Al Bundy;787522 wrote:Back in the 50's white players received more aid than black players did. Woody felt that was wrong and gave the black players the difference, which was an NCAA violation and led to probation. He did claim that he would do it again because he felt it was an injustice.
Ah yes, the famous OSU "noble cause" excuse. Geez, that one has been around for decades. Below is a vault article from SI at the time the illegal payments were going on. Now, just some perspective, Hayes' salary was around $20,000 a year. Let's compare that to Tressel's salary of $3.5 million per year that was reported recently. Using just the coaches salaries as comparison, that would make the payments of $100 per month about equal to $17,500 dollars per month today. That is way beyond helping a poor kid make ends meet, especially when it is just handed over (not payment for work or a loan).
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1130745/1/index.htm
And now comes the news about Ohio State. Of course, most people know that masses of fleet halfbacks and beefy guards do not arrive on a given campus through sheer luck. Most everyone also knows that Ohio State is favored to win its third straight Big Ten title this year along with an invitation to the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day. And those who read SI's Oct. 24 issue learned, among more striking matters, that Coach Woody Hayes sometimes lends money from his own pocket to players who are financially strapped. But it was generally assumed that this great football power of the Middle West remained within the rather liberal bounds of Big Ten regulations.
Not so, apparently. After a three-month investigation, Kenneth L. (Tug) Wilson, Commissioner of the Western Conference, announced from Chicago that he was putting OSU "in a state of probationary membership in the intercollegiate conference for a period of no less than one year"; that the university "shall under no circumstances be considered...eligible to represent the conference in the Rose Bowl football game"; and that "none of the athletes who were beneficiaries of the irregularities...shall be presented for eligibility until I have approved satisfactory evidence."
Tug Wilson had traveled to Columbus to find out about Hayes's personal loans to his athletes. Hayes would give him no accounting and simply admitted that during the past five years he had lent about $400 a year to various players in need of help. Wilson looked further and discovered "a serious irregularity" in the off-campus work program which provides OSU athletes, particularly football players, with salaries up to $100 a month and occasionally higher. Most of these jobs are with the state—things like paging for the legislature or clerking for the highway department; but some of the more rabid fans, including prominent Columbus businessmen, also hire athletes. The trouble was that in numerous instances the athletes seemed to have collected their wages in advance, without anybody notably concerned if they ever performed the work for which they had been paid. Naming no names, Wilson declared such players ineligible until they catch up with their back work.
Most of the Ohio State campus and downtown Columbus was in a rage over Wilson's edict. Not that they pleaded innocent. One player summed up the feeling when he said: "If they think we're bad, they should look around at a few other schools." Coach Hayes thought about the punishment and then roared: "No, I don't think it is a bit fair." As an analogy he explained that they pinch a motorist for speeding, "but they don't send him to the gallows, do they?"
Here's the article, where a brief mention of the payment triggered the investigation. Some of the parallels are interesting, including both the general statements about college football and the OSU fan response to the article (quoted below from another link). There are other elements to the story and the responses which center around the pressures of winning at OSU and the perhaps unrealistic expectations (I'm reminded of the responses after a few Tressel losses, before his recent off-field demise).
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1130364/6/index.htm
I've just finished reading this article on Woody Hayes (The Ohio State Story, Oct. 24), and I am absolutely disgusted. I just don't see how you could print such utter trash about one of the greatest coaches. It's downright malicious.
I've been with this man now for two football seasons and have found him to be a hard-working and determined coach. Of course he might lose his temper once in a while, but who doesn't?
I think a rhetorical letter should be written immediately and also I think apologies are in order for misinterpreting Mr. Hayes's private and public life.
If you call this article (which I believe was well written) revealingly reported, I have to disagree. I hate to say this, but SI has dropped a notch in our book because of it. I think I can say as much for many Columbusites, including the downtown second guessers.
The football players your writer chose to quote never had enough time on the playing fields at OSU to talk authoritatively on the subject—sour grapes always come from those. Better listen to a satisfied customer like the scrappy little redhead, Mr. Cassady. Ohio State has won, and probably always will win, their share of football games due to the fact that our high school football teams turn out the finest material in the country. That is why Ohio State fans think we should win them all.
