Ohio State football Coach Earle Bruce thinks...

Ohio State football Coach Earle Bruce thinks a two or three-game suspension might be an appropriate penalty for wide receiver Cris Carter. But Bruce’s boss, athletic director Rick Bay, disagrees.

Carter, an All-American as a junior and the Buckeyes’ all-time leading receiver, was kicked off the team July 16 after admitting he accepted money from sports agents Norby Walters and Lloyd Bloom.

Carter and running back Charles Gladman of Pittsburgh were to be made available to NFL teams in a supplemental draft last Friday. But the NFL postponed the draft and encouraged the pair to attempt to rejoin their college teams.

The NFL’s decision came after the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. reinstated former Pittsburgh defensive back Teryl Austin, who was suspended after allegations he took money from an agent. The NCAA granted the reinstatement on the condition that Austin repay any money he may have received, sever ties to the agent and sit out the first two games on the Panthers’ 1987 schedule.

Bruce, Bay and Ohio State President Edward Jennings are scheduled to meet today to decide Carter’s fate.

Bruce said in a story published Sunday in The Columbus Dispatch that a suspension might be enough punishment for Carter.

“If you’ve ever played sports, you know that when that team runs out there (in Ohio State’s season opener) Sept. 12 against West Virginia, it is really going to hurt him that he’s not a part of it,” Bruce said. “To have to sit and watch, you don’t think that’s a penalty? One, two, three games . . . that’s a hell of a penalty.”

But Bay told the Dispatch that the school still considers Carter to be ineligible.

“We took the position six weeks ago that what happened was serious, ongoing and included a lot of untruths,” Bay said. “We were all aware of the extenuating circumstances. They don’t change the way I look at this.”