Scarlet and Game
Fansided

Ohio State women’s basketball imposes postseason ban

By Ryan Stano

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 08: Kaila Charles #5 of the Maryland Terrapins boxes out against Dorka Juhasz #14 of the Ohio State Buckeyes during the Championship game of Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on March 8, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 08: Kaila Charles #5 of the Maryland Terrapins boxes out against Dorka Juhasz #14 of the Ohio State Buckeyes during the Championship game of Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on March 8, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images) /
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The Ohio State women’s basketball program imposed a postseason ban for the 2020-21 season due to a past coach’s pattern of sexual harassment of former players.

The Ohio State women’s basketball team has had a wild start to the 2020 season. They have won all four games that they have been able to play, but have had to pause due to COVID issues within the program. Now they won’t be playing in the NCAA tournament if they get there.

Because of a string of issues tied to former Associate Head Coach Patrick Klein, the women’s team will not be playing in the postseason. Ohio State announced that they self-imposed a postseason ban for the team this season due to the myriad of problems.

Among those problems is a pattern of sexual harassment by Klein, including sending inappropriate text messages to former players late at night. He would ask for pictures of players and their friends and tell them his preferences in women.

This is probably not what got the team the ban. What probably did was the fact that Klein had illegal recruitment practices, including giving gifts to athletes, help paying for a rental car, and other issues. The total amount of impermissible benefits was $740.

It doesn’t make sense for the university to do this for several reasons. First off, you’re punishing kids for something a coach did that was unwanted. How does that make sense? The coach was fired and Klein is disassociated with the program.

Secondly, the NCAA has no authority to punish anyone for anything. It makes no sense to give in and take punishment, even if there was some wrongdoing in recruiting. The NCAA has no way to prove any of that because their investigating methods are incompetent.

This just sends a wrong message to the student-athletes all the way around. It was handled extremely poorly by the university. Their stupidity has come at the expense of kids getting to live out their dream of playing in the NCAA tournament.

Next. Four former Buckeyes make the Pro Bowl. dark

If you want to check out the full details of the story and everything that Klein did wrong, check out this article from the Buckeye Sports Bulletin. I just wish that the university was smart enough to realize what they are doing is dumb.