Prez says O'Brien firing justified

Karen Holbrook said the former coach admitted he violated NCAA rules.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Ohio State did not need an NCAA ruling to fire basketball coach Jim O'Brien because a former school official said the coach admitted he violated a rule by loaning a potential recruit $6,000, President Karen Holbrook testified Wednesday.
Holbrook said the university had a right to terminate O'Brien's contract because one of the school's regulations for coaches is to know and comply with NCAA bylaws.
O'Brien disputes that he told former athletic director Andy Geiger that he violated an NCAA rule. He is suing in the Ohio Court of Claims for $3.5 million in back pay and benefits for what he says was an improper dismissal in June 2004. The judgment could grow by millions if interest and other damages are awarded.
A provision of O'Brien's contract said the NCAA had to rule on alleged violations before he could be fired for that reason. But Holbrook said there was still justification for the dismissal without such a ruling.
"The contract still requires him to uphold Ohio State's standards, which are the same as the NCAA's in part, but nonetheless, it is an Ohio State contract that was breached," she said.
What he says
O'Brien says the loan to Aleksandar Radojevic, a 7-foot-3 prospect from Serbia, was not a violation because he knew Radojevic already had forfeited his amateur status by playing professionally. He also contends that the loan did not come to light until after the NCAA's four-year statute of limitations.
O'Brien, who coached the Buckeyes to a 133-88 record that included two Big Ten titles and a conference tournament title in seven seasons, says he gave the money to Radojevic's family in late 1998 or early 1999 because the player's father had recently died.
O'Brien's lawyers have argued that his contract allows Ohio State to have suspended him until the NCAA had investigated any possible violation and then rendered a decision, but Geiger said that was not even considered.
"We're now in the 19th month of the NCAA process. Having a coach in limbo or having a coach suspended would be grossly unfair to the young people who play basketball at Ohio State," said Geiger, called as the school's first witness but testifying for the third time in the trial. "It would have arrested any development of our program and that would have been an untenable solution."
Didn't contact NCAA
Holbrook was asked if she or other Ohio State administrators had contacted the NCAA to find out how serious the sanctions stemming from O'Brien's loan might be.
"No," she said. "The issue was the coach had entered into a clear violation of NCAA bylaws, it was a considered to be a blatant violation, and an egregious violation -- and one that had no remedy."
Holbrook said there was no reason to investigate the matter or to contact the NCAA after Geiger reported to her that O'Brien had acknowledged giving Radojevic's family the money.
"We did not ask the NCAA," she said. "This was a university decision."
Radojevic never played at Ohio State and never enrolled in classes at the school. After he signed to come to Ohio State from a junior college, it was determined that he had played professionally for a team in Yugoslavia and he was declared ineligible by the NCAA.
Geiger said "it was a charade, a sham," that O'Brien had allowed Ohio State to spend months on an appeal to regain Radojevic's eligibility.
"The coach had already made Alex irrevocably ineligible by giving him the money," Geiger said.