COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The NCAA accused Ohio State for the
first time of a "failure to monitor" for permitting a booster to
continue to have contact with players after he was involved in NCAA
problems earlier in the year.
Ohio State President Gordon Gee
expressed disappointment Thursday in athletic director Gene Smith for
not properly monitoring the actions of Robert DiGeronimo, who got
several Buckeyes football players into trouble with the NCAA.
The
university agreed to reduce its football scholarships over the next
three years as the latest self-imposed punishment over a year of
violations and sanctions.
In the letter to Smith, dated on
Thursday, Gee wrote, "I am disappointed that this is where we find
ourselves. You know I find this unacceptable."
In information
released on Thursday, it was also revealed that DiGeronimo had hidden in
a locker in order to hear coach Jim Tressel’s speech prior to a game.
The
NCAA handed Ohio State a second letter of allegations covering all
violations that have occurred since it sent the initial letter this
summer. The first letter dealt with violations stemming from players
taking cash and discount tattoos from a Columbus tattoo-shop owner, and a
subsequent cover-up by Tressel. The latest letter covers violations not
covered during Ohio State’s hearing before the NCAA’s committee on
infractions on Aug. 12.
The reduction in football scholarships
would seem to be a token sanction that would have little effect on the
football program, accounting for only one or two scholarships per year
in a program that is permitted 85.
The university previously
announced it will repay the $338,811 it received as its portion of bowl
revenues last year from the Big Ten. It also vacated the Buckeyes’ 12-1
record in the 2010 season including a Sugar Bowl win and agreed to go on
two years of NCAA probation.
The university had also suspended several players and forced the resignation of Tressel.
The
university previously said that DiGeronimo arranged cash payments of
$200 to four current or former players at a Cleveland sports banquet
earlier this year.
The university also said DiGeronimo overpaid
five players by $1,605 while they were working for businesses owned and
operated by the DiGeronimo family.
Ohio State said Thursday it should have done more to monitor DiGeronimo’s activities.
Smith
said the athletic department has consistently worked with the NCAA to
investigate any allegation, take responsibility and self-report its
findings to the NCAA.
"That is what we have done on this last open
issue, and we accept that we should have done more to oversee Mr.
DiGeronimo’s activities," Smith said in a statement.
He added, "On
a personal note, I deeply regret that I did not ensure the degree of
monitoring our institution deserves and demands."
DiGeronimo did not immediately return a call Thursday seeking comment.
He told The Columbus Dispatch: "They’re trying to put it all on me, the supposedly rogue booster.

"They want to get all the heat off them."
The
university said in its latest report to the NCAA that DiGeronimo had
been an Ohio State booster since the 1980s, when he was part of a group
known as the "committeemen" who helped recruit players before such
practices were outlawed.
DiGeronimo contributed more than $72,000
to the athletic department since 1988 and had been a season ticket
holder for years, the report said.
DiGeronimo was one of a group
of outsiders who had access to Ohio State’s locker room on game days, a
practice that Tressel stopped after taking the head coaching stop,
according to the report.
After that ban, Tressel caught DiGeronimo
trying to hide in a locker to listen to Tressel’s pregame speech and
ordered him and another individual out of the locker room, the report
said.
In 2005, Tressel and then Smith also ordered DiGeronimo to
stop providing lunches to members of the athletic department coaching
staff.
Despite these actions, the university said it should have
done a better job monitoring DiGeronimo’s interactions with players away
from the university, including attendance at an annual charity event
where DiGeronimo was on the event’s board, as well as taking jobs with
DiGeronimo’s excavation business.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.