NCAA Ohio State free-cars program is very big

NCAA investigators are returning to Ohio State today to reopen a probe.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Sixty-four car dealers are enrolled in a program to give free cars to Ohio State coaches and athletics staff in exchange for access to season tickets and other perks, The Columbus Dispatch reported on Sunday.
The NCAA allows free car programs at Division I universities, leaving it up to the schools to monitor them, NCAA spokeswoman Jennifer Kearns told the newspaper.
The little-noticed practice got new attention last week when former tailback Maurice Clarett told ESPN The Magazine that he and other players got help for passing grades, money for bogus summer jobs and thousands of dollars. The university denied the allegations.
Clarett was suspended for the 2003 season after the NCAA said he accepted improper benefits and lied to investigators. He later left school. NCAA investigators are returning to the school on Monday for a reopened probe.
Clarett also said he got a free loaner car from a Marion car dealer recommended by coach Jim Tressel, who gets his cars there under the program now and when he was an assistant in the 1980s. Ohio State said there was nothing wrong with the recommendation.
Wisconsin's program
The University of Wisconsin eliminated 30 staff members from its free-car program last year, saying it wasn't fair that academic deans didn't get the perk. The program is now limited to coaches and assistants for football, hockey and men's and women's basketball.
At Ohio State, dealers provide 85 cars for coaches, assistants, department workers and the wives of two coaches and athletics director Andy Geiger, the Dispatch said.
"That's a healthy program," said Steve Malchow, Wisconsin's associate athletic director. Malchow surveyed the programs a few years ago and said Ohio State's was among the largest.
The enrolled dealers receive booster perks such as access to the university golf course and free passes to some sporting events, but they also are able to buy four season football tickets each, with seats between the 20- and 30-yard lines, at the $57 face value.
They're not donating beaters, for the most part.
The vehicles
According to university records through 2003 reviewed by the newspaper, the vehicles include:
UA $48,000 2003 BMW X5 that was driven by men's basketball coach Jim O'Brien before he was fired in June.
UA $33,830 Pontiac Bonneville for Tressel, whose salary is $1.4 million, and $41,000 Lexus for his wife, Ellen.
UA $41,000 GMC Envoy for women's basketball coach Jim Foster and $20,000 Chevy Blazer for his wife, Donna.
UA $38,000 GMC Envoy for Geiger and a Chrysler Town and Country mini-van for his wife, Eleanor.
Started in 1970
Dealers started giving cars in the 1970s and the university made it a formal program under the fund-raising staff in 1984. Ohio State pays the insurance and those who receive cars must report equivalent lease payments as income for tax purposes.
The university saves money by paying only 20 cents a mile on business trips for those with donated cars instead of 35 cents, said Susan Henderson, associate athletic director for finance and administration.
Henderson, who declined a free car, said the practice is standard in the competitive Division I world.
Not all the cars are flashy: Band director Jon Woods last year was driving an $8,500 1997 Buick LeSabre with 94,000 miles on it.