NBC News: Former OSU official testified he doesn’t believe Rep. Jim Jordan
Former athletic director says congressman likely knew about sexual abuse of athletes
NORWALK — Before he became a congressman, U.S. Rep Jim Jordan was a wrestling coach at The Ohio State University, where an OSU doctor sexually abused student athletes for years.
It was common knowledge, but Jordan has maintained for all these years since that he never knew anything about the sexual abuse, an assertion few people believe.
“I believe that the conversation about Dr. Strauss was active — with the wrestlers,” Andy Geiger testified in a sworn deposition unsealed Monday by the Southern District of Ohio, according to an NBC News report. “Particularly loud and clear, I heard all about the unhappiness with the showering situation.”
Geiger was an athletic director at OSU when Jordan was a wrestling coach there. In his deposition, Geiger said in his opinion Rep. Jordan “probably knew” that campus doctor Richard Strauss was abusing the wrestlers Jordan coached more than two decades ago.
“For somebody who was part of the program, it doesn’t seem credible to me” that Jordan was unaware that Strauss allegedly preyed on male athletes, Geiger said in the deposition. “I don’t know for sure,” Geiger added. “But my opinion is that he probably knew.”
Jordan, who represented Norwalk and Huron County from 2006 until 2024 when state lawmakers gerrymandered the county out of huis district, did nothing to stop the sexual abuse from occurring.
Ohio Capital Journal contributed to the report.
