'Surviving Ohio State' Documentary Worth the Wait
Thank you, George Clooney
(This is for Mature Audiences Only. Possible spoiler alert)
A few years ago, many were up in arms about the delay of a yet untitled documentary about the sexual abuses against Ohio State University (OSU) student athletes. The public didn’t know much about it, other than what was reported on the news.
If we’re to be honest, a lot of interest lied in the fact that Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, who was the assistant wrestling coach at OSU for eight years, was believed to be aware of the abuses and grooming that occurred against the young men. It is alleged he chose to stay silent, allowing thousands more to become victims.
Many wanted his involvement exposed through this documentary before November 2024 when he would be running for re-election.
Surviving Ohio State finally came out on HBO / MAX on June 17, 2025.
The documentary is based on a 2020 Sports Illustrated article that exposed the abuses that occurred on the OSU campus for over 20 years. I was surprised to find a local angle in that one of the survivors, Mike Schyck, was from Englewood (FL), where he was a star wrestler at Lemon Bay High School (LBHS). Schyck presently coaches the LBHS Girls Wrestling team.
Team Doctor Richard Strauss, was the predator of the young men, taking advantage of them during physicals, exams and through injuries they incurred. Many of those elite athletes were OSU Buckeyes on scholarships. OSU was considered the Gold Standard for college sports.
In the documentary, Schyck recalls his first physical, consisting of different stations. One would be for reflexes, another for blood pressure, etc. Before he was told to go behind a closed door with Strauss, players told Schyck, “Oh Doc’s gonna like you.”
Wrestler Dan Ritchie, who attended OSU from 1988 - 1992 came from a small town of 32,000 people. OSU, at the time, had over 50,000 students. The documentary outlines how Strauss went after the most vulnerable students, who may have come from rural areas and may not have had the social relationships and medical experiences that could expose him.
The survivors describe Strauss telling them to drop their shorts and turn off the lights. He took a pen light and placed his face so close to the student’s genitals, that they could feel his breath on that region.
OSU’s Wrestling Coach was Russ Hellickson, who Ritchie described as “a surrogate father. You take your cues from him.” Hellickson and Jordan acted like everything was normal, so Ritchie learned to “compartmentalize it”.
Wrestling was described in the documentary as a street fight with rules. There would be injuries, such as an ankle sprain. The coaches would send the athletes to Strauss. Even when it dealt with a foot, Ritchie explained: “There was a genital check without fail.”
“On his way out, Feeney saw Jordan and told him what happened. Jordan’s response: ‘It’s Strauss. You know what he does.’”
Strauss told the athletes they were like thoroughbred horses and made to feel like this was part of an ordinary collegiate exam. Once the athletes went public with their allegations, they were asked: “Did you tell Russ or Jim?”
The answer was: “They knew.”
Wrestling referee Frederick Feeney feels he has the proof. After a match he describes how Strauss went to a shower stall next to his, even though the room was empty.
It caught Feeney off-guard that Strauss would choose the stall right next to him. Strauss not only began to masturbate, but Feeney said he felt Strauss’ hand on his butt. “‘Doc, what are you doing?’ I asked.”
Strauss replied that Feeney should be proud of his body. On his way out, Feeney saw Jordan and told him what happened. Jordan’s response: “It’s Strauss. You know what he does.”
In the meantime, Hellickson allowed Strauss to have a locker in a room with the wrestlers. They knew he was taking multiple showers a day with the athletes and getting aroused.
Strauss, it turns out, shared locker rooms with athletes in other departments - from gymnasts and swimmers to hockey and football players. “He’s everywhere,” said one athlete.
In this ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ fear-based environment, the athletes knew that Strauss had been around since 1979. They feared they would lose their scholarships or be kicked out of school. “It would be his word against your word,” said one survivor.
There was never a nurse or trainer in the examining room. The documentary exposed that Strauss used an ungloved hand.
Independent Film Director Maurice Jovan, co-host of the Drew Garabo Radio Show in Tampa said of the documentary: “Right when you think it’s as bad as it’s going to get, it gets worse.”
Perhaps one of the more compelling stories came from OSU Hockey Player Al Novakoski. He found Strauss to be “kind, nice”. It was only ten days into his freshman year, when he had his first experience with Strauss.
Strauss asked him if he had ever had a hernia exam before. “That was very odd,” Novakoski said. “You try to disassociate yourself. Every time, it was ‘drop your trousers.’”
Novakoski attempted to tell the coach who responded: “Don’t worry about the Doctor. Worry about your playing.” The consequences for Novakoski and so many of the men live on for the rest of their lives.
Meanwhile, Jim Jordan allegedly allowed these young men to look up to him - to trust him - while knowingly sending them to the lion’s den. One wonders why he wasn’t administered a lie detector test, along with Hellickson. If they knew criminal activity was happening, why haven’t they ever been held legally culpable?
There are ongoing monetary lawsuits.
Testimony against the Congressman includes that he called witnesses crying, asking them not to expose that he and other team officials knew about open-shower facilities that facilitated sexual harassment and abuse of team wrestlers.
Attorneys filed a massive class-action lawsuit in 2019. The U.S. District Court in Ohio against Ohio State University singled out Jim Jordan, among three school officials named. The evidence from the victims reflects the same incidences where Jordan was privy to the knowledge of the crimes occurring.
If a word ever fit an immoral man, it would be cuck - meaning weak and servile. Could this inequity be why Donald Trump endorsed him to be Speaker of the House in 2023?
Is this how he became chairman of the House Judiciary Committee?
I remember Amy Klobuchar stating so frustratingly that because she had to follow Jordan when speaking (alphabetically), she had to abandon what she was going to say in order to factually negate everything Jordan had just bloviated.
In 2021, then-President Trump awarded the Medal of Freedom to Jim Jordan. This is a civilian’s highest honor.
In November 2024, Jordan won re-election to his seat.
At the NCAA Wrestling Meet earlier this year, Jordan sat in the same area with Trump and Elon Musk.
Schyck is still part of an active lawsuit pending and was recently inducted into the Florida Wrestling Hall of Fame.
As of October 2023, OSU awarded 162 victims a total of up to $60 million. If that sounds reasonable, Michigan State awarded 139 female gymnasts $500 million for abuses suffered under Larry Nassar.
While OSU apologized in 2018, there are still abuse claims from the hundreds of students whose lawsuits are outstanding against the university.
“Ohio State states it is without knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as the truth of the remaining allegations.” In addition, OSU requested that the former students suing the school pay the school’s legal fees.
Stephen Snyder-Hill is among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Ohio State for Strauss' abuse and the university's failure to prevent and handle the predation.
He stated: "I'm a survivor of sexual assault, but I'm a victim of OSU".
No one person has been held criminally liable. At 67 years old, Strauss committed suicide in August of 2005.
Jordan is next up for reelection in 2026 and serves until Jan. 3, 2027.
Where Are They Now is an insightful recommended read on after watching the documentary.
As a graduate of Ohio State, I thought then (and now) that Ohio State placed waaaaaaay too much emphasis on athletics and this was to the detriment of academic excellence.
Jordan, Woody Hayes and and many others are the fruits of this over-emphasis. Most big schools continue to pay the price for this gladiator-like emphasis. Shame on Ohio State and countless others.
It's way past time for Gym Jordan to face some consequences!