I'm not really sure what to make of Ohio State's recent problems; I don't think selling memorabilia is that big of a deal, but to go and lie about it to the NCAA is pretty serious I guess. Was Tressel just holding back the info so his star players could help him win another B10 title?
Anyway, Mark Schlabach of ESPN wrote this article yesterday covering the whole situation, and its extremely critical of Tressel and Ohio State over how they handled everything. Normally I'd say its too harsh (considering what goes on in the SEC), but given the way the media treated RR and his 15 mins of stretching (plus the fact that this is Ohio State), I'm all for the Buckeyes' rep being tarnished on the national stage.
Who knows, this could help recruiting. Hopefully all those Ohio kids will no longer see Tressel as this saint who never does anything wrong, instead they will see him as a coach who will throw morals out the window to maintain winning. I really hope that he gets hit with the 'failure to promote compliance' tag, because that would surely lead to more sanctions.
I mean let's face it, the penalties handed out by Ohio State will have zero effect on anyone; $250,000 to a guy that earns over $3.5M a year is nothing, and missing games against Toledo and Akron is unlikely to cause a loss. At least if they raised it to three games he'd miss the trip to Miami (FL), which they would probably lose without him, Pyror & Co.
Do you think Boren's brother will transfer to Michigan now?
ReplyDeleteOSU released the emails and didn't black out Tressel's email address....oops...
ReplyDeletetresselj@buckeyes.ath.ohio-state.edu
To hell with Justin Boren, his big mouth & his brother. Go UM!
ReplyDeletei dont want them to fire Tressel...I want Hoke to beat him every year!
ReplyDeleteOn the BIG10 Network last night Tressel kept talking bout some "drug dealing" or "drug conspiracy". I only got to see the fist 5 minutes of the press conference, then had 2 leave. Does anyone know what-n-hell he was talking about?
ReplyDeleteApparently the reason that Tressel was contacted in the first place is one of his players was involved in some kind of drug dealing ring (shocker, Tressel's Buckeye's have committed 375 violations of NCAA rules in the past decade). What I honestly want to see is Tressel suspended for at least 6 or 7 games. The guy really is a sleeze and its amazing he has been able to keep this immaculate reputation by wearing a sweater vest to act like he cares about morals. He says what he needs to say and does what he needs to do to keep his players on the field. Let's not even get into what a joke it is that Pryor & the rest got to play in that bowl game. OSU got preferential treatment then and they will probably get more preferential treatment now. Tressel's violation is one thousand times worse than Rich Rod's was and I bet you he doesn't get any worse sanctions than UM did. It must be nice.
ReplyDelete@Brian I disagree that OSU will get preferential treatment on their latest group of infractions. Selling memorabilia was reported after OSU was handed its sanctions (or lack thereof) before the story broke that it actually took place, at least from what I remember. However, this story broke before the NCAA even started to investigate. I think that OSU and Tressel are in big, big trouble on this one. The NCAA took a lot of heat from EVERYONE that those players were still allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl against Arkansas and the punishment given to Tressel by OSU was pretty minor in the grander scheme of things. I think it will be highly likely that Tressel gits hit with the failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance. I think that they will get more sanctions because it's pretty serious that he flat out lied to the NCAA. I also think that this will hurt them in recruiting in the near future. It's all because the media is really after them about this so there really is no way that the NCAA cannot respond with more sanctions/suspensions. It's about time that OSU gets more bad press about all of their violations that constantly go on at the university.
ReplyDeleteIf the NCAA wants to save face for the flogging they've been taking in the media they will have to make an example of somebody to prove that they still care about the integrity of student athletics. I really hope they use OSU as their example but I'm not holding my breath. What I can't believe is how cocky the entire OSU camp appears to be about this thing, they are almost asking for it.
ReplyDelete@ak
ReplyDeleteWe will see. I hope they get hit but I just think they are going to a slap on the wrist, Tressel will get 2 more games and OSU will be placed on probation for the atmosphere of compliance stuff.