Ohio State bans \npost-season basketball because of recruiting
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio State University imposed a one-year ban on postseason play by its men's basketball team. The action is a response to reports of $6,000 the University said former coach Jim O'Brien gave a recruit who never played for the school.\nO'Brien's firing in June was also part of the sanctions by the University.\n"We feel this action is imperative. A delay in this decision to later in the year would likely render it meaningless," Athletic Director Andy Geiger said Thursday.\nThe ban includes NIT and NCAA competition after this season.\nUniversity officials said they expect more self-imposed sanctions as the NCAA investigates.\n"We do not anticipate closure on this issue for some time. It is a long and slow process. When we feel we have enough facts and agree with the NCAA on where we are, we will be back to impose further penalties," Geiger said.\nO'Brien was fired after Geiger said the coach admitted paying the money to the recruit. O'Brien has sued the university, claiming he is owed at least $3.4 million because his firing violated terms of his contract.\nCoach Thad Matta, who signed a seven-year contract with the university this year, will have his contract extended one year, through the 2011-2012 season, Geiger said.\nsh: ND aide shaves head to protest coach's firing
SOUTH BEND -- The assistant to University of Notre Dame's president has shaved her head to protest Tyrone Willingham's firing as football coach, saying she will remain bald until the Irish win a national championship.\n"Because when we do, that will be justification for some people of why we fired Tyrone Willingham," said Chandra Johnson, 50. "Not for me, but for some people."\nNotre Dame hasn't won a national championship since 1988 and hasn't finished a season ranked in the top 10 since 1993.\nThe most high-profile black Notre Dame administrator, Johnson told the South Bend Tribune in a story Thursday she was shocked at the news that Willingham -- the first black head coach in any sport at Notre Dame -- had been fired.\nHer boss apparently agrees with her. Speaking in New York City Wednesday, Notre Dame's President, Rev. Edward A. Malloy, said he was embarrassed by the school's decision to fire Willingham after just three seasons when his predecessors got at least five.
