DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – Michael Wright; a Dayton attorney with the firm Wright and Schulte LLC; told 2 NEWS on Monday he was representing “in excess of 50 former Ohio State football players” who said they were sexually assaulted by former university physician Dr. Richard Strauss.

Wright said he will file a lawsuit soon on behalf of players who played for the Buckeyes from the early 1980s to the mid 1990s. He said his clients have remained anonymous due to the possibility of ostracism from the university.

“Ohio State is a huge university,” Wright said. “Buckeye Nation is very strong. I think there’s a fear of retaliation from the university that’s real and in the minds of a lot of the student athletes that have not come forward.

Wright said he was waiting for the release of the Perkins Coie report, which investigated Strauss’s behavior while he was employed at the school until the mid-90s. H

“I had spoken with these guys for a period of time prior to the release of the report,” Wright said. “The report corroberated a lot of the information I had from Dr. Strauss. I also think a letter from Ohio State’s president (Michael Drake) was very telling. From my perspective Ohio State had an institutional failure protecting these student-athletes.”

Wright was speaking of an email Drake sent to students on Friday. In the email, Drake said:

“Our institution’s fundamental failure at the time to prevent this abuse was unacceptable – as were the inadequate efforts to thoroughly investigate complaints raised by students and staff members.”

Wright said that statement along with findings in the report were “pretty damning.”

“There were complaints and allegations involving Dr. Strauss and they failed to appropriately respond to those accusations.”

Wright said he wasn’t sure if his clients would remain anonymous through the lawsuit or not.

“Will they eventually reveal themseles?,” Wright said. “I can’t answer that.”

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