes coach Jim O'Brien and said several women were doing schoolwork for player Boban Savovic.
O'Brien was fired by Ohio State on June 8 after he admitted he gave $6,000 in May 1999 to Aleksandar Radojevic, who never played for Ohio State. The 7-foot-3 center was ruled ineligible by the NCAA for accepting money to play for a professional team in Yugoslavia.
"I am really sorry all of this has happened. Coach O'Brien made a mistake, but he gave me the money to help out my family," Radojevic told the Dayton Daily News for a story in Saturday's editions. "I know, people in our sport know, that other players take money and some coaches try to buy their championships. What happened to coach O'Brien is wrong."
O'Brien's attorney has said the coach loaned the money to Radojevic after he signed to play for Ohio State.
NCAA rules prohibit student athletes from receiving any financial help from anyone other than family members.
Lawsuit filed
O'Brien's payment to Radojevic became public in a lawsuit that a Columbus woman filed against two Ohio State boosters, accusing her former employers of backing out of an agreement to pay her for taking in Savovic.
Kathleen Salyers said in a sworn deposition that Dan and Kim Roslovic, who are now divorced, agreed to pay her $1,000 a month plus expenses for Savovic's care. The Roslovics, who employed Salyers as a housekeeper and baby sitter, deny there was ever an agreement.
Salyers also claimed she did schoolwork for Savovic and asked professors to change the player's grades at the request of then-assistant coach Paul Biancardi, now the head coach at Wright State. Biancardi has denied the allegations.
Salyers' lawsuit has prompted the NCAA to look into allegations of payments to players, homework being done for the athletes and agents having improper access to players.
Radojevic has kept a close friendship with Salyers, whom he met through Savovic. Radojevic and Savovic were friends growing up in the war-torn former Yugoslavia.
Radojevic, who played at Barton County Community College in Kansas while being recruited by Ohio State, told the Daily News that he knew several women were writing and editing papers for Savovic, a member of the Buckeyes' 1998-99 Final Four team.
"Kathy and I would talk nearly every night while I was in Kansas, and she would tell me she was doing the papers. I told her several times not to do it," he said. "People helped me at the community college because I couldn't speak English when I came there, but they didn't help me like that. They didn't change my grades or write papers for me."
Deals
Radojevic also told the newspaper that he and other Serbian basketball players had deals with a broker before signing to play for Ohio State.
The newspaper's review of Ohio State phone records showed that between May 1997 and December 2000, more than 650 calls were made from the Buckeyes basketball program to New York agent Marc Cornstein and Semi Pajovic. Pajovic is vice president of Cornstein's Pinnacle Management Corp., according to its Web site.
Radojevic said he never paid Pajovic or Cornstein while he was being recruited. But he alleged that he and other players made "deals" promising a percentage of future earnings if they played professionally.
Through his attorney, Cornstein declined to comment to the Daily News. The newspaper said it could not reach Pajovic. A message seeking comment was left Saturday morning at their office.
Radojevic didn't comment on whether O'Brien knew of the alleged arrangement. NCAA rules prohibit coaches from using agents to help recruit athletes.