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Biancardi says money to recruit didn't break rule

By Marc Katz and Kyle Nagel

Dayton Daily News

Wright State basketball coach Paul Biancardi has admitted his role in giving money to a former Ohio State recruit while he was an assistant coach at the school, but contends that the "loan" for $6,700 was not improper or a violation of NCAA rules.

Biancardi's statement is included in his 134-page response to the NCAA's notice of allegations to Ohio State, to which the university responded last week.

Biancardi's lawyer contends all violations alleged against Biancardi while he was an OSU assistant coach should be dropped.

Ohio State, in its response to the NCAA, contends that its former head coach, Jim O'Brien, and Biancardi were guilty of breaking NCAA rules.

O'Brien and Biancardi will be able to address the NCAA at an Infractions Committee meeting scheduled for Dec. 9-11 in Indianapolis. After the NCAA rules on the case, they will have the option of appealing the ruling.

Biancardi's response to the allegations brought by the NCAA is comprised of three parts.

The first part is intended to discredit both Kathleen Salyers — the Columbus nanny who first leveled the allegations — and the OSU compliance office, as well as the way the NCAA conducted its investigation.

The second part addresses each of the allegations attributed to Biancardi, while the third part is reserved for exhibits to back Biancardi's claims.

"The Enforcement Staff has used Kathleen Salyers as their primary source to prove these allegations," the response says. "In considering the accuracy of the Enforcement Staff's allegations against Coach Biancardi, it is important that the Committee on Infractions have information as to why Salyers' accusations are unreliable."

Salyers made the allegations against Biancardi during a deposition for a lawsuit she filed against OSU boosters that led to Ohio State self-reporting violations and prompted an NCAA investigation.

"When I talked with the NCAA and Ohio State, I told them not to take my word for anything, but use it as a guide," Salyers said Tuesday. "I believe they've done that."

Biancardi alleges that Salyers was obsessed not only with Slobodan "Boban" Savovic, who played for OSU from 1998-2002, but also Aleksandar Radojevic, the recruit to whom O'Brien provided $6,700, through Biancardi.

In an interview included in OSU's response to the NCAA allegations, Biancardi admitted to giving a sealed envelope to a friend of Radojevic's family.

O'Brien later admitted to then-OSU Athletic Director Andy Geiger that he gave Radojevic the money. That led to O'Brien's firing at OSU in June 2004.

The NCAA contends — and OSU concurs — that Savovic received improper benefits with the knowledge of the coaches while at OSU from 1998-2002, and that Radojevic was given improper benefits during his recruitment in 1998 despite the fact it was determined he was ineligible to play college basketball, and, in fact, never did for Ohio State.

It is O'Brien's and Biancardi's contention that the loan was made after Radojevic was declared ineligible to enter OSU due to his status as a professional player in Europe. However, the coaches continued to recruit the player, even petitioning the NCAA to reinstate Radojevic's amateurism.

The NCAA did not reinstate Radojevic. The unresolved question is when the loan was made — prior to or after the NCAA's ruling.

According to the NCAA, O'Brien agreed to lend Radojevic money prior to Sept. 9, 1998, and actually passed the money on — through Biancardi — between that date and February 1999.

The NCAA also alleges — and OSU agrees — that the school and coaches already had knowledge of Radojevic's professional status in Europe and that in the eyes of the NCAA was ineligible for collegiate play. Ohio State insists, at the urging of the two coaches, that an appeal was made, and on May 24, 1999, the appeal was denied.

The NCAA and OSU say the coaches knew Radojevic was a professional but continued to recruit him, at the same time giving him a loan. O'Brien and Biancardi say they were confident Radojevic would not be reinstated and therefore were giving the loan to a non-student athlete.

Biancardi also alleges that the OSU compliance staff and the NCAA stacked evidence against him when conducting interviews.

"The nature and structure of these posed questions, as well as all too many others, in the interviews were intended to manufacture information to bootstrap the Enforcement Staff's case against Coach Biancardi," states the response.

It continues, "Such conduct by the Enforcement Staff taints this investigation to such a degree that the allegations against Coach Biancardi should be dismissed. It is inconceivable that an organization of institutions of higher learning would tolerate and permit its representatives to engage in such conduct.

"The Enforcement Staff allegations against Coach Biancardi are not supported by the facts of record and must be dismissed."

Other highlights of Biancardi's response:

• Regarding the moving of Savovic from the home of OSU boosters Kim and Dan Roslovic to Salyers' home, the response states that the only person making these allegations is Salyers. "When the attempts to extort settlements failed, Salyers raised the same claims as to Coach Biancardi's involvement with the Roslovics' alleged contract with her lawsuit, which was dismissed by the Court. Salyers has continued to make the claims of Coach Biancardi's involvement and other uncorroborated claims in the media in an effort to have someone or anyone give her money."

• Among the exhibits is a statement by Savovic dated Aug. 14 stating that he believes O'Brien and Biancardi broke no rules and that Salyers made up most of what she said.

• Another exhibit is a letter from David Swank, a University of Oklahoma law professor and former head of the NCAA Committee on Infractions, who reached the conclusion that no NCAA violations occurred when Radojevic was lent money by O'Brien despite the fact the coaches continued to recruit Radojevic after he was declared ineligible by NCAA standards.

"There is a provision in Bylaw 124 for the restoration of amateur status but no application for restoration of amateur status had been made at the time that the loan was made to Alex Radojevic's mother," Swank writes. "Eventually there was an application for restoration of amateur status which was denied by the NCAA. As a result Alex Radojevic was a professional athlete and never was restored to amateur status. The payment of funds to a professional athlete by a coach at an NCAA institution is not prohibited under any rules of the Association."

However, Swank also writes there is a "disagreement" about the dates on which the loan was made, and until those dates are substantiated, no final opinion can be made.