For those still trying to figure out how giving $6 K to a foreign kid who you wanted to play basektball for you cannot be grounds for immediate termination, check out Seth Davis’ info on the contract that Jim O’Brien had with Ohio St. (a banner day for Jason in Columbus).

You might wonder how a coach who has brought NCAA scrutiny on his school could successfully sue said school for millions. The answer is that Ohio State negotiated itself a lousy deal. Flush with affection for O’Brien after he took the Buckeyes to the Final Four, Ohio State rewarded him with a six-year deal that not only paid him $1.2 million annually but also severely limited the reasons OSU could fire O’Brien for cause. The contract specifically stated that there would have to be a finding of guilt by the NCAA — not just a serious allegation — before Ohio State could cut the coach loose. The deal even went so far as to outline a scenario in which O’Brien could keep his job in the face of an ongoing NCAA investigation.

Former Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger testified during the trial that the notion of keeping O’Brien on as coach after the alleged violations were disclosed would be “untenable.” Judge Clark ruled that Ohio State “bargained away its right to immediately dismiss plaintiff simply because of the inconvenience occasioned by a protracted NCAA investigation.” In other words, you may have signed a bad deal, but you still have to abide by it.

I’d make some jokes about the Ohio government’s corruption and campaign contributions’ direct relationship with which lawyers get hired, but I suspect most don’t care and wouldn’t know about it.

Actually that may be small potatoes compared to the latest anti-trust/class-action lawsuit filed against the NCAA and schools.

Now it has come to this: A federal antitrust lawsuit filed late Friday in Los Angeles seeks to prohibit the NCAA from telling member colleges they cannot offer athletic scholarships up to the full cost of attendance — and could expose the NCAA to hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for past wrongs.

The class-action claim was brought on behalf of Division I-A football players and major-college basketball players, whose programs generate the overwhelming amount of revenue that flows into college athletic departments. Under antitrust law, any current scholarship athlete, as well as any player in the past four years, qualifies as a plaintiff.

The suit does not list a damage amount but is structured in a way that suggests the NCAA pay a heavy price should the court find that the association acted illegally in its capping of scholarship costs. The lawsuit applies to 144 colleges, so the 20,000 or so affected athletes would have been shorted a potential $117 million, an aggregate figure that represents the gap between the grant-in-aid and the official cost of attendance over the past four years.

Damages get trebled under antitrust law, pushing the potential penalty to $351 million.

The NCAA limits scholarships to the cost of school, books, food and shelter. It does not cover travel expenses, phone usage and anything else that usually gets calculated into the cost of attending school. Roughly $2,500 per year.

In the past, the NCAA has taken the position that it needs to control all terms of the athletic scholarship in order to preserve its notions of amateurism and what it calls “the unique character” of college sports. Some universities also claim they cannot afford to give an extra $2,500 to athletes.

In 2003, though, [NCAA President, Myles] Brand came out in favor of the proposal, suggesting that the additional funds could be drawn from the NCAA’s 11-year, $6 billion television contract with CBS.

“We should provide student-athletes with the full cost of attendance,” he said at the time.

The NCAA membership subsequently declined to move on his recommendation.

Unlike under Brand’s idea, the plaintiffs do not ask that colleges be required to pay the cost of attendance, only that universities be given the option to do so with their revenue-producing athletes. They say most programs can easily afford to pay the additional $245,000 a year that would bring the 85 football and 13 men’s basketball players up to the desired level, even if the NCAA does not step up to cover the costs. For schools with a basketball team, but no Division I-A football team, the increase would be $32,500.

I don’t see this lawsuit succeeding with that approach — as much as I may personally agree with it. Every BCS conference school and school that wants to crash the BCS would have to offer the full cost. They’d be at a competitive disadvantage, so the “option” really isn’t unless the school wants to lose a lot of games and not get the talent.

The NCAA will also argue that it can’t just offer the full cost option only to the big-time athletic programs. The NCAA and athletic departments — regardless of the fact that there are usually a completely separate AD staff for the football and the men’s basketball programs at the big schools — are integrated and part of the entire athletic department for a school.

And to a large degree they can make a good case. The 85 scholarships for football aren’t separated from the rest of the total athletic scholarships. That’s why with Title IX, athletic departments have to create enough female sports programs and offer scholarships in the same number to comply with federal law.

Exactly how can a lawsuit prefer the football and men’s basketball programs in terms of financial support only based on the overall money involved in the sport?

I look forward to what Josh Centor at the NCAA blog has to say about this. And, no Josh, I haven’t forgotten about the prep school stuff. I intend to get back to it and your thoughts.

It looks like 2 and a-half Pitt players have signed free agent deals with the Steelers.

The Steelers added 19 free agents to their roster Friday, including three with ties to Pitt.

Quarterback Rod Rutherford, linebacker Malcolm Postell and running back Mike Jemison played college ball for the Panthers, though Jemison finished his career at IUP.

Rutherford was a member of the Steelers’ practice squad last season, but injured his foot late in the year and was placed on the reserve/injured list last month. He still accompanied the team to Super Bowl XL in Detroit. Postell and Jemison will try to earn spots on the practice squad or the 53-man roster.

Postell and Jemison were allocated to NFL Europe.

That still is not enough to get me to watch.

It also seems that Pitt WR Coach Aubrey Hill is a candidate for the same position down at the University of Miami. He hasn’t been interviewed, though. Hill played at Florida in the 90s and is from the Miami area.

A story about the now annual post-season ritual for OSU football seniors and juniors who declare early: the autograph circuit.

For Ohio State senior football players, there are three distinct seasons each year. Regular season. Bowl season. Autograph season.

When the Buckeyes won the national title with their victory in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, what had been a smattering of signings morphed into a nearly statewide circuit of public and private autograph shows. Owners of memorabilia stores, online autograph retailers, agents, middlemen and players all know the deal and how to find each other.
…
“Going to Ohio State, the older guys talked about it,” said senior offensive lineman Rob Sims, a Nordonia High School graduate. “The national championship [year] those guys were cleaning up. I’m sure a big player like A.J. could probably do one every day. I just go where I fit in and make as much as I can.”

It is a madness in this state. Every week it seems since the season ends there is an autograph session somewhere in the Cleveland area. I can’t imagine what the frequency is in Columbus.

Believe me, I don’t begrudge college football players cashing in on stupidity. Just remember to report those payments, kids. That’s how they got Pete Rose.

For example, one expert said that Hawk could be paid $5,000 for some events, sometimes less and sometimes more. As the most popular Buckeye, Hawk will turn down signing opportunities while he prepares for the NFL draft and his remaining OSU class work. But appearing at 10 to 20 events could earn Hawk upwards of $50,000.

Less-popular players, appearing at a handful of events, may pull in about $2,000 total.

Hawk, Carpenter and Schlegel are to appear as a linebacker trio on March 3 at the Cleveland Auto Show. A show spokesman said they would be paid a total of about $10,000 for signing two hours of free autographs, with Hawk, the main draw, getting a larger chunk.
…
Officials at the University of Michigan, at Penn State, at Notre Dame, at Texas and at Southern California said that no equivalent organized autograph frenzy exists for those popular programs.

Come on, I have faith in Texas. Just one more little selling point CheatyPants McSweatervest can point to during recruiting season.

Now, I’m starting to get why college coaches wouldn’t mind shutting down a lot of the combines, camps and junior days. There is always something, somewhere and a need to be there.. Even now.

For example, this weekend Rivals.com has a junior day at Akron. They’ll continue throughout the country. The idea seems somewhat appealing in what they describe they are offering.

It’s become clear that parents, coaches and recruits often go into the recruiting process uneducated. Many people are merely focused on how tall and how fast a player is, but they don’t care about the recruits themselves.

At Rivals.com, we have a different goal. Sure, we care about how talented a prospect is and rank players accordingly on our web sites, but we also feel that it’s important to assist the recruits when it comes to understanding the recruiting process.

Instead of just finding out how fast or tall you are, Rivals.com hosts a series of Junior Day events across the country that help recruits and their family members get important questions about the recruiting process answered from coaches, speakers, parents of former recruits and players that have just completed the recruiting process.

The countervailing, cynical view is that this is just another chance for the recruiting site to make contact with top prospects around the country to better glean inside info and recruiting information in the coming year.

Then there are the Nike Football Training Camps (with Rivals.com) that take place at college campuses — all of which just happen to be Nike Schools. Of course there is one at State College.

One of the most decorated players in Western Pa. following the 2005 season was productive two-way player Dom DeCicco out of Jefferson Hills Thomas Jefferson. The 6-3, 198 pound safety/wide receiver was a second team all-state pick after a big year in which he helped his team to an 11-2 mark with five interceptions on the defensive side of the ball to go along with 28 catches for 600 yards and 15 total touchdowns. DeCicco, a great athlete with bests of 4.6 in the 40 and a 35-inch vertical jump, had 11 TD catches a year ago, and also returned two punts, one kickoff and one fumble for scores. Currently he lists his favorite colleges as Penn State, Tennessee, Pitt, Ohio State, Iowa and West Virgina, and he’ll attend the May 6th NIKE Camp in State College.

I’m not trying to just pick on Rivals.com, it’s just that their information was easier to locate. Scout.com hasn’t put their dates out there yet (or I couldn’t find it) — and they had at least 8 last year. Well, they do have the kicking camp announced. And we know about the one at Pitt. That doesn’t even begin to include all of the other combines, clinics and events each state has.

I’m sure some have been wondering why I haven’t posted about Coach Wannstedt and Pitt getting their first verbal for next year, a little more than 2 weeks after NLI day.

That Chris Jacobson wanted to play football at Pitt was one of the worst-kept secrets in Western Pennsylvania. The Keystone Oaks offensive lineman revealed his intentions before Signing Day.

Jacobson finally made it official Saturday.

The 6-foot-3, 285-pound guard made a verbal commitment to Panthers coaches at the UPMC Sports Performance Complex on the South Side, becoming Pitt’s first recruit from the Class of 2007.

“That’s where I want to be,” said Jacobson, who also had a scholarship offer from West Virginia and was drawing interest from Miami (Ohio) and Penn State. “I wanted my family and coaches to be involved in my college education so they can be a part of it.”

The timing of Jacobson’s announcement is perfect for the Panthers, who are planning to play host some of the state’s top juniors on Saturday.

Jacobson can now turn recruiter for the Panthers. He said he plans to start with teammate Myles Caragein, a tight end-linebacker projected to play on the defensive line and Seton-La Salle offensive lineman Gino Gradkowski, a fellow Dormont native.

I am very happy that the first verbal is a lineman. Pitt or any team will not excel unless they have the players on the lines. The fact that the kid has wanted to be a Panther and was ready to go is great.

“He doesn’t want to go anywhere else or look anywhere else. He wants to be a hometown kid,” said Keystone Oaks coach Nick Kamberis. “With the recruiting class Pitt got this year, it’s really kind of a no-brainer. They’re going to be good.”

Kamberis accompanied Jacobson to Pitt yesterday, along with Jacobson’s parents. They met with Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt.

“If you’re a WPIAL kid and you go in and talk with coach Wannstedt, you’re coming out of that meeting wanting to go to Pitt,” Kamberis said. “He’s just awesome. After sitting with coach Wannstedt, if I had some eligibility left, I’d be going to Pitt as well.”

Of course, long-term hearing a local high school coach rave about Coach Wannstedt is even better. Even Bruce Feldman at ESPN.com took note at the early start (Insider subs).

I don’t know what to think at this point. I mean, it’s great that Pitt can get out in front with some of these kids this quickly. It can only help further juice ticket sales — hopefully — for Pitt football.

My mind is barely ready to discuss recruiting, though. I know Junior Day is this weekend and the Scout.com combine will be the following weekend. Then maybe a month or so before Spring practice?

It has a hot-stove league feel to it, but there is real sport going on with the basketball team that is less speculative and fantasy about what could be. Of course the b-ball team is off for the week, so now I can crack open the door a bit. Honestly, this is the first opening to take some time on it.

And yes, I know about the Zeise Q&A. I’ll get to it later.

This late in the season and a week in-between games. (Is it mid-terms already? I thought that was the week before Spring Break?) That has to throw things off for stories. It means spacing some things out, and using filler material. For everybody.

That means the stories today are on rankings. A facile RPI discussion from the Post-Gazette. Of course it dredges up Pitt’s past RPI versus where it got seeded in the NCAA.

Pitt’s strength of schedule is 44th, the worst rank of any team in top 10 of the RPI. But the Panthers gain points in several other categories. In the new formula that was adopted a few years ago, road losses count as 0.6. Home losses count as 1.4. So, in the eyes of the selection committee, Pitt has 2.4 losses.

Pitt is 15-0 at home this season and 5-4 away. The Panthers also have fared well against other top teams in the RPI. They are 11-1 against teams in the RPI top 100. They are 2-2 against teams in the top 25, 3-1 against teams 26-50 and 6-0 against teams 51-100.

Pitt’s only bad loss came at St. John’s. The other three came against Connecticut, Georgetown and Marquette, which are all in the RPI top 28.

That should be 11-3 against teams in the RPI top 100. The story uses the RPI put out once a week by Jerry Palm. Unfortunately, it is already a week old when used in the story (the RPI SOS in the story was dated Feb. 14). When the new version comes out, Memphis will actually have a weaker overall SOS (see the daily updates provided by Ken Pomeroy).

The other major problem with this story is that by using the CollegeRPI data, you don’t see the non-con SOS which is what penalized Pitt in the NCAA seedings the last couple of years.

The Panthers also are benefiting from the strength of the Big East and the performance of their non-conference opponents. Other than Duquesne, Maine and St. Francis, N.Y., Pitt’s non-conference opponents are playing well.

Throw Vermont and Robert Morris in there as well (RPIs of 219 and 216). Not to mention it appears Coppin State just cannot get under the 150 RPI mark. That means 6 of Pitt’s 11 non-cons have RPIs lower than 150 and only 2 of the remaining 5 were under 100.

Believe me, the NCAA selection committee will have plenty of excuses to give Pitt a 4 seed at this point. The teams where it will be interesting to compare in seedings come the Tournament will be Illinois, NC State, Florida, BC and George Washington.

The Trib. story is probably even lighter as all it discusses is how Pitt barely moved in the Polls. Not to mention how the other Big East teams fared in the polls.