In yet another public relations gaffe for the Ohio State athletic department, a fan at last night’s OSU-Wisconsin game was confronted by three OSU assistant basketball coaches after he held up a sign criticizing OSU head coach Jim O’Brien.
The fan, Josh Frazier of Dublin Coffman High School, held up a sign saying “the wrong Coach O’Brien resigned,” referencing Boston Celtics head coach Jim O’Brien who resigned Tuesday.
O’Brien apparently had gestured about the fan to his assistants during the second half, and after the game, assistants Rick Boyages, LaMonta Stone, and another apparent coach went over to the fan and proceeded to criticize him for the sign.
“(They said) a lot of “F” words,” Frazier said. “They enjoy using the “F” word, and they said that I ‘was going places.’ “
While reporters were attempting to talk to Frazier, Stone tried to intervene asking “not to give him an f—ing platform.”
O’Brien at first wouldn’t comment on the incident but soon explained some of his rationale to reporters after the game.
“He can do what he wants, but I know what he’s not going to do, he’s not going to put the sign up in my face.” he said.
Frazier was sitting opposite the OSU bench on the other side of the floor and had the sign confiscated in the second half by arena ushers.
Frazier was honest in assessing the sign.
“My sign was not appropriate. But I’d say their comments were much more inappropriate,” he said.
O’Brien also seemed to disassociate himself with the assistants’ efforts to speak to the fan.
“They’re loyal, but they probably didn’t need to do that,” he said.
Asked why he wrote the sign before the game, Frazier said, “The program has gone downhill.”
Only a few minutes after reporters began speaking to Frazier, another arena usher shooed journalists away.
