Former Ohio State head coach Jim O'Brien won a court decision against the university on Wednesday because of a literal interpretation of his contract. According to the contract, O'Brien could be fired without payment once an NCAA violation had been determined and after an investigation. That's what his attorney Joseph Murray has been saying for months.
Ohio State determined a violation had occurred when O'Brien paid (he says for humanitarian reasons) recruit Aleksander Radojevic $6,000-plus. But the school made that determination before the NCAA had done a thing and fired O'Brien within two months of his telling then-OSU athletic director Andy Geiger in April 2004.
So, if the school had waited to fire O'Brien, it might not have owed him a dime.
Still, O'Brien, speaking Wednesday on the subject for the first time since he was fired, said there were no winners here.
"I sincerely wish we had mended this,'' O'Brien said. "I have a lot of mixed emotions about a lot of this.''
In its ruling Wednesday, Ohio Court of Claims Judge Joseph T. Clark did say O'Brien broke his contract (i.e., committed an NCAA violation) with the money he gave to Radojevic.
The NCAA infractions case is in the hands of the infractions committee after O'Brien and OSU officials met with the committee earlier this month. He will learn sometime in the next two months if he has any penalty assigned to him personally.
Tom Yeager, the commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association and a former infractions committee chair, said the court's opinion on the NCAA infraction should have no bearing on an NCAA infractions case.
"It might provide background or color, but it's not our deal,'' said Yeager, talking in general about when a court makes an NCAA-related statement.
O'Brien said he's fighting for his reputation.
"There's no question that my reputation has been soiled,'' O'Brien said. "That's been the most damning. I can go get another job or replace lost income, but I've always told my players that they've got their credibility and reputation and once you lose that..."
O'Brien hasn't received a paycheck since he was terminated. He said it has been a strain on him, but he felt that the fight was worth every penny.
What has he been doing?
"I know what I haven't been doing, and that's sleeping,'' O'Brien said. "The last thought I have before going to bed and the first thought I have waking up in the morning and the hours in between have been about this stuff. It hasn't gone away.''
O'Brien has been visiting with former players and coaching friends, like Dennis Wolff of Boston University. He said he's not sure if he will coach again, but he has to wait anyway to see the outcome of the NCAA case.
"Somebody asked me what I was doing pursuing this, and I feel very, very strongly that I needed to defend myself,'' O'Brien said. "I ran a clean program and a lot of things were said that weren't flattering. I have taken great pride with the kids that have gone through our program without the slightest blemish on my reputation as a college basketball coach. If no one else defended me, then I needed to defend myself.''
O'Brien, 55, who coached the Buckeyes to the 1999 Final Four after a stint at Boston College, will await another hearing to see the damages he receives from Ohio State. It could be in the millions of dollars.
Final nuggets
• You can criticize Rutgers coach Gary Waters if you're not pleased with his wins and losses, but it's hard to knock him for being stuck in a snowstorm that turned into something the Northeast hadn't seen in years. That's why Waters didn't get back for Sunday's critical win over Marquette. Waters was at a Kent State Hall of Fame Induction ceremony on Saturday, but he has a legitimate story.
"I wasn't going to go in the first place once the reports were bad,'' Waters said Wednesday prior to the Scarlet Knights' game against St. John's. "But then I got a weather report that I could go back to Philadelphia instead of Newark. I even looked into a charter. I checked all kind of things.''
Waters said he spent seven hours in the Cleveland airport on Sunday.
"Getting inducted into a Hall of Fame isn't a bad thing,'' Waters said. "I know everybody is frustrated about [his missing the game that assistant Fred Hill coached to a win]. But I'm not a person out there getting DUIs, whose kids aren't graduating and not having top APRs. I'm doing the right thing. I went to receive an award. You want to be there, but I wouldn't have been there if I knew [the storm] was going to be that bad. I apologized, and I'll apologize to our fans later.''
Waters said the honor was important to him, but he was set to send his wife in his place to accept it.
The win over Marquette pushed Rutgers to a 4-7 Big East record, leaving it tied with Louisville for 12th in the conference -- the last spot that would make the Big East tournament. The win, heading into Wednesday's game against St. John's, pushed the Knights a game ahead of the Red Storm.
"Fred did an outstanding job,'' Waters said.
Waters reiterated that the Scarlet Knights have been hampered by injuries to key players like forward J.R. Inman (didn't play in a loss at Notre Dame or the win over Marquette) and point Anthony Farmer (didn't play against the Irish).
Waters entered the season 60-61 in four years at the school. The Scarlet Knights (14-10) are led by juniors Quincy Douby (24.3 ppg) and Marquis Webb (9.3 ppg) and three freshmen and a sophomore. But even more important in Waters' defense over any rumors over his job status is his contract. If the school honors it, then there is no discussion.
"I signed a new contract last year for six years,'' Waters said. "Everyone keeps forgetting that. Why would they sign a person to a six-year contract if they didn't expect him to be around?"
• Have you ever seen a more bizarre turnaround than what is going on at Seton Hall? As one coach told ESPN.com, "Did they pick up some players?''
Seton Hall coach Louis Orr looks safe with his Pirates on their way to the NCAA Tournament. Moving him wouldn't make sense with the run he's on.
Still, it's been an odd turn. How many NCAA Tournament teams have lost two games by a combined 95 points? Seton Hall lost to Duke by 53 in November and then to Connecticut by 42 last Saturday. The Pirates, though, have also beaten NC State, Syracuse and, most recently, West Virginia on Tuesday night at the Meadowlands.
• The hot thing to do is for an athletic director to downplay any attempts for a raid on its current coach.
West Virginia AD Ed Pastilong did that when he told ESPN.com that John Beilein has a new deal (signed last season) and he expected all parties to honor it. Villanova clearly took a proactive approach by locking up Jay Wright with a new seven-year deal on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman told the local media that he looks forward to a long and productive relationship with Skip Prosser. Prosser is in the third year of a 10-year deal with Wake Forest, and Wellman's comments essentially send a message to Cincinnati if the Bearcats were interested in interviewing Prosser for their opening.
Andy Katz
