By Bill Smith

                Ex-coach Jim O’Brien has said that the $6,000 given to the family of Aleksandar Radojevic was done for humanitarian reasons and had nothing to do with Aleksandar being a potential recruit.   Reports of statements from Aleksandar supported that position. Given the nature of war-torn Montenegro (part of the area formerly known as Yugoslavia), it is not hard to believe that the family needed help.  If the money was given for humanitarian reasons, O’Brien was punished for a good deed.  Admittedly, a little glow of the good deed wore off when he failed to mention his gift to the University for five years.

                In addition the suit by Kathleen Salyers concerning benefits to Boban Savovic, another player from that area, raised flags of possible impropriety.  While her claims for repayment are in dispute, there can be no doubt that Boban received assistance above that of a non-athlete.  It has not been established that Coach O’Brien had knowledge of the arrangement and he had a clean record in his previous head coaching assignments at St. Bonaventure and Boston College.

              Ohio State did the right thing by terminating him.  The NCAA came down on OSU including the forfeiture of $800,000 in revenue from NCAA Championship tournament appearances as well as the wins achieved in those contests.  The University had no other choice and took action quickly.

                 I am not going to get into the case of O’Brien vs. OSU.  That is not the point here.

                 There is some question about exactly when the gift was made.  According to one interpretation of NCAA rules, if O’Brien knew that Aleksandar was not eligible because he had been paid to play in Europe, the gift would not have been a violation.  If he did not know, then it was a violation.  The question boils down to “What did he know, and when did he know it?”  As worn as that question is, there is something much more worn that must be addressed soon—the NCAA thousands of Thou shall not’s of their rulebook.

                In the case between OSU and O’Brien, David Swank, the former head of the NCAA Committee on Infractions, said in documents filed with the court that the gift was made after O’Brien knew that Aleksandar had turned pro.  That meant that the gift was not a violation.  It is clear that the NCAA rules are too numerous, subject to interpretation, and unclear!

                Because Aleksandar had played pro ball, regardless of what was in Coach O’Brien’s head or heart, the player could never have been a qualified college recruit for OSU or any other university.  Therefore, nothing about the transaction could be a violation in the minds of reasonable people.  Intent doesn’t matter.  Knowledge or lack there of doesn’t matter.  What does matter is even a former head of the NCAA Infractions Committee disagreed with the heavy handed actions of that institution.  In April of 2007, the NCAA appeals committee threw out the violations against O’Brien concerning Aleksandar.  Did they come to the conclusion that the charges were mute?  No, instead the only reason the committee threw out the charges was the failure of the enforcement staff to notify OSU by the deadline.  The notification came 2 days late.  As a result, O’Brien’s suspension was reduced.

                The action suggests that the NCAA has decided to utilize “thought police.”  More than OSU, or other colleges, it is the NCAA that must clean up its act and get off the thrown of omnipotence.  This is just one of dozens of heavy handed and mindless judgments that the NCAA has made.  Lord Acton said “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  It is the universities that have the product that generates the millions of dollars in college sports.  If the NCAA is not careful, it may lose the keys to the golden Cadillac to a less power hungry and money-grubbing organization.  The Universities may realize that the NCAA needs them far more than they need it.