Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Ohio BMV's report should help Ohio State football team with NCAA

News from the BMV should help Ohio State with the NCAA, which is all that matters to the school.

terrelle pryor.JPGView full sizeAn investigation found that former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor, above, and other Buckeyes players broke no laws with their car deals.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — An investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles found no laws were broken among the 25 car sales to Ohio State football players and their families surveyed by the state. Of course, it's also not against the law to sell your championship ring or hide information from your bosses, but those acts still got quarterback Terrelle Pryor, coach Jim Tressel and Ohio State in hot water with the NCAA.

What matters to Ohio State is what the NCAA thinks about this car situation, and anything else that has come up since the school received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA on April 21. Ohio State is preparing its response to the NCAA, which is due by July 5.

Here's what we know about three key issues that have arisen since April.

The cars: After the BMV released its report Tuesday, Ohio State called off its own planned independent investigation. The BMV has nothing to do with the NCAA and therefore wasn't worried about whether NCAA rules were broken, though the investigation didn't find any evidence of dealers receiving OSU memorabilia or tickets in car deals.

"In light of the report from the BMV and an examination done by the Ohio Independent Automobile Dealers Association, we have seen no evidence that would lead us to believe that Ohio State student-athletes violated any policies when purchasing used cars," OSU spokesperson Jim Lynch said. "Therefore, we will not be conducting an independent examination outside of what has already been done by these parties."

Overall, this is very good news for Ohio State.

To illustrate that, consider the alternative, if the BMV had found that laws were broken because dealers had misreported deals in order to give OSU athletes a break. That would have been a major problem. But this is the opposite of that.

Still, some may wonder why the university isn't taking another look at the cars on its own. That could really clear the air. But Larry James, Pryor's former attorney, took time Tuesday to reinforce that all the cars the former OSU quarterback drove were properly accounted for. And you'd think that if Ohio State isn't looking harder, the OSU administration must have some idea the NCAA is satisfied. So this potentially damning part of the puzzle could be finished.

The Sports Illustrated allegations: In an SI story released May 30, the day Tressel resigned as Ohio State's coach, nine other players on the current roster were named by an anonymous source as receiving extra benefits at a tattoo parlor. Parents of many of those players have disputed their sons broke any NCAA rules, and James, representing those players as well, has been confident all along that eight of the nine would be completely cleared. He gathered memorabilia from the players to help make that case.

If the NCAA finds more violations related to the tattoo parlor, it could show that Ohio State's problem went deeper than the six players initially suspended in December. At this point, it seems like there's a good chance the NCAA may not find that.

The Terrelle Pryor-Dennis Talbott connection: Pryor has left the team and won't talk any further to the NCAA. Talbott, accused by an ESPN anonymous source of giving Pryor thousands of dollars for signing memorabilia, strongly denies those charges. James, on behalf of Pryor, denied them as well.

While admitting to The Plain Dealer he had a friendship with Pryor, Talbott, a freelance photographer, said he has never given him extra benefits. And he confirmed again Tuesday that the NCAA has never contacted him. That also seems like a good sign for Ohio State.

So Ohio State should have enjoyed what the BMV had to say Tuesday, while knowing what the NCAA says matters so much more.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: dlesmerises@plaind.com, 216-999-4479

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2011/06/ohio_bmvs_report_should_help_o.html

Protest Alastair Cook BlackBurn Rovers Liverpool Nick Barmby Energy industry

No comments:

Post a Comment