The sad story of Charles Waugh

In today's world of the internet and reality TV it still amazes me how quickly a person can go from totally anonymous to instant fame. This past week was a reminder in the person of Charles Waugh. Monday was the first time I ever heard of him or more to the point, ever heard of his twitter handle of @bdubstriviaguru (note that this name means B-Dub Trivia Guru as he worked at the BW3 in Grandview and allegedly ran their trivia nights). That's when he sent a relatively harmless post to over a hundred people associated with Ohio State athletics including quite a few potential recruits. The post was the same to every single one:

"I hated every minute of training but said to myself, don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion. - M. Ali

It's a fairly innocent quote but as it was sent from someone who weighes over 300 lbs and sent mostly to kids aged 16 - 22 he got a lot of grief from opposing fans.  Landgrant Holyland has a good recap of what happened next on their site.  The gist is Buckeye fans saw his posts to recruits, contacted compliance who then investigated him and found out that Waugh is a registered sex offender.  His sentence carried with it a stipulation that he not contact minors.  Since he was obviously breaking his sentence Ohio State contacted Twitter to let them know and sent an email to their student athletes letting them know to avoid contact with Mr. Waugh.

L to R - Anzalone, Waugh, Bosa, Heurmann

I saw the story on Landgrant first thing this morning and linked the post on the O-Zone with a statement that a registered sex offender had been seen having lunch with Ohio State players and that he had also spent time after the spring game with potential recruits (see picture on the right).  I figured once people read the story from Landgrant it would explode but I was surprised that it only got 4 responses.  Fast forward to about 3pm and it was learned that Alex Anzalone had de-committed from the university.  A few hours later it became clear that he was no longer even considering the school.  Tonight, a paper in Florida gave further clarification with a quote by Anzalone's father.

"You don't want your son to go to a place where there's a potential issue (like this)," Sal Anzalone said. "You expect the (football) staff to have some sort of control on how things are handled with recruits when they visit. This is ridiculous. 

"I was concerned with what recruits do, and with them being allowed to visit these kind of places where it puts kids at risk. That's the issue. You entrust people (at the school) to do the right thing."

While he said he doesn't believe the Buckeyes coaching staff was aware that a sexual predator had access to its recruits and players, Sal Anzalone said he is upset at what transpired. 

"Of course," he said. "Who wouldn't be? I'm outraged."

At this point the Ohio State blogosphere exploded in outrage.  While a sex offender talking to our players is certainly shocking, a player decommitting over it affects the team's chances to win and BuckeyeNation responded negatively to Anzalone's statement.

If you read the whole article I think the reporter carefully worded his article to slightly misrepresent Mr. Anzalone's views, it is easy to tell he's upset and I think he has some valid concerns.  He attended Saturday's game with his son but on Saturday night Alex was chaperoned by current Ohio State players.  My suspicion is that the above picture was taken at that time.  Hidden in Mr. Anzalone's comment is that he seems to be as upset that his son was in a bar as he was about the sex offender.  There is no way the university or the students can know the background of every person a potential recruit might meet however they can take steps to avoid placing them in a compromising situation and I think that is the point.

Buckeye fans on the forums varied in their reaction depending on their nature.  Some fans are mad at the Anzalone's and calling them pathetic for backing out of their commitment.  Others are blaming compliance for doing a poor job.  I'm in the middle of the two extremes.  I think the university did everything it could and reacted promptly when they learned of the issue.  I also think that there might be more to the Anzalone's actions than they are saying.

The real culprit is one of the time honored traditions in college sports.  Every school makes sure that when a recruit visits, they are also shown the night life on campus.  Let's face it, most 18 year olds are more interested in campus parties than they wonder if the school has a good accounting program.  Anyone that has been close to the process knows that Saturday night is where the players take the recruit out on the town and show them a good time.  The chaperon is given an amount equal for a meal at a fancy restaurant with no questions asked.  This can be a key point in the recruiting process as it is a look into the social life the player can expect if they attend the school.  What usually happens is the player takes them to a cheap meal then spends the rest of the night getting them drunk and if everything goes well they find willing female.  This doesn't happen with everyone as the best recruiters put similar minded players with similar recruits.  For instance, I'm sure Urban Meyer had a similarly religious student take Tim Tebow out on his visit.  My guess is they were in bed before 10pm.  On the flipside, a night of drunken debauchery can make quite an impression as I worked with a former Big Ten player who told me he committed to a school immediately after his visit because he lost his virginity on the campus visit.

The Buckeyes had most of the best players in the country on campus for their Spring Game and 2 of the 3 pictured above committed right after their visit.  Take a good look at the picture.  Note that it is dark in the background.  My suspicion is it was taken at BW3s and it was at night.  The raises the question -- how did these three players get in contact with Waugh?

The first way is that he contacted them on Twitter and they met him for dinner but that isn't remotely possible.  The second is the coaches set up the dinner with Waugh but that is even more ridiculous as there are potential NCAA violations all over this.  The third is he was taken there by players that have a previous relationship with Waugh.  I think it is pretty obvious that the last is the most likely case.

Many people are focusing on the sex offender part of the case and while that is important I really don't think Charles Waugh is anything more than an overzealous fan (with an admittedly sordid past).  From an Ohio State point of view Charles Waugh is irrelevant at this point.  The Kentucky police are investigating this and my guess is he will be spending some time in jail in the near future.

The issue from an Ohio State point of view is the relationship that the players had with the Grandview BW3.  Ohio State players are superstars in Columbus and they'd never need to pay for a meal if it wasn't against the rules.  So the question is - why were so many Ohio State players spending so much time with Charles Waugh?  I'm afraid we know the answer to that question which is the real reason Anzalone decommitted and why Ohio State distanced themselves from the whole thing.  Now that the sex offender story has hit the mainstream media I'm sure both sides know that the night Anzalone met Waugh is going to get a lot of scrutiny.  It is better for both sides to part ways now so any rules that were broken by BW3/Waugh had no resulting benefit to OSU.  Considering that Ohio State is on probation for the next 3 years I pray that this is the last we hear of this sad tale.