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Ohio State Fires Men's Basketball Coach

Posted on: Tuesday, 8 June 2004, 06:00 CDT

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State fired basketball coach Jim O'Brien on Tuesday, saying the program committed NCAA violations under his watch that included giving money to a recruit to send to his family overseas.

At a news conference on campus, athletic director Andy Geiger said Aleksandar Radojevic was given $6,000 five years ago. Radojevic, from Serbia and Montenegro, was later ruled ineligible because he had been paid to play basketball in Europe.

"We consider these matters to be very severe," Geiger said. "I am troubled that a rule was admittedly violated and it took five years to find (out) about."

Geiger said he asked O'Brien whether he knew that he violated NCAA rules.

"He admitted he knew that it did," said Geiger, who didn't disclose the source of the money.

O'Brien received a letter Tuesday morning informing him he was fired, he said in a statement.

"I am advised that my firing is because I was asked to and tried to give assistance to a young man's family who was in dire financial straits," O'Brien said in the statement. "The assistance in no way influenced the young man in his decision to attend OSU and, indeed, the young man did not enroll at OSU."

The Buckeyes finished 14-16 in 2003-04, missing the postseason for the first time in six years, their worst showing under O'Brien.

O'Brien was 133-88 in seven seasons at Ohio State and 368-305 in a 22-year head coaching career.

He took the Buckeyes to the 1999 Final Four in his second season.

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