Ohio University did not properly handle disciplinary procedures for 17 football players in legal trouble, a university official said yesterday.
In a meeting of the Executive Committee of the university's Board of Trustees with President Roderick McDavis and Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt, board Chairman R. Gregory Browning said the board did not agree with the judgments made regarding the discipline of student athletes.
This board is not sitting here because we thought everything went exactly the right way
Browning said.
Prompted by a recent article in The Columbus Dispatch that reported 17 Ohio football players have been arrested in the past nine months, four trustees met yesterday with Hocutt and McDavis in a closed-door session for more than two-and-a-half hours.
Trustees closed the meeting because they discussed the conduct of athletic personnel, including coaches.
We did have some general conversations relative to the personnel in our department of athletics McDavis said.
In the meeting, trustees also asked Hocutt to have a revised policy to present to the board on their Oct. 19 and Oct. 20 meetings, Browning said.
The policy will be changed, Hocutt said.
Obviously it has not been working properly
he said.
Discipline
On Monday, Hocutt announced that four athletes ' sophomores Tommy Stuck and Wesley Dunlap and junior Paul Johnson, all Ohio football players, and senior men's basketball player Ken Ottrix ' had been suspended indefinitely. Both Ottrix and Stuck have been charged with alcohol-related offenses while Dunlap was convicted of driving under the influence.
Johnson, however, was convicted of assault on Sept. 21 for an incident this past spring outside The Pub when he grabbed, punched, kicked and forced the bar's manager to the ground, according to police reports.Two days after his conviction, Johnson started at left guard for the Bobcats in their game against Missouri in Columbia, Mo.
The athletic department made the decision to suspend Johnson Friday, the night before The Dispatch article ran, McDavis said. Johnson did not play the next day against Bowling Green.
The amount of information the department had concerning the incident with Johnson was not enough to take disciplinary action prior to the Missouri game, Hocutt said.
In the old policy, disciplinary action for first offenses was at the discretion of individual coaches, while serious, or multiple, offenses warranted the personal involvement of the athletic director, Hocutt said.
Until a new policy is in place, Hocutt will personally handle the discipline of athletes involved in legal matters.
There is too much discretion in the system
Browning said about the former policy.
Speaking about the treatment of athletes, Hocutt said he did not believe there was a double standard between the discipline of students and student athletes.
Each student athlete that has been involved in a legal situation has gone through the university judiciary process and has been treated the same way that any student on this campus would have been treated
he said.
Previous problems
Legal troubles have not been confined to players as Ohio football coach Frank Solich pleaded no contest and was convicted of drunken driving this past November.
This summer, after a private lab found traces of GHB, the date-rape drug, in a sample of his hair, Solich filed a motion to change his plea. It was denied.
At the time, the university said Solich would be placed on probation for the remainder of his multi-year contract and was required to educate students about the dangers of drinking.
We believe the coach is in fact the role model he needs to be
Browning said. He had problems
and he dealt with those issues and is moving on responsibility.
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