I wonder if he played with attendance figures too? I just couldn't let that one go. :)

Ouch. That's too bad. I hope he can get back on his feet. He always seemed to work his ass off during games.

Someone who worked in that office for 3 years.....

Someone who worked in the ticket office for 3 years ASKED you to comment or you worked in the ticket office for 3 years and think you are judge and jury here? Either way, it's lame.

Kind of interesting that nobody here sees anything suspicious about this story and is ready to dismiss it with a ho-hum response, even with little or no public information available

As of now, I have no private or inside information but I find several things curious.

1. If I made a list of every Associate Athletic Director to come through Athens the past 8-10 years, it would be made of some high quality people, and some absolute shysters who I wouldn't trust to hold my wallet for 5 minutes.

The one thing the entire list would have in common is people who don't share my alma mater, and who had only their own self interest in mind when they solicited me for money time and time again. While we all aim for bigger and (sometimes) better, some of these people were utterly transparent in their desire to use and abuse our University.

2. The one guy who did not fit that mold is/was Drake. Raised in Athens. Graduated from Ohio. Chose to alter his career path to come BACK to Athens. Personal facebook timeline is filled with nothing but promotion of all things Ohio. Say what you want, but the guy is a true, loyal Bobcat.

On a personal level, I sat right next to him while he did promotions at basketball games, and I always looked forward to, and enjoyed our conversations. Do I really know him? No. Am I friends with him? I wouldn't say that. But as passing acquaintances go - this person doesn't strike me as a felon in any sense of the word. Quite the opposite.

3. So what we are led to believe is that the one guy in the whole Department who actually seemed to have the University's best interest at heart - is the one guy who was mis-appropriating and/or mis-using funds, to the point of being worthy of now having a felony plea on his record?

4. I don't know how they handle money within the Athletic Department, but after the P-card scandal of '07 - you are seriously going to tell me there were no financial controls in place to prevent or proactively audit irregularities such as these, which were apparently ongoing?? This, being the strangest thing of all.

Again, I have no idea of the actual situation, and admittedly - all I have to go on is a guilty plea filed with the courts. However, pure intuition tells me there is more at play here, and if someone peels back the layers - this might not be what it seems.

Also, this board is totally stale.

LOVE

A few responses to Love:

1. I disagree with your first point. The nature of college athletics forces you to move around if you want to move up or make more money. Drake was a rarity in that regard because of his local ties. Just because some works here for two years and leaves doesn't mean their loyalty should be questioned.

2. From what I know, I would say Drake got a raw deal. I am hoping details come out. This stinks of over reaction.

3. Drake was an absolute asset to OU, no questions asked. His track record speaks for itself. I have heard he wasn't the most personable, but got shit done.

If you want to know what went down, DM me and will explain. All I know is it couldn't have happened to an individual that poured his sweat into Ohio and treated the job like he wouldn't jump to another job to make a jump. He is a guy who is committed to Ohio full-bore and built a great sales culture that had us buy into what Ohio University is all about. The relationships he taught us to go build with fans, friends, and alumni make me appreciate Athens everyday. The folks who moved onto other jobs after working for him moved up because of the creative freedoms we had to go do what we wanted to do. The fact that he gave a kid from Archbold, Ohio a shot to become something in this industry is more than any other organization. So with that, yes things happened, but for my career and the careers of our staff and interns were affected for the better. The genuine love for Athens and the area he exhibited rubbed off on all of us. Again, he will land on his feet and I hope he learns from this, as he still has tremendous potential to build another office that believed could go sell out the Rose Bowl with Ohio fans.

Interesting comment. Some of my former management colleagues insisted that our independent sales reps get local cell phone numbers. I'm curious as to why you find it off-putting. It's often way cheaper to stay on a group plan with parents or siblings than to get your own account - lots cheaper.

I get solicitation calls from O.U. a few times a year.

What I really dislike is when you can tell they are "scripting".

Just talk to me.

My wife is a visiting nurse who has to call patients concerning their care.

Her agency has items they want to make sure she brings up with the patients,but no "scripting",because it so obvious.

What's amazing is they don't even change the "scripting" from one year to the next.

This definitely smells fishy. Was he stealing money? Not a lot of information to go on and seems like we've got some good character references posted in this thread. Money can make good people make bad choices...there' no doubt about that. All that being said, I hope this guy is innocent and the truth comes out.