Other conferences, colleges join OSU in fighting O’Brien ruling By Kathy Lynn Gray The Columbus Dispatch Monday, November 20, 2006 File Photo Jim O’Brien The Big Ten, the Pacific 10 and the Big 12 conferences as well as 18 universities rallied around Ohio State University today, asking an Ohio court to make OSU the victor in its battle against former basketball coach Jim O'Brien. The athletic conferences and schools filed a brief supporting OSU's appeal of a $2.46 million award for O'Brien in his breach-of-contract lawsuit against Ohio State. OSU fired O'Brien in 2004 after learning that he had loaned a potential recruit's mother $6,000 in the late 1990s when he was the men's basketball coach. O'Brien sued, arguing that the school couldn't fire him unless the NCAA ruled that his loan was a violation. Ohio Court of Claims Judge Joseph T. Clark ruled in favor of the coach in February and awarded him damages in August. Every step of the way, Ohio State has appealed the case, especially after the NCAA concluded in March that O'Brien's loan was a violation. The NCAA punished the school's basketball team for O'Brien's infraction and for other violations it found. Now the case is in the 10th Appellate District of the Franklin County Court of Appeals, where the conferences and schools are arguing in an amicus brief that Clark's ruling limits a school's ability to adhere to NCAA rules and to discipline employees who break those rules. “NCAA member institutions must now choose between taking meaningful action to correct NCAA rule violations and avoid further violations, and avoiding contract damages to a coach” who has broken those rules, the brief says. Clark found that OSU could have fired O'Brien under his contract if the NCAA found that he'd committed a major infraction. But because OSU fired the coach before the NCAA's finding, Clark ruled in O'Brien's favor, saying that the wording of the coach's contract demanded it. OSU's brief argues that Clark was wrong when he concluded that O'Brien's loan was not a major contract violation. Clark also should have allowed OSU to use as evidence in the case information gathered after O'Brien's firing, the brief says. The filings are the latest maneuvers in the 2 ½-year battle between O'Brien and Ohio State. The schools who filed the amicus brief are the universities of Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Arizona, Southern California, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas as well as Indiana, Michigan State, Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue, Arizona State and Stanford universities. Ironically, the University of Michigan submitted the brief. kgray@dispatch.com