[bigboydan]

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State's former athletic director said in a deposition earlier this year that the school knew it had lost control over its men's basketball program, according to a newspaper report.
Andy Geiger, who stepped down earlier this year, told lawyers for the fired coach Jim O'Brien that he believed NCAA investigators would conclude the school had lost control over the team. Geiger's comments came in a March deposition filed Friday in O'Brien's lawsuit against the school, The Columbus Dispatch reported Saturday.

If the NCAA determines a university lacks institutional control, it can administer the "death penalty," barring the school from competition. That has been considered an unlikely result in the Ohio State investigation.

Geiger said Saturday that in his deposition, he was only speculating.

"I was expressing an opinion that that might happen," he said, irritated at the suggestion that his comments amounted to more than a possibility.

A message was left Saturday at the NCAA's offices in Indianapolis.

The university has conceded to nine NCAA violations, seven in the men's basketball program and one each for the women's basketball and football teams. Ohio State, however, argues that it shouldn't be held liable for some violations because O'Brien made it impossible for athletic administrators to know about them.

The university fired O'Brien, prevented the basketball team from playing in a postseason tournament last year and said it would have 11 scholarships this season instead of the maximum 13.

On Friday, the NCAA's Infractions Committee heard motions and arguments on procedural matters for a hearing into its allegations against the school. The committee then indefinitely postponed the hearing, which had been set to run through Saturday, saying the decision had nothing to do with the case's merits.

Ohio State fired O'Brien in June 2004 after he admitted he arranged a $6,700 payment in 1999 to the family of a recruit, Aleksandar Radojevic. O'Brien sued Ohio State for improperly firing him, saying he didn't violate NCAA recruiting rules because Radojevic had already been ruled ineligible to play for the Buckeyes. The case goes to trial Monday.

The investigation began when a woman who claims she financially supported a former Ohio State men's basketball player sued two boosters who she claimed agreed to pay her for taking care of the player.

[Illusion]

Ouch, not good for Ohio State.