Maurice Clarett had an exceptionally interesting interview with Dan Patrick this morning. The former Ohio State Buckeyes runner-turned-prisoner-turned-UFL-er has a lot of experience with the sometimes problematic culture surrounding NCAA football. There were more than a couple of revelations delivered during the fifteen minute conversation.
When talking about Ohio State’s problems, Clarett didn’t really blame anyone specifically as he cast a shadow over everyone. ”In Columbus Ohio you’re treated like a celebrity,” he said. ”So, it’s not a Terrelle Pryor problem. It’s not a Jim Tressel problem… It’s just the culture of the whole system.”
When digging deeper though, Clarett did end up pointing the finger mostly at players and boosters who would meet individually throughout a typical NCAA career. ”There’s no secret regime. There’s no secret congregation of people who sit around at Ohio State and gives young guys money… Anything that a player goes and gets is based on him and who he meets in the community.”
Clarett went on to talk about Jim Tressel more specifically. ”The coaches and the university has no control over what the young guy’s doing.” And then, “People respect Jim Tressel because he’s a man.. a man’s man. The guy has integrity. He has class. I google Jim Tressel every day and you have reputable people sticking their necks out there for him like he’s a good man who got caught in a bad situation. You can’t be a fraud for thirty years. It’s impossible… It’s wrong for him to get done like that.”
Initially that might seem like a defense of Jim Tressel. Clarett made it obvious that he still likes and respects Jim Tressel. Even if it isn’t truly a valid defense for Tressel lying and withholding information from the NCAA it does help to acquit him of some of the more smearing words that attempted to paint him as a disingenuous beacon of false piety.
Clarett finally went on to talk about his own history and the claims made about his time with Ohio State. On a NY Times report that he received preferential treatment from a professor, Clarett said it was on him. He said that he procured all that on his own. Patrick then asked him if he could have gotten a car his freshman year and Clarett said only if he wanted to go get that on his own.
At every step an older, more mature Mo Clarett released the institution of responsibility other than as a participant in the NCAA athletic system. Clarett made it obvious that everyone is to blame from the NCAA all the way to the individual players who ignore right from wrong in their immaturity, desperation and whatever else drives them to break these rules.
The damage is done at Ohio State. There is no putting the genie back in the bottle. I am encouraged to see this kind of storyline protruding from the mess though. It is good that this has gone from a story trying to demonize coaches and players. In the end, that is just a distraction from the larger issue that is the NCAA system as a whole where goals and benefits are seemingly so misaligned.
