COLLEGE FOOTBALL OSU says Clarett is lying

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Former Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett accused coach Jim Tressel, his staff and school boosters of arranging for him to get passing grades, money for bogus summer jobs, thousands of dollars in cash and loaner cars. The school immediately labeled the charges as lies.
Most of Clarett's allegations, in an article by ESPN The Magazine, were covered as part of an NCAA probe that found Clarett lied to investigators, leading to his suspension from the team.
Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger was not surprised by the accusations, saying Clarett had vowed to try to hurt the program.
"In moments of frustration during the investigation, (Maurice) might say something like, 'I can blow this whole program up,' or something like that, and so we would then say, 'OK, blow it up. Tell us what you know,"' Geiger said at Tressel's weekly news conference.
Clarett led the Buckeyes to the national championship in 2002, then was suspended by Ohio State and the NCAA for the 2003 season.
Challenges NFL ruling
Clarett then challenged the NFL's rule preventing players from being in the draft less than three years after they graduate high school, winning an initial federal court ruling but losing several appeals.
Friends and family members say Clarett has been working out at an undisclosed location with a personal trainer in preparation for the 2005 NFL draft. He has not spoken publicly in months.
"I have had a chance to read the article, and the allegations as they were mentioned are, simply, untrue. Period," Tressel said.
According to the magazine article, Clarett said Tressel set him up with a loaner car.
Geiger said Tressel did try to help Clarett buy a car through the dealership that leases cars to several Ohio State coaches and administrators. But Clarett and his mother did not meet with the dealer to make arrangements to buy the car and the dealership came to Columbus several days later to repossess it.
Geiger said Tressel's actions did not break any NCAA rules, and that the coach had put other players in touch with the dealership.
Money from boosters
Clarett also said members of Tressel's staff introduced him to boosters who slipped him thousands of dollars in cash -- the better he played, the more cash he would receive.
"When you'd leave, (the booster) sets you straight," Clarett said in the article. "They say, 'You got any money in your pocket?' They make sure your money's straight."
Clarett said Tressel's brother Dick, a member of the Ohio State coaching staff, arranged to get Clarett a job working for a landscaper and was paid a lot even though he did not show up for work. He has also alleged that the football staff arranged an academic adviser who set him up with professors who would pass him even if he skipped class.
Former Ohio State linebacker Marco Cooper also told the magazine he also had bogus landscaping jobs, received furniture from a booster and borrowed cars from Columbus dealerships in exchange for signed OSU memorabilia.
Charges found baseless
Geiger said many of the allegations already had been found baseless through investigations by the NCAA and the university. He pointed out that Cooper had been kicked off the team for drug possession.
Clarett said he had taken "the fall" for Tressel and Ohio State when meeting with the NCAA investigators but was subsequently "blackballed" when he tried to return to school.
Geiger expressed faith in the Ohio State coaches, compliance officers and academic counselors.
"We don't duck. We're not afraid of what's coming. We're not afraid of what's here," Geiger said.
Messages seeking comment were left Tuesday at Clarett's mother's house in northeast Ohio and with his attorney.
Clarett said the main reason why he spoke with ESPN was because he wanted to "clear his name" with NFL owners and general managers.
Thom McDaniels, Clarett's high school coach in Warren, said Clarett will only hurt himself with his accusations.
"I don't know how his coming forth with these comments helps him with his stock in the NFL. I think behaving that way only hurts his reputation and his marketability," McDaniels said. "That is not honorable behavior. At this point, who knows if it's fact or fabrication."