Ohio State Self-Reports 46 Violations, But Really, Who Gives A Shit?

The Cleveland a list of 46 secondary violations committed by Ohio State over the past 12 months, which they self-reported to the NCAA. They've posted all the documents, but here is a choice sampling:

• Urban Meyer met with two high school coaches before a state championship game. While leaving the field, he told a player "good luck." That player turned out to be an OSU recruit.

• Assistant coach Mike Vrabel used chewing tobacco on the sidelines.

• The parents of a football recruit texted an assistant coach to ask which gate to enter Ohio Stadium for a scrimmage. He texted them back with the answer.

• Greg Paulus, video coordinator for the basketball team, was seen talking with players while pointing to the court. Since he's not technically on the coaching staff, he's not allowed to "coach" anyone in this manner.

• On a recruiting visit, a diving prospect's student host bought him an $8 Halloween costume for a party.

• A lacrosse recruit visiting campus for an instructional camp had his personal stick stolen. The OSU staff gave him another one as a replacement.

• A lawyer and booster for the athletics department threw a birthday party for his wife, and invited his close friends who happened to have a kid playing sports at OSU.

• A women's soccer coach tried to leave a voicemail for an academic counselor named Lindsay. He later realized he had dialed the wrong "Lindsay" in his phone, and left the message for a recruit.

• Five graduating seniors on the women's hockey team received framed jerseys and rings. The value of these gifts exceeded the allowed amount, by $4.

• A random man showed up at the tennis facility. He told a coach his daughter was a tennis recruit. The coach told him she couldn't talk to him, and he left.

The proper reaction to this is "Wow, that's a whole lot of nothing." Then, take your hat off to university compliance officers, because holy shit they have the worst job in the world. Doing nothing but tracking down and meticulously documenting every bit of seemingly innocuous minutiae, then seeing if it's expressly allowed in the NCAA's 426-page manual. God bless you, because I would shoot myself after two days.

Sometimes I think the NCAA is the country's greatest job creation program. Thousands of jobs as compliance officers and enforcement staff exist for no real reason, and it's all paid for by the free labor of revenue-sport athletes.

Ohio State's Urban Meyer, AD Gene Smith admit 'secondary' NCAA violations; school reports 46 violations in all sports since last June [Plain Dealer]