Ohio State Press Conference Quotes – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/10/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 10, 2006
Ohio State Athletics Director Gene Smith
Opening Statement:
“Let me thank all of you for being here. First of all, let me thank the NCAA Committee on Infractions, particularly the Chair, Josephine Potuto, for their hard work and diligence throughout this investigation. We especially want to thank them for operating slightly outside of their normal practice and procedures to bring this case to a close on this date. We appreciate that. I also want to pay tribute to the great effort that the institution and its employees throughout this investigation to cooperate with the NCAA Committee on Infractions to allow us to get to a point where this case can be brought to a close, and we are at that point.
“While there obviously are some positive outcomes of this report, this is a very serious situation for the institution relative to the sanctions that have been imposed. The financial sanctions, the sanctions relative to taking down our banners and vacating those contests for the (NCAA) tournament and the other sanctions are significant and very serious. The probation that we are under for the next three years is also extremely serious. So while there are some positives, obviously as a result of this investigation, I want it to be clear that we do consider the sanctions and what we’re dealing with to be very serious. So with that, I want to close by thanking (Ohio State head coach) Thad Matta and his staff, and particularly the players for the hard work and focus and determination that they had throughout this entire time frame. I cannot overemphasize the challenges that they’ve faced as individuals trying to represent our institution, the community and the NCAA as they’ve gone through this investigation with us. So I want to thank Thad for his leadership and how our kids responded.”
On the positives of the decision:
“The positive is closure. The reality is that we’re able to bring this to a close at this time. We’re going into the Big Ten tournament and we want our student-athletes to have the opportunity to participate in the tournament, understand that if there were to be any sanctions that they would have to deal with as they go through this tournament and ultimately when the tournament was over, those sanctions do not exist. They can play without that stress of wondering and can position themselves with the opportunity to chase that dream in the NCAA tournament, and now they know that they can realize that dream. So I think that is a huge positive for those young men.”
On whether the probation will change the way things are run:
“The probation basically states that you must not have a major violation during those years of probation. The reality is that if you do have a violation that you face other significant sanctions. The reality is that we have a compliant environment as the committee obviously alluded to in their report and with what (committee vice chair and professor of law at the University of Nebraska) Josephine Potuto had shared. We just have to continue to operate as we have operated and we will be fine. As Thad Matta says, he’s been on probation since he’s been here, and I think we’ll have to continue to behave that way.”
On how much money Ohio State will have to return:
“It will be slightly less than $800,000; $530,000 of that will be paid right away. The Big Ten, for the remaining part of it, will I think over the next three years, reduce our share of the NCAA basketball tournament share. But is basically a little south of $800,000.
On the timing of former head coach Jim O’Brien’s damages hearing:
It is my understanding that the damages hearing has been scheduled for sometime in mid-April. I don’t know the exact date but it is public information so it’s on some website somewhere. But I know it’s the middle part of April.
On notifying head coach Thad Matta on the infractions:
“We received the report at 8:18 this morning. I called Thad (Matta) shortly thereafter. I think he was on the elliptical machine and I think he drove that thing straight through the window. He just wanted this thing to end. He was happy there was closure and just felt that now he can take his young men out on that court and perform without that cloud over their head. He felt pretty good that it was done.”
On the timing of the NCAA announcement:
“First of all, as a former infractions committee member, I certainly understand and appreciate what the volunteers go through in order to deal with all the cases. Keep in mind, when I was on (the committee), there were north of 20 cases a year and you only meet six times a year. They have jobs. If you look at the release, it tells you what those individuals do for their livelihood. They are volunteering their time to get these cases done. We asked the committee when we left the hearing to do everything they possibly could to get this complete prior to “Selection Sunday”. The reason is obvious. They worked diligently to do this. Typically, they provide the institution with 48 hours notice that the report is coming. Then they provide the institution with the report 24 hours prior to it actually being released to the public to allow the institution to correct any factual errors deviated from that process.
“I didn’t find (the timing) odd at all. I wanted closure. I wanted these young people to have the chance to step on the floor at 12:00 and know that they could taste the dream.”
On the possible distraction:
“I don’t think they will think about it once they step on that hardwood.”
On why the school still fought the “failure to monitor” allegation:
“We felt the institution had done a marvelous job of monitoring. Once we got into the hearing and began to discuss things with the committee, we felt it was in our best interest to back away from that.”
On the 1999 Final Four banner coming down:
“The regular season games are still in tact. The personal statistics as an athlete are still in tact. The reality is we participated with an ineligible player. That is against NCAA rules. They, as being a part of that team, will have to bear that burden. That is the truth. You can’t sugar coat that at all. That’s reality.
“I haven’t really thought about (when the banner will come down). I really don’t know. We will probably do it sometime soon.”
On a possible postseason ban not being issued:
“The committee considers everything when they go into deliberations so we had no clue what they would ultimately decide. I never felt, as I shared at the hearing, that this case was deserving of a two-year postseason ban. I felt the institution made the right decision when it self-imposed the postseason ban last year. We did try and argue that case in the hearing and the committee obviously heard our message.”
On team and individual vacancies:
“This is strictly NCAA tournament, not the regular-season games. The ineligible student-athlete’s statistics will be vacated, but not the other student-athletes’ (statistics).
“Regular season records are in tact. If you read the penalties, it says NCAA tournament contests, it does not say regular season. Typically when there is a regular season penalty where the games are vacated, they would say regular season. I believe all four years are listed.”
On if Big Ten championships will be vacated:
“The Big Ten has a separate process. They will look at these penalties and then their committee will look at these penalties and then their committee will determine if anything else needs to be done.”
Ohio State Men’s Basketball Head Coach Thad Matta
On the NCAA’s decision affecting his team:
“We have approached this season as though this exact finding was going to be. As I told our guys, had there been a decision that they wouldn’t let our guys go (to the NCAA tournament), there was going to be 66 teams in the NCAA tournament this year. We were going to play somebody.
“(The Ohio State players) have done a tremendous job of blocking everything out and moving forward. From the day Gene (Smith) has come in, he has done a tremendous job of letting me know his feelings on what he thought was going to happen. Quite honestly, it was exactly what we told the kids was going to happen. We knew kids that were in the third grade when this happened probably weren’t going to be punished. We had great confidence in that. It would have been a devastating blow had it gone the other way.”
On committing to be Ohio State’s coach next year:
“Yes, that is what I have told them. The one thing I have to be careful about is that contractually I can’t say anything. But I can say this: In July 2004 when we came to Ohio State, we had a vision for this program. This vision is to get Ohio State back and built it into one of the greatest programs in college basketball. Today is a great day because it is the first day in 18 or 19 months that we actually know where we are. As much as we speculated, followed through and did the case studies, it finally came to an end today. Now we know and now we move forward.
“With the recruits, those kids chose Ohio State. They chose to play for us. Ohio State is one of the greatest places I have ever seen. To have this burden lifted off of us; the smoke cleared. My wife cried tears of joy today because I have been tough to deal with for a long, long time.”
On finding out the infractions this morning:
“It was the first time an elliptical has ever gone forward. Those things are usually stationary.
“Gene told me he would give me a call as soon as he found out. I sat in my room this morning, starting at about 6 a.m., waiting for the call. It was great news just to put the finalization to it all. As I announced it to the team today, they were as elated and I think relieved. They know the stress I have gone through on this deal. They were excited and I know the seniors were very excited for the younger players and for the coaches.”
On what he told his team:
“When we came in here today, I said I had some great news. The ruling came out and this program is in terrific shape. The thing that we talked about came true today; we are going to postseason play. You younger guys are going to have the opportunity for the rest of your careers at Ohio State to compete in postseason play. They were excited.
“I didn’t have to say a lot. They have seen our staff, our strength coach, our trainer’s commitment and our energy, enthusiasm and passion to coach these guys. The one thing I say about recruiting is that my job hinges on it. I have to go out and recruit. The thing that makes it special is that our players are our best recruiters. We tell kids to ask (the players) anything they want. We’ve got nothing to hide in how we do things. Those guys have done a tremendous job of helping us in the recruiting channel.
On the former players who are getting their NCAA tournament appearances vacated:
“I have gotten to know the players that were involved in that period. Once of the biggest battle cries I will be on throughout my speaking tours and anytime I can address the Buckeye fans is that I don’t want Michael Redd, Sconnie Penn and the guys involved on that team to be looked at as if they were part of something bad. Those guys did accomplish something special, as they continue to do in their lives. I have made a tremendous commitment to them. Those guys didn’t have anything to do with it. They have made Ohio State proud and continue to make Ohio State proud. I don’t ever want them to be tarnished whatsoever for what they did or what they didn’t do.”
