Tressel out?

[rabb]

well, seeing that he lied and signed something legal saying he had no knowledge of what he lied about and later was caught

I would say being fired would be fair, but I don't expect homers to be all in on that one

[rabb]

for the record, I would be singing the exact same tune with Ferentz and any of our players as well

[lotus]

What about all that crap with Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore at Iowa? Did anybody ever get busted for that stuff? They were using those two as their personal recruiting team for every sport out there, weren't they?

[rabb]

What about all that crap with Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore at Iowa? Did anybody ever get busted for that stuff? They were using those two as their personal recruiting team for every sport out there, weren't they?

no idea, but don't tell me that's even close to being the same thing because it isn't

let me put it simply, Iowa has had their share of legal fuck ups this year and guess what...they were all either kicked off the team or suspended immediately, not allowed to play in whatever big game was upcoming

we are at the point of justifying everything because of how much OSU brings to the NCAA, really?

I am sorry, that's some bullshit I cannot get behind no matter what the deal is...any respect I had for that program is gone

[lotus]

I agree that it's bullshit. I also maintain that NCAA will not do more to them because of money.

[lotus]

Looks like the shit is getting deeper for Jimmy. Now it's come out that he e-mailed what he knew to Pryor's mentor in PA, after saying on record that he hadn't told anybody. May not be a huge deal in the big picture.

What is interesting but probably not true, although I am hearing/seeing it all over now, is that Urban Meyer recently bought a house near campus in Columbus.

[Elwood]

he's just getting a 5 game suspension....so far.

[SteelMiner]

Nothing like seeing Jeannette's finest export screw up the Buckeyes. A lot of the locals here say they're picking on Pryor over tattoogate. That Tressel said he didn't report to OSU because of confidentiality issues but did forward them to Sarniak (Terrelle's local OSU sugar daddy) is really going to sink him.

[DaddyFatSack]

Looks like this is picking up more steam now. any predictions as to what else, if anything, will be added or will the NCAA take the self imposed stuff?

[rabb]

I don't think he's coaching at OSU next year

[Jammer]

Yeah once OSU goes to the NCAA and asks if they can be cleared if he is let go, then he will be gone.

[lotus]

I think it's time for him to go. Still, with a program like OSU, with so many big-name coaches and prospects, it's just a matter of time before they're in the doghouse again. They will always be one of those schools who is trying to slip something by because they feel like they are elite among college sports.

Looks like this time that all their efforts to self impose penalties aren't going to mean shit. I haven't heard much from the conference about this, but I would have to think they are concerned about their image as they grow this year. It's too bad, Tressel is a great coach.

[lotus]

Here's a great write-up by my favorite local hack of all time, Paul Daugherty.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2011 ... RONTPAGE|p

Nationally, Jim Tressel is the Wizard of Oz. He isn’t great and powerful anymore, outside the state capital. He’s just the sweater-vested man behind the curtain.

It’s no fun writing that. We need more genuine wizards coaching college kids, not less. Coaches who really are role models, whose deeds match their words. Whose impact on a young man’s life exceeds his ability to help the kid get a job playing sports for lots of money.

To many, that described Jim Tressel. To some, it still does. Maybe, they’re still right. Even if it doesn’t square with present perception. Tressel is the guy who has given millions to hospitals and libraries. He’s also the guy who lied to the NCAA and his employer.

Tressel is the coach who has written two books: The Winner’s Manual; and Life Promises For Success: Promises From God on Achieving Your Best.

From God?

Tressel is also the coach currently responsible for dragging Ohio State’s reputation through the ooze.

Believe what you want about The Vest’s image as a do-righter. Some of us who have hacked our way through lengthy sports writing careers have learned to temper our personal judgment of coaches based on our limited, professional relationships with them.

I have no idea if Tressel is as pure and humble as his admirers suggest. Or as phony as his detractors claim. I just see a guy who lied to the NCAA and his school, and a school that faces a crisis of conscience because of it.

Mostly, Tressel is the man with the .828 winning percentage, whose team hasn’t lost to the school Up North for 2,712 days (the running, daily tally courtesy of the Columbus Dispatch), who makes the athletic department large piles of cash.

This last fact seems to carry the most weight. If it were just up to the thickwallet boosters, alums and other peddlers of influence, any and all Tressel discussion would center on who Ohio State’s quarterback will be the first five games next fall.

Instead, the NCAA has sent a Notice of Allegations to the university. Tressel will appear in August before the Committee on Infractions. Worst case scenario: The NCAA could vacate all of OSU’s wins last year except the Sugar Bowl, and it could prevent the Buckeyes from playing in either the Big 10 title game or a bowl game.

It’s not even about that, though. Ohio State always will win lots of football games. Ohio-bred Urban Meyer would be a fine replacement for Tressel. The machine is bigger than any of its cogs.

The question The Ohio State University needs to be pondering is this: At what point does its soul matter more than its football coach’s ability to beat Michigan?

What’s occurring now in Columbus is classic athletics-versus-academics. Coaching tower versus ivory tower. To pretend this doesn’t happen everywhere is to ignore what’s real in big-time quasi-amateur sports. And nowhere is it bigger than at Ohio State.

Ironically, this is exactly the issue Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee addressed eight years ago, when as president at Vanderbilt, he eliminated the school’s athletic department. “Sports can no longer be its own fiefdom,’’ Gee said then.

Now?

When someone asked Gee at a press conference in March if he’d consider firing Tressel, Gee said, paraphrasing, “I hope he doesn’t fire me.’’ Ohio State doesn’t want to fire Tressel, because Tressel is too big to fire.

Maybe Tressel has been infected with the sort of hubris that comes to lots of powerful people. When he learned that some of his players were trading memorabilia for tattoos, and that the owner of the tattoo place was under federal investigation, maybe Tressel thought he could bypass the NCAA and the school and do things his way.

After all, wasn’t his way the right way? Hadn’t he written those two books? Wasn’t he Jim Tressel?

So he signed a compliance form last September, assuring the NCAA he knew of no potential rules violations by his players, even when he did. So he didn’t tell anyone at OSU about it, even as he continued to correspond with players and others involved. He figured he was bigger than the rules and the school. He was, well, his own fiefdom.

It doesn’t matter if Tressel believed he was doing it to protect his players. There is no “protect your players’’ clause in the NCAA handbook.

For now, Tressel remains employed and Ohio State is in conscience limbo. There aren’t many real wizards. You have to think there’s one less today.

[Jammer]

Reports are coming out that Tressel has resigned.

[DaddyFatSack]

Welcome Urban Myer to the Buckeyes in 2012?