Cars..rings sold...more OSU in the news

[billybud]

At least that is what former Ohio State athletes are saying. As a former basketball player states...you'd have to be blind not to notice all the nice cars that the football players were driving.

NCAA rules? Yeah, they told us about that stuff but we didn't listen. When you have five Big Ten rings, we sold a couple.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6592185

[Spence]

here is what the players who weren't in trouble all four years said;

Jordan Hall: Fuel to Fire


Nate Oliver: Let's play the blame game


Stoney: I know darn well he's not welcome back in our locker room. At least not while I'm here.


Chekwa: For the record tho. "Everyone" does not include 95% of the roster. And I only say 95 cuz I can't be sure of what everyone does


Travis Howard: Some people just aint real I see your true colors but it's cool because still grinding and we ain't gonna let that get to us #westillgonemakeithappen



Chekwa: But I know I got my wip in Fla. and my roomate has been driving the 95 Ford T for years s/o to #BigB (Bryant Browning) lol


Brewster: I made my name by hard work-blood-sweat and tears...he made his name today...by selling lies to the lantern..enough said..workout time!!

Stoneburner: "Of course what he said isn't true. I got all my rings and my pops paid for my car."

Thoma: "I rode a bike and the COTA brah. And got a summer job to pay rent. #grinded, but that's what it took."


I not saying Small is lying concerning himself. I think if any player from any major D-1 school wants to be on the take he can find someone willing to help him. This isn't the first time this has happened - at Ohio State or anywhere else - and it won't be the last - until the NCAA changes the rules. The NCAA supports making celebrities out of these kids, but expects them to live like paupers. The only thing out of this whole mess that has really bothered me is that the coach found out and did do anything. Small, though, proved in his playing days at Ohio State that he never cared about the rules - it is why he was on the bench most of his career. Then he couldn't make it in the NFL - even though the talent level is there - so he is back at Ohio State finishing his degree. Ironically, under a program that says any athlete that leaves can come back to Ohio State and finish his degree for free if they choose. And no this isn't against the NCAA rules because these athletes are no longer eligible.

I do believe this thing with Small is also in the Ohio State report to the NCAA so it is only new to people that aren't familiar to the whole report.

[Spence]

This is an example of a break down of monthly expenses from a player who played in the 1990's for John Cooper. He was a scholarship punter.

All scholarship checks are not the same. It depends on where you are and the cost of living etc. I remember our checks were just under $600/month in the mid 90's now they're double that. But, I know guys at the Univ of Washington at the same time were $900/month.

Now, you only get the "bigger" scholarship check if you live off campus. What you do with that check and how you spend it is up to you. How much do you want to be able to pocket and/or use for spending money. Different people have different values and needs. Some want to try and "live large" and outside their means.

Let's go with the $1200/month example and figure out a "cost of living" the avg player may be accustomed to.

$1,200/month

-$400 rent (avg)
-$100 utilities (this is harder to come up with an avg. too many variables)
-$350 car payment (IF you have a car payment similar to what is being reported)
-$80-$100 car insurance (young males are high risk so this could be more for some)
-$70-$100 cell phone (depends on your plan and your "lifestyle")
-$100-$120 gas for car (depends on how much you drive)

Right now you're already at $1170 on the high end and $1100 on the low. Because of the variables that are involved there may be a plus or minus of $100-$200 in here somewhere. More important, lifestyle wants and needs could drastically change these numbers. If you don't have a car or you're fortunate enough to have parents to pay for your car then that saves A LOT out of the check. I was one of the fortunate ones. My dad sent me $200/month to help cover food and incidentals and bought my car and paid for the insurance.

Now, where is the $ for food and entertainment?

People ASSUME the players on scholarship get 3 meals a day. NOT TRUE! I know we only got 1 meal a day back in the 90's (training table) and that was usually dinner after practice. Currently things haven't changed much according to a current player. The most you get is 1 meal/day during the season and currently 3 meals/week with your scholarship.

This is just an attempt to come up with an avg costs with regards to the scholarship check here. It's different across the board depending on the cost of living in other cities/states. By no means is this possibly and entirely accurate but I think it's pretty close with what information and experience I have.


Until something is done to make things more fair, you will have players bending the rules. Ones who are prone to bad decisions will break them. They see everyone making money, but them. Most really do not see the value of their scholarship until the football ship has sailed.

[billybud]

"Former Buckeyes basketball player Mark Titus wrote Tuesday on his blog that the perks within the football program are far from a secret.

"Any OSU student in the past five years could tell you that a lot of the football players drive nice cars," Titus wrote. "You'd have to be blind to not notice it."

Small said there was no shortage of people trying to help Ohio State athletes.

"Everywhere you go, while you're in the process of playing at Ohio State," Small said, "you're going to get a deal every which way."

[donovan]

Word like all, everyone, etc...are seldom true.

Coaches have long claimed, I never noticed...ala Don James of University of Washington when Billy Jo Hobart was there. '"I never noticed what kind of cars the kids drive."

Time college presidents took back college sports. The NCAA represents itself, not the students, athletes or the institutions. The have become an entity unto themselves.

[Spence]

I agree. Is collegiate sports at Ohio State out of control --- it would appear to me that yes it is. it also appear to me that most schools that are five seconds from being out of control. I won't say Ohio State is above the fray, I won't say that Ohio State should be better that any other school, I will say that at some point the school needs to get control of the form. If they can't, then they fall behind.

[Spence]

http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2011/05/27/story-ohio-state-football-ray-small-lantern-article.html?sid=102

[billybud]

I think that it would seem to be unusual to find 50 players and players' families obtaining cars at one dealership. It certainly would be here in Tallahassee.

That's got to be a flag.

[Spence]

Two dealerships, Auto Direct ( which is a discount car dealership) and Jack Maxton. I don't have any experience with Jack Maxton, but a guy who works for me got a car for his kid at Auto Direct and he got it for several thousand under book. It isn't unusual to get cars at Auto Direct under book - even thousands under book. The car he got his son is only two years old with nothing that you can tell that was wrong with it.

I do know that any time a scholarship player buys a car they have to notify compliance and they are responsible to check the deal. Compliance has said they knew about every car that the players bought and found nothing out of the ordinary wrong with the deals. They don't check cars the parents buy, so that is what they are looking into now. Also a huge population of Ohio State students go through Auto Direct to get used cars because of their prices. They are very a popular car resaler.

It wouldn't surprise me that some players take extra benefits from some people. I have heard of a restaurant that sells lunches for some players at reduced rates and has since the 1950's. I don't have any direct knowledge of this, but lots of players eat here and they serve large portions very cheap.

[billybud]

"The Dispatch reported that a car salesman who received game passes from Ohio State athletes handled many of the deals at two different dealerships. Ohio State has since taken the salesman, Aaron Kniffin, off the pass list."

I really don't think much is up...except that it is funny that ONE salesman is responsible for these deals....

His name probably got passed around...and the fact that he got free tickets from athletes to the National Championship game and a BCS bowl probably had no impact.

[Spence]

It was the same salesman at both dealerships. That was also the guy my buddy bought his kids car. I heard him talking on television the other night. I think he is in Tennessee or Florida now. Look out.

This guy was put on a pass list by players until they found out who he was and they put him on the no no list. It isn't surprising people try to get players to give them tickets. Ohio State is a tough ticket. You can't just buy tickets to football. People will their seats to keep them in the family. The only way to get tickets without buying them through a broker is to have someone with tickets to give them to you or be a student. Ohio State let's any student who wants to buy tickets have them. Anyway, if this guy could score a few tickets he could use them to help with somebof his more important clients. That probably happened

[Spence]

What has bothered me in this whole thing is the fact that the head coach knew of at least some of this and did nothing. If someone told me that players were getting slid money by boosters, that would not surprise me. I'm not defending it of saying it is right, but I think it happens all the time. I think it happens every where, not just at Ohio State. I don't think there is a lot the schools can do about those kinds of things. When a paid employee of the school does something wrong, that is something that can't happen. Coaches do the whole hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil act. Looking the other way helps perpetuate this culture. The whole booster culture needs to be stopped and the only way to do this is to reform the NCAA rules governing players.

[billybud]

Tickets to a BCS game have value...tickets to the National Championship game can be sold for $$$$.

[billybud]

Uh oh!! Let's get the stories straight...

From the Sporting News

"Aaron Kniffin, the Columbus, Ohio car salesman linked to Ohio State’s internal investigation into athletes receiving alleged preferential treatment, told Sporting News on Friday that every deal he made with players was cleared by the school’s NCAA compliance department — in direct contrast to Ohio State’s claims.

Kniffin said he has sold more than 50 cars to Ohio State athletes and/or their relatives over the last five years, and that the OSU compliance staff directed players and relatives to him. OSU compliance director Doug Archie told The Columbus Dispatch that he had spoken to Kniffin only once and that he never sends players to dealerships."



http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-footba ... Ne8hL3JI''

[Spence]

Ohio State compliance has said that they checked every car sale by athletes, just not parents. That makes since to me, because the school shouldn't be responsible for checking everything parent do. Also 50 athlete from a pool of over 1000 is less than 10% of athletes on scholarship at Ohio State. That is probably really close to the percentage of the general population that buy cars in the area from there. I have never heard that compliance sends any kids anywhere to buy anything. I don't know why they would even think about doing that.

Concerning Auto Direct, there are only a couple salesman there. They sell a huge amount of cars. It is like a discount store for cars so it doesn't work like most dealerships. That guy probably moves 15 or 20 cars a day to make his money. Most car salesman get a couple a week. It Is a very different environment. I don't know much about this whole thing, but Auto Direct is a huge volume used car dealer. Probably the biggest in this state. I have heard they bought lots of cars from the Katrina disaster and things like that, so while those cars look new and have low to no miles, the come with baggage. I dint know that to be true, but I have heard that is why they sell so cheap.