Clarett's time at Ohio State University was marked by several troubling incidents. He was seen yelling at his position coach during the Northwestern–Ohio State game in the 2002 season. In December 2002, he publicly maligned OSU officials for not paying for him to fly home for the funeral of a friend and accused administrators of lying when they said he had not filed the necessary paperwork. In July 2003, Clarett became the center of an academic scandal when a teaching assistant told the "New York Times" that Clarett had received preferential treatment from professors, claiming he had not attended any classes during his only year at Ohio State. However, the investigation did not find sufficient evidence of academic misconduct.