tatgate

According to 97.1 The Fan in Columbus, the NCAA has informed Ohio State University that they will be continuing their investigation.  The report comes from the Common Man and the Torg show with its sources coming from former OSU football players.

More details to come once I find a print source.  I know we all love to see it, but they broke the news on the radio with promise of following up on it. 

EDIT: Here's the link

EDIT #2: Torg now saying he thinks PRYOR is talking in an effort to get him into the Supplemental Draft.  Granted this is heresay and high speculation, but it raises some interesting questions.  Mind you, Torg is the one who broke this story on air when I posted it....before it made it to ESPN.

EDIT #3: 97.1 NOW REPORTING THAT THE SIGNING OF MEMORABILIA DID NOT STOP AFTER OSU "PUT THE CABOSH ON IT!"  This is getting unbelievable!  Torg says booster involved is from Northwest Ohio. They are livid! Tune in and laugh your ass off.

Gordon Gee had this to say:

Long but semi-interesting read on Gordon Gee's role in Tat/Tresselgate from ESPN The Magazine. Some notable quotes:

Wearing a scarlet-and-gray-striped bow tie, Gee, typically a flamboyant speaker, flatly praised Tressel's "superb integrity." As Gee backed away from the mic, a reporter started to ask whether dismissing Tressel had ever crossed his mind.

"No -- are you kidding?" Gee interrupted. He sputtered for a second, searching for a one-liner to break the tension. "Let me be very clear," he said. "I'm just hoping the coach doesn't dismiss me."

Smith, standing behind Gee, grinned briefly before zipping it, as if caught snickering in class. But nobody else laughed. The joke landed with a silent thud. In the ensuing weeks, as the scandal escalated, the national media recycled the line in blogs and in print, on TV and radio. That offhand remark, a glib aside, would ultimately become the news conference's most famous quote, drawing a host of admonishments from college sports executives.

What were you thinking? was one AD's reaction. Florida president Bernie Machen says he shook his head and thought, I bet you wish you had it back. Five months later, Tressel is gone and Gee is preparing to testify before the NCAA Committee on Infractions. His fellow presidents wonder whether the man who once promised zero-tolerance for Buckeye rule breakers might lose his job in the scandal's wake.

 

 

A few years ago, when star linebacker James Laurinaitis deferred NFL millions to return for his senior year, Gee called him and said, "James, I'm going to take you to dinner." The meal turned out to be an NCAA violation -- one of many minor ones Gee commits each year. "I'm more self-reported than any president in the country," he quips.

 

 

In all, working with athletics was "easier than I thought," Gee says. Perhaps that's because he didn't meet monthly with the compliance office, normal procedure on other campuses, or because he softened his zero tolerance policy for rule breakers. He tried to create more oversight -- and protect himself -- by creating layers. He appointed a liaison to athletics so that, as he says, "It's not just the AD and the president responsible." Because of the changes, compliance staffers didn't feel they had the power to ask tough follow-up questions. And Tressel, who declined comment for this article, wasn't exactly forthcoming.

When the whole thing blew up this spring, Gee was still left holding the bag. "How would I know that players would sell memorabilia to a tattoo parlor?" he says. "No matter what procedures are in place, people can get around them." Yet he also admits he sent the signal that he didn't want to be bothered. "None of us want to hear bad news," he says. "We hear what we want to hear. It's not just about people being forthcoming. It's about us being receptive, and I start with myself."

There is a story on the columbus dispatch saying OSU will not be hit with failure to monitor.

"Considering the institution's rules education and monitoring efforts, the enforcement staff did not believe a failure to monitor charge was appropriate in this case," the NCAA informed Ohio State.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2011/07/22/ncaa-ohio-state-violations.html

edit: plain text fail...

From the ESPN Sports Nation polls:

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Luke Fickell had his first press conference (Link:http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6657897  ) and denied any knoweldge of of player violations.  Seriously?  Given how blatant Pryor's violations were, is it possible anymore to beleive that the whole staff and compliance department had no knoweldge of what was going on?  It is either incompetence or willful ignorance.  The OSU head coaching job may be his dream job, but given the growing nature of the scandal, the level of instiutional self-denial about the seriousness of the problem there and the growing likelyhood that the NCAA will drop the hammer on them, it is hard to see Luke Fickell keeping the job beyond this season.  As this thing progresses it is easy to see an outcome where their board of regents simply says enough is enough and completely cleans house. 

Per Michael Kim's Twitter:

http://twitter.com/#!/MKimESPNAmerica/status/78260918198353921

I don't see anything on their main page, and shockingly this hasn't created a Twitterstorm as of yet.  I'll update with links if/when they become available.

One has to think Pryor's decision to leave OSU is related to this forthcoming story.  Unfortunately, since he's no longer a student-athlete, he technically doesn't have to cooperate with the NCAA.

Edit: I'm an idiot who can't re-size an image.  Was going to post this here.

EDIT #2: Link courtesy of Erik_in_Dayton.  Gracias.

EDIT #3: More info coming out, this one by SportsbyBrooks (HT: TomVH on Twitter).