OT: Anti-Tressel Columbus Radio Host Fired

Submitted by Undefeated dre… on

Bruce Hooley, who hosted the early afternoon "Big Show" on 97.1 with Chris Spielman and admittedly was never in the bag for OSU, was removed from the air because he had the temerity to call for harsher punishment for Jim Tressel. Maybe he can move into Kirk Herbstreit's new house in Nashville. http://www.brucehooley.com/Blog.html

I did my final shows Wednesday and Thursday of last week in the aftermath of the press conference at Ohio State announcing head coach Jim Tressel's NCAA violations in the Tattoo-Gate case. My show was pre-empted Friday by Ohio State's opener in the Big Ten Tournament. Late Friday afternoon, my attorney, Bret Adams, received a call telling me not to report to work on Monday. Mr. Van Stone said he wanted to meet with Bret to discuss re-assigning me to other duties. That's when Bret and I suggested we explore a separation that would be satisfactory to both parties.

Let's see how the voluntary five games goes for you, Jimmy.

mGrowOld

March 17th, 2011 at 9:11 PM ^

I'm not surprised.  Down here the media is expected to tow the party line and not offer unpleasant opinions that dare insinuate the OSU is less than perfect.  Unlike the Freep, the Ohio media understands who their customer supports and goes out of the their way to placate them.

If the Freep are completely overboard on one side of the ledger in attacking their readers then  mainstream Ohio media is on the other. 

Freep = Washington Post wannabees

Ohio media = Pravda

jvocke

March 17th, 2011 at 9:30 PM ^

Mgrowold speaks the truth... heck, I didn't even know about Herbstreit selling his house until my fellow UM alum who lives in Austin TX called me and told me.  Why?  Because it's not been on *any* of the news media here in Cowtown that I've seen.  Around here, you're either 100% zealot Buckeye or you're an enemy.  Very little in-between.

bronxblue

March 17th, 2011 at 9:17 PM ^

I'm sure it was more than just his comments about Tressel, but that is pretty rough to fire a guy because he thought the OSU coach got off easy for breaking some important rules.

GustaveFerbert

March 17th, 2011 at 9:18 PM ^

From a Hooley article:

http://www.foxsportsohio.com/03/11/11/What-happens-next-at-Ohio-State/landing_ohiostate.html?blockID=438181&feedID=3631

OSU would gladly sacrifice any of its compliance personnel, Smith or even Gee to preserve Tressel’s previously pristine image. By doing so, the school would protect its sweater-vested, fundraising juggernaut and keep the football cash register ringing to finance a bloated 36-sport athletic department.



How else to explain Gee and Smith turning what was supposed to be a mea-culpa over Tressel’s wrongdoing into a testimonial about his moral character and service to the school and community?



Whether the NCAA will be dazzled by Tressel’s reputation or treat him as roughly as it has other violators in similar cases is unknown.



Smith said OSU examined past precedent to arrive at the two-game suspension and $250,000 fine.



The Columbus Dispatch reported Thursday that since 2006, 13 head coaches in all Division I sports have broken the same bylaw Tressel broke by attesting in September that he had no knowledge of violations in his program. According to the Dispatch, 12 of those coaches were forced to resign or were fired.



The NCAA has historically taken a hands-off approach when misbehavior in Ohio State’s football program arises. The Buckeyes did not vacate their 2002 national championship won with Maurice Clarett in violation in NCAA rules, nor did OSU forfeit victories from the 2004 season when eventual Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith played in the aftermath of taking $500 from a booster.



The only hammer the NCAA holds over rogue coaches is the threat of stiff punishment should they mislead investigators or mock rules compliance efforts by falsifying documents.



Tressel did both, which has given Ohio State a much bigger headache than how to handle the first five games of 2011 without Pryor and his four teammates.

 

 

 

 

 

ColsBlue

March 17th, 2011 at 9:47 PM ^

I've spent many drives around town listenting to 97.1 and their blind homer radio crew.  Bruce Hooley has always led the charge in this regard and was known to be completely in the bag for OSU.  His criticism of Tressel is a strong indication of just how far the Senator stepped over this line this time.  This move is a complete joke but a clear illustration of how serious OSU is about controlling the media and their story in Columbus.  Too bad Hooley had to lose his job to serve as an example to his local sports colleagues.  It will be interesting to see how the rest of the shills at the Fan and the Dispatch (especially Spiels) react to this move.

Tater

March 18th, 2011 at 12:06 AM ^

This firing could turn Hooley into a Rosenpuke, but with a lot more ethics and real violations to report.  TSIO has gotten away with so much for so long that they feel they can get reporters fired and not worry about any consqeuences.  Gene Smith probably feels like he just squashed a bug.  

Could TSIO have finally picked the wrong guy to piss off?  It would be great to see the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth finally come out of Columbus.  

Seth9

March 18th, 2011 at 12:28 AM ^

 

Because I'm sure that Ohio State called up 97.1 and told them to pull him off the air...

Ohio State fans do not like Hooley just as we don't like many members of our local media. The problem for Hooley is that there is no other local team that provides a counter-balance, as there is in our market. So if Hooley goes too far in denigrating Ohio State, then he'll lose the listener base for his show and damage the radio. Around here, if a radio guy (i.e. Valenti) irritates Michigan fans, he will not lose his station's listener base because MSU fans will enjoy it. It's only when a commentater (i.e. Drew Sharp) manages to irritate both major fanbases and thus loses his listener base that he gets fired from the Detroit stations.

Darth Tressel

March 18th, 2011 at 12:46 AM ^

There was a ton of people emailing the station about how tired they were of hearing all the negatives about the current situation with Tressel. They started losing advertising money due to the lack of people listening during his timeslot. The station is actually losing money on the deal because they had to eat his contract. 

With this whole ordeal, I'm sure all of you can agree which favorite newspaper you all like to read. I'm sorry, I meant the one you direct f bombs towards people if they even think about linking their site on the forums. The one where you couldn't stand the negative press against your old coach. 

Hooley happens to be our guy in the local media we can't stand.