Tuesday’s College football news & notes
Ohio State: Ray Small, a former Ohio State University football player previously caught up in the school’s memorabilia scandal faces a four-year prison term after pleading guilty to drug trafficking.
Ray Small is to be sentenced April 3 after pleading guilty Monday in Columbus to three felony counts of drug trafficking. He also faces drug trafficking charges in Meigs County in southeastern Ohio.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that the 26-year-old Small was indicted in July, three months after Columbus police found heroin and prescription pain and anti-anxiety pills during a search of his apartment.
Small, a wide receiver at OSU from 2006 to 2009, was one of several players involved in a high-profile football memorabilia scandal that led to the forced resignation of coach Jim Tressel.
Michigan: The federal government is looking at how the University of Michigan responded to a reported violation of the school’s sexual misconduct policy by a football player.
The Detroit News reported Tuesday that the probe by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights began after federal officials received complaints related to the expulsion of kicker Brendan Gibbons, who is no longer enrolled.
One of the complaints was filed last year and says the university didn’t investigate the 2009 incident. It also says the school’s grievance policy doesn’t fully comply with a federal law prohibiting discrimination based on gender.
Gibbons was expelled in December for violating the sexual misconduct policy. He has not been charged with a crime. University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald says the school will “fully cooperate” with the investigation.
Michigan offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier will earn over $800,000 annually during his three-year deal.
The school released Nussmeier’s employment agreement Tuesday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Nussmeier’s base salary is around $280,000 for the 2014 season, $310,000 for 2015 and $330,000 for 2016. He’s also slated to make $550,000 a year in what the deal terms “additional compensation” — for “consulting, promotional activities, sponsorships, and other services at the request of the University as part of his duties and responsibilities.”
Michigan State: Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio will earn $3.64 million in annual compensation after agreeing to an amended contract following the school’s first Rose Bowl victory in over a quarter-century.
The school announced Dantonio’s new six-year deal Tuesday. His yearly compensation increases from $1.99 million.
Michigan State won the Big Ten title and beat Stanford in the Spartans’ first Rose Bowl appearance since 1988. Athletic director Mark Hollis says nearly $785,000 also has been allocated to enhance assistant coaching salaries. Defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi, who remained with the Spartans despite speculation he might leave for a head coaching job, is now slated to make $904,583.
Associated Press