DaytonDailyNews.com

COLUMBUS — During his 22 years as a college head coach, friends, players and adversaries always remarked about how dedicated Jim O'Brien was to the game of basketball. Now he's not so sure.

"Coaching has been what I've done; it's been a major part of my life — and it was kind of snatched away from me," he said Wednesday, Feb. 20. "I'm still trying to put all the pieces together and I'm trying to really get a good grasp of what it is that I want to do. It's hard to all of a sudden say you have no interest in college basketball."

The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to hear Ohio State's appeal of a lawsuit O'Brien filed against the university after he was fired in the wake of his revelation that he had given $6,000 to a recruit. Ohio State lost the case in which O'Brien stands to gain $2.7 million to $3 million from the university.

The raspy-voiced Brooklyn native coached St. Bonaventure and his alma mater, Boston College, before coming to Ohio State in 1997.

He was abruptly fired June 8, 2004, after telling then-Athletic Director Andy Geiger about what he termed a humanitarian loan to a recruit who never even enrolled at OSU.

O'Brien said he has done little else over the past 3½ years but fight Ohio State and the NCAA, which all but prevented other universities from hiring him to coach. In fewer than three weeks, any sanctions will be lifted and he could return to the sidelines.

Since being fired he has worked as a college basketball analyst for a cable network, but he's not so certain whether he will continue to work in broadcasting. He became a grandfather a year ago, and that takes up some of his time. He lives in Boston and remains in contact with numerous close friends back in Ohio and many of his former players.

Two players he recruited to Ohio State — seniors Jamar Butler and Matt Terwilliger, a Troy native — still play for the Buckeyes. O'Brien said he follows their careers and is proud of their accomplishments even though he has not watched "one second" of a Buckeyes game since leaving town.

He knows that his name will forever be linked with NCAA violations.

"Yes, I'm thrilled that that's all behind me, but there is still a little bit of this stigma about what happened," he said. "In all honesty, the most disappointing thing was how my character was being attacked."