From a 10,000 ft level, what you have is an institution (OSU) whose identity is SO wrapped up in sports - specifically, football - that pretty much anything goes.
I believe you can say that same thing about any Big Ten (or any other major conference school) to some extent, but it really seems as though OSU/Buckeye Nation takes it to a whole different level.
Yes, the identity of the University of Iowa is very much wrapped up with sports - principally football - but I feel the diversification in terms of the different ways people across the state (and outside the state) perceive the university is much more evenly distributed. The hospital, the law school, etc, etc.
It's not that OSU doesn't have those things going on for it as well - I'm sure it's a fine academic institution - but I think all of that "other stuff" is secondary to their branding as a football program. If you just say "Ohio State" without any qualifiers, the default assumption would be that you are talking about the football team.
This is why you see the academic side oddly (from an outsider's perspective) subservient to the athletic side. I'm not sure anything - short of any photos/videos of the Vest personally handing players cash or murdering someone - will ever change:
1. This is the way "they" (Buckeye Nation) like it.
2. They (Ohio State athletics) are a major cash cow for the NCAA.
As fufred points out to us, the rest of us are left to deal with it and try to compete as aggressively as our collective moral standards will allow.