OSU Penalties Leaking: Bowl Ban, More Scholarships Comment Count

Brian

How do we feel about this?

The NCAA today stunned Ohio State University’s football program by banning it from postseason play after the 2012 season, multiple sources told The Dispatch.

The penalty means Ohio State automatically is out of the running for any bowl, or a Big Ten or national championship next year, just as newly appointed head coach Urban Meyer is wooing recruits to the Buckeyes.

Athletic Director Gene Smith said previously that while Ohio State has been declared a repeat violator that failed to properly monitor its football program, a bowl ban would be out of line with penalties handed to universities with similar violations.

In its ruling to be made public this afternoon, the NCAA Committee of Infractions will levy the bowl ban and two other penalties on top of the ones the university already imposed on itself, the sources said. The NCAA will:

* Strip four more football scholarships over the next three years on top of Ohio State’s prior forfeiture of five scholarships over that span.

* Add an additional year of probation to OSU’s self-imposed two-year probation for the football program, meaning any violations through the 2013 season could draw harsher-than-normal penalties.

I still think it's weak—what happened to the NCAA's two-eyes-for-an-eye policy?—but it's certainly something, something that OSU insiders have been confidently proclaiming would not happen because they were listening to OSU's idiot athletic director. Who is an idiot.

"Stunned." Yeah, I bet you're stunned. The Ohio State athletic department is also stunned that OSU boosters would want to give free things to football players. Other things that stun the OSU AD:

  • The sun rising in the morning.
  • Malcolm Gladwell drawing grand conclusions from tenuously connected, dubiously supported facts.
  • Troy Woolfolk getting injured.

Ohio State won't win the Big Ten next year, either, Urban Meyer has just lied to a bunch of kids, and they will have a roster maximum of 82 for the next few years. I still think that roster maximum should be something like 79, but it could have gone worse.

Comments

Wolverine In Exile

December 20th, 2011 at 7:20 PM ^

I wanted to hear the words "scholarship reduction", "bowl ban", & "show cause" in the penalties. I did so color me satisfied from a minimal justice served, but i still feel underwhelmed. If any consolation though, columbus radio is a fire with calld for gee & smith's head, and finebaum's show is livid that they got off lite. I guess truth is in middle of that spectrum.

chisf

December 20th, 2011 at 2:53 PM ^

Even more annoying now.  Wisconsin has a free ride next year - OSU's ineligible, PSU's a mess, Indiana and Purdue have no talent.  Seems like Illinois, since they'll have an actual coach to go with their talent, will be biggest challenge.

Needs

December 20th, 2011 at 4:01 PM ^

Unless Crist goes to UW, we could be looking at a Pac-12 South type situation on that side. Ball's likely to go pro, they lose Toon, Wilson, and a couple linemen. Their QB situation is a total tire fire. It'll likely be UW's worst team since 2008. Next year might actually be a year that something crazy happens, like Purdue "winning" the division (with what will be a very good OSU team finishing 6-2/7-1 in conference).

michgoblue

December 20th, 2011 at 2:54 PM ^

I think that this is pretty weak.  USC was punished more severely for far less rampant violations. 

Whatever, beat OSU. 

Also, what is the reaction of Dunn and company to having been lied to by their new coach?

wolverine1987

December 20th, 2011 at 3:40 PM ^

How is what OSU did not as bad as USC? I didn't follow the SC violation that closely so someone can enlighten me, but how is Bush getting money way worse in the NCAA's eyes than multiple OSU kids getting money and the coach lying about it?

Needs

December 20th, 2011 at 5:48 PM ^

They reported the infractions before the NCAA issued a notice of infractions. I seem to recall them reporting on the eve of media reports, but it's more than, say, USC or South Carolina did. They also self-imposed sanctions (lame, pathetic sanctions, but sanctions nonetheless).

Urban Warfare

December 20th, 2011 at 8:53 PM ^

informed the NCAA in January.  They didn't file the final report until after the Yahoo story, but they'd made the initial notification months beforehand. 

 

The emails were uncovered while preparing the appeal for the Tat-5, FWIW. 

Yeoman

December 20th, 2011 at 9:36 PM ^

According to Jim Delany the e-mails were discovered through an FOI open-record request. Was he lying? Was he misinformed? He made the same statement consistently on several occasions.

OSU merely said it was discovered "while working on an unrelated legal matter." They never said what that matter was, as far as I know. I'd be interested in your source for your claim that it was the Tat-5 appeal, which wouldn't seem to be unrelated at all.

These are the same guys that "inadvertently" omitted the e-mails to Sarniak in their self-report--e-mails that would have shredded the credibility of their attempted public defense of Tressel that he was forced into silence for fear of interfering with a federal investigation. I'm not inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Yeoman

December 27th, 2011 at 10:36 AM ^

...were all lying when they said it was an unrelated legal matter?

Smith and Gee I could believe; the attorneys I would think would be more careful. Since I haven't seen any media reports that confirm what you're saying and you didn't provide a link, I'm going to remain skeptical for now.

restive neb

December 20th, 2011 at 4:02 PM ^

USC "knew or should have known" about agents having free access to players in the locker room.  So not only did Reggie Bush get hundreds of thousands in illegal benefits, but USC looked the other way.  On top of that, when they were investigated, USC tried to stonewall the NCAA at every turn.  Their lack of cooperation certainly played a role in their punishment.  If we take off our maize colored glasses, the magnitude of the payouts, and the responses of the universities, weren't really all that comparable.  OSU's administration was arrogant in the process, but not outwardly uncooperative like at USC.

BRCE

December 20th, 2011 at 2:54 PM ^

The biggest hit OSU gets from this is the loss of credibility Urban Meyer now has with recruits. No kid with a brain will be anything less than skeptical of whatever he tells them now.

Skapanza

December 20th, 2011 at 3:03 PM ^

I dunno why this got knocked down to score 0, but I agree. The biggest hit is on the new coach, who is clearly happy to tell kids who are trying to make life-altering decisions whatever they want to hear and not the truth. Not shocking, but should be revealing to those who think Urban craps rainbows.

3rdGenerationBlue

December 20th, 2011 at 3:23 PM ^

Meyer will spin this with the recruits so they are all filled with righteous ingination.......he will spin it so they think the world (NCAA) is against them. This actually helps Meyer because he can experiment more next year and not need to worry about getting to the Big Ten Championship or a BCS bowl. He'll have the team spitting nails going into 2013 - out to prove that they deserve respect. What they really deserve is harsher punishment.

JDVan

December 20th, 2011 at 2:55 PM ^

I am probably mistaken but does USC have 1 more year of scholarship reductions? If so, I would appeal the last year and cite the lessened punishment for Buckeyes w/ greater infractions.

joeyb

December 20th, 2011 at 3:45 PM ^

I said that it was smart for them to appeal only that decision because it would stagger the scholarship deductions long enough for the bowl ban to lose effect. Basically, they could still look good during the bowl ban, and have top notch seniors to power through the scholarship deductions.

San Diego Mick

December 20th, 2011 at 2:55 PM ^

They should've given ohio at least 2 years bowl ban and 12 schollies penalty. USC should be livid. And all we did was over practice for 15 minutes.

Pryor driving around in all these expensive cars when his family lives in poverty, what a bunch of crap.