OHIO STATE A.D. defends coach's record

Some of Jim Tressel's problems were caused by players he didn't recruit.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger said Monday that despite a growing list of legal problems involving football players, he does not hold coach Jim Tressel responsible.
The arrest early Saturday of tight end Louis Irizarry and tailback Ira Guilford adds to a growing list of players who have gotten into legal or disciplinary trouble in Tressel's 39 1/2 months on the job. An Associated Press search of court records reveals at least 13 incidents involving 14 football players since Tressel was hired in January of 2001.
"The climate in the program, the effort to address these kinds of issues is extraordinary," Geiger said. "These kinds of things were addressed at a (team) meeting as recently as last Thursday. We would have wished there was a little more carryover."
Tressel declined an interview request on the subject of his players' behavior.
Bad to worse?
After 13 years as Ohio State's coach, John Cooper was fired after the 2001 Outback Bowl. Geiger said at the time that there was a "deteriorating climate within the football program," which took into account academics, legal problems, discipline and competitiveness. Tressel was hired to replace Cooper and is widely seen as a tougher disciplinarian who has cut down on the Buckeyes' off-the-field missteps.
Yet the search of court records shows there have been more problems over Tressel's first three seasons than Cooper's final three years.
Tressel recruited six of the 14 players who have gotten into trouble with the law while he has been head coach; the rest were brought in by Cooper.
Geiger was asked if there has been a change in the number of players getting in trouble under Tressel as opposed to Cooper.
"I don't know that it's better or worse," he said.
During the 2002 season, Tressel guided the Buckeyes to their first national championship in 34 years.
The problems
The problems involving players in the past three years include underage drinking, drunken driving, disorderly conduct, assault, falsification of a police report to theft, robbery, felony drug abuse and carrying a concealed weapon. Some of the players are no longer with the program (quarterback Steve Bellisari, tailback Maurice Clarett), while others are still on the roster (running back Branden Joe, wide receiver Santonio Holmes, quarterback Troy Smith).
Geiger said Ohio State players do not get into trouble more often than players at other programs of similar stature and size. He pointed to the increased profile Ohio State players have in Columbus, where the NHL Blue Jackets are the only local team in one of the four major professional sports.
More is made of arrests of football players here than elsewhere, Geiger said.
"On a recent news show, Guilford and Irizarry were the leading story. The second-leading story was a murder. And the third-leading story was the fact that the murder rate in Columbus is way up," Geiger said. "That was the order of importance that that particular news institution gave those three particular stories."
School's status
Ohio State football frequently is the top story on local television, regardless of season. On Sunday night, one of the local stations checked in with several former Ohio State players who were taken in the recent NFL draft as they went through rookie camps with their new teams. Major league baseball received scant mention and the NBA and NHL playoffs were ignored except for scores on a crawl at the bottom of the screen.
"We're absolutely and completely the headline story, good or bad. That is the nature of the beast here," Geiger said. "We're going to be the No. 1 deal and we like it when it's good and we don't like it when it's bad. I'm not bemoaning that. That's the way it is."
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