Ohio University has hired a big-time lawyer to help handle an NCAA investigation into gambling allegations against members of the baseball team. Two investigators are expected to arrive in Athens next week, an OU lawyer said.
The Ohio Attorney General's office approved the university's request to hire Michael Glazier, a well-known Kansas attorney who specializes in collegiate sports law, according to e-mail transactions between OU and the attorney general's office.
Glazier will be paid about $10,000 over a six-month period, according to the e-mails. Nicolette Dioguardi, associate director of legal affairs, said that probably will amount to $125 an hour, the regular rate of pay for outside council.
Dioguardi said OU expects two NCAA investigators to arrive on campus during the second week in February. Glazier, who agreed to assist the university on Jan. 25, will be in Athens for the duration of the investigation, she said.
In 2007, Glazier was hired by the University of Toledo during the FBI's investigation into a point-shaving scheme, and in 2005, he worked with Ohio State University when former basketball coach Jim O'Brien sued the university over his firing.
According to a report in The Columbus Dispatch, Glazier was paid $27,689 ($285 an hour) by Toledo and $15,062 ($265 an hour) by Ohio State.
Glazier's hiring follows the suspension of three Ohio baseball players after the OU Police Department investigated an anonymous e-mail tip that said they were involved in a sports betting operation.
Andrew Shisila, 22, a pitcher from Mentor, Ohio, and a former teammate, Brent DeCoster, 22, from Westlake, Ohio, have been charged with bookmaking, a first-degree misdemeanor.
They have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Investigators believe eight people were involved in a gambling ring that included five current OU students ' three of which are baseball players. OU has declined to release the names of the other two suspended players because of privacy laws.
Student-athletes who bet on collegiate or professional sports face a one-year participation ban, according to NCAA policy.
'Editor-in-chief Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.
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