James J. O’Brien, the former men’s basketball coach at Ohio State University, moved one step closer today to collecting the $2.4-million that a state judge in Ohio awarded him last year in his wrongful-termination lawsuit against the university.
Mr. O’Brien, who was fired in 2004, said Ohio State had no cause to dismiss him even though he admitted to lending $6,000 to a recruit’s mother. The NCAA later assessed its own penalties against the university and Mr. O’Brien.
The university has 45 days to appeal to the state’s Supreme Court, which could choose not to hear the case, the Associated Press reported. —Brad Wolverton
