Ohio State investigates academic problems

Buckeyes' athletic director responds to Cooper as players remain academically ineligible

"Yeah, we could have the dorms and the dining halls and the classrooms and the study hall all at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center," Geiger said yesterday. "We could be the University of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center football team."

At his weekly news conference Monday, Cooper said Ohio State has a problem because services for athletes are not centrally located in the massive practice facility a short distance west of campus.

"Ideally for us, you come over to Woody Hayes, you practice, you go to study hall, you eat and then you go home," Cooper said.

AP PHOTO No. 1 Ohio State has found it more difficult to make the grade in the classroom than in the polls. The Buckeyes host in-state rival Toledo on Saturday.

But Geiger said it was important for athletes to mix with the student population and for students to have much the same academic and social opportunities as athletes.

"Having a centrally located academic support unit would mean that the athletes would have their own special place and it would become even more elite and more exclusive and more incubated than it is now," Geiger said.

The subject came up when Cooper was asked about his players' recent academic problems. Butkus Award-winning linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer, first-team All-Big Ten safety Damon Moore and second-team all-conference offensive guard Rob Murphy all passed summer-school classes to maintain their eligibility for the current season.

But a pair of important backups - freshman defensive tackle Paris Long and junior inside linebacker Chris Kirk - were surprised to find out they were not eligible in the days leading up to Saturday night's 34-17 opening-game victory over No. 11 West Virginia.

Geiger and Cooper both acknowledged that Long's academic advisers incorrectly counted his credit hours.

"Everybody that has anything to do with academics is concerned about those two instances," Cooper said. "Both of those kids thought they were going to be eligible. First of all, Paris Long, we just miscalculated. When I say we, I'm talking about everybody."

Asked who in particular did the miscalculation, Cooper said, "Quite a few people. I don't know who exactly is responsible for that."

Kirk's family blames the academic counselors and has hired an attorney to look into appeals. Family members say he was only taking the courses he was told to take. Kirk said it was "a total shock" he couldn't play.

Geiger said the athletes were responsible, not academic counselors.

"In neither case could the student-athlete have been eligible if a counselor acted any differently," he said.

Geiger said academic counselors are not happy.

"If the staff makes an error, it is in trying very, very hard to service the kid and service the coaches and trying to make the guys eligible," he said. "We don't have a situation where there's we-they. There may be now, after John spouted off yesterday. I've got a pretty unhappy group of people here."

He said the counselors work hard to get athletes "out of bed in the morning and get them to go to class." A year ago, the eligibility of 57 Ohio State athletes, including a few football players, was put in jeopardy because the academic counseling department misinterpreted a Big Ten rule regarding credit hours. Those athletes were cleared after the conference's compliance committee looked into the situation.

"There is no ongoing problem in academic counseling," Geiger said. "And making them the scapegoat in this situation is grossly unfair." Cooper said the recent academic problems should open everyone's eyes.

"I hope this is a wakeup call for all of us," he said. "I know this, I'm going to do a better job as a head football coach doing more to make sure this doesn't happen again. Because I don't want to go through another summer like we went through." Geiger said he didn't want to, either.

"Without question, what we created for ourselves was a cruel shock for the youngster and a public relations problem for ourselves, because it wasn't recognized earlier," he said, referring to the two players' academic problems. "The coaches are surprised. And none of us as human beings deal particularly well with surprises."

09-09-98