So Oregon is in trouble for paying a scouting service more then normal. And it turns out that Tressel at Ohio State knew about his players tatoo parlor issues much earlier then has been previously acknowledged.
Notice how it’s always Yahoo that finds this stuff out. I’m sure it’s just coincidental that the other major sports news sites have links directly to broadcasting partners of big time college football . . .
I hadn’t heard the Tressel stuff. I am surprised frankly (well, not that surprised).
I imagine since the offending players have already been punished (off the team or suspended for some games next season) that this will blow over.
The Oregon thing seems underwhelming once you understand everyone uses third party recruiters.
If it turns out Tressel knew about the players misbehavior months earlier than Ohio State’s official knowledge of the transgressions, then it most certainly will not just blow over. The reason for this is that the NCAA has already concluded their investigation into the issue, which means they certainly questioned Tressel about it and he certainly didn’t mention he knew about it months in advance. That means he lied to the face of NCAA investigators and the NCAA doesn’t like that. Not one little bit.
It takes time for an NCAA investigation to conclude and sanctions to be handed out so Tressel is in no short term danger from then, but Ohio State is going to be put in a tough position. If they want to avoid bigger institutional sanctions they have to maintain an image that they have no tolerance for misconduct and that means they may have to do somethingy nasty to Tressel and do it soon. I bet they really really don’t want to can a guy who has gotten them a conference title six years running but they’ll have to do something. Maybe a suspension, or a pay cut, or both in conjunction with a public censure.
I hate to sound like a fanboy, but you need more than one anonymous source on Yahoo to tear down a program. Of course, nothing would surprise me in college football anymore.
All of the sport media sites seem to be taking this one seriously, so I’m curious about how reputable this report is as well. If there’s something to it we’ll probably find out pretty soon.
As much as it pains me to say this as a USC fan, Yahoo has a really good record on this stuff right now.
They broke the USC and UNC stuff and were pretty all over the Cam Newton stuff.
If Charles Robinson from Yahoo is printing stories about your school, you’re probably fucked.
OSU’s AD as rushed back to Columbia for a press conference (he was in NYC working on the NCAA basketball tourney prep, since he is the head of that committee for the NCAA) this evening, which will also feature Tressel and Gee, the University’s president.
If this allegation is true, it means Tressel let those players participate through the entire season while knowing they had violated NCAA rules. That would seem to me to be a pretty damning situation.
I would have thought the same thing, but then it is so hard to know what is “damning” in the NCAA’s eyes.
EDIT: Remember this is the same NCAA that allowed the offending players to actually play in the Sugar Bowl. (Not to mention letting Cam play all year under various and serious clouds).
OSU has slapped him on the wrist: 2 game suspension and a $250k fine. I’m sure they are hoping the NCAA will accept that and move on, but it seems awfully light to me.
The NCAA is going to be furious because Tressel lied to their faces. I imagine they’re going to want to make an example of him.
So OSU will miss key players for the first five games and their coach for the first two.
Sounds like it will be a great year in Columbus.
Their first two games are against Akron and Toledo. I don’t think they’ll be sweating.
The next three are Miami, FL, Colorado, and Michigan State. Depending on who they are still missing, two of those three might actually be tough. Not sure about MSU next year, they really went into the tank at the end of last season. Miami will probably be good.
Tressel is getting killed by Colin Cowherd on ESPN, and Dan Patrick is slapping him around a little more kindly on his show. Both have compared him to Bruce Pearl, Cowherd says at least Pearl had a conscious and turned himself in after lying to the NCAA (I don’t remember it going down like that btw), Patrick says he holds both of them to a higher standard based on things they have said and done in the past regarding ethics and morality.
Of course the first game OSU gets back all the players and coaches will be against . . . Nebraska. That’s not going to be pretty. Poor Huskers can’t catch a break.
I agree with this. The NCAA hates being lied too and mislead. Part of the reason USC got dinged so hard was because they didn’t just come out and tell the NCAA everything.
It would be naive to think this is over for Tressell and OSU. I predict vacated wins in their future.
This is one huge-ass smoking gun
Archie is Ohio State’s director of compliance. He knew about this too, but didn’t do anything beyond trying to warn Tressel. However, his job is to do more than that. This just went from being a coach problem to being a program problem. A big one.
Part of the reason Tennessee football may not get slapped too hard by the NCAA for Lane Kiffen’s violations is because the UT compliance office did a great job of documenting their advice to Kiffen and his staff. He regularly ignored this advice, but since he was told not to do certain things before the fact and did them anyway the NCAA is focusing on Kiffen more than Tennessee. Tressel may not survive this, and OSU could be in big trouble.
What? How exactly?
Hopefully I’m wrong, I like Tressel, but I also like Pearl and he very well may not survive either. This OSU thing is probably going to get bigger and bigger. They are already kicking around “should Tressel be fired” on ESPN radio.