so who will the ncaa hit harder?

Submitted by Philbert on

So my question to you all is who will get a harsher penalty? the oregon ducks for paying people for getting recruits to sign with them or the NCAA golden boy, Saint tressel. I have a sick feeling that makes me think that they won't get much more than there self imposed crap. my wish would have been scholarships gone over tressel being suspended.

Hey NCAA, I'm looking at you. heres your chance to make things right.

Dezzy

March 8th, 2011 at 7:54 PM ^

They will hit Oregon harder than Tressel.  Why?  Because Ohio State is going to be what the NCAA really hits, with Tressel only getting a little bit of heat.

Captain

March 8th, 2011 at 7:57 PM ^

The NCAA is going to throw the book at Tressel.  Unfortunately, that book is a thin, 60 page Choose Your Own Adventure book.

"If you want to take your suspension for the second half of the Akron game, turn to page 38."

BlueDragon

March 8th, 2011 at 8:03 PM ^

I watched the last five minutes of Q&A and counted three questions dodged or blocked by Gene Smith.  The NCAA is going to have a field day with those bastards.  I bet the paper shredders are putting in overtime all over CBus as we speak.

GunnersApe

March 8th, 2011 at 8:06 PM ^

 

As the fertile Midwest recruiting is this year, tOSU is negative recruiting itself right now.

NCAA infraction line.

USC (appealing)

Oregon (pending)

Auburn (pending)

OSU (pending)

dennisblundon

March 8th, 2011 at 8:14 PM ^

That press conference was a PR nightmare. It was unapolegetic and as one ESPN analyst said, it came off sounding like a recruiting pitch. If you want to know what the NCAA will do read tomorrow's paper. Should the media go after them hard then they will react with sanctions due to public pressure. 

Also maybe Tressel in a weird sort of way thought that he was working for the FBI. Possibly playing out a Jason Bourne fetish of his?

AlwaysBlue

March 8th, 2011 at 8:15 PM ^

The press conference was so over the top ridiculous and non-responsive to the particulars that I think the national media will have no choice but to call them out. 

First question to JT was something about when did he decide that he should have disclosed the information.  He stared into space for what seemed like 5 minutes and said January.  Well, gee, that's exactly when they found the first email that he hadn't disclosed.  I guess the day he was caught was the same day he decided he should have said something earlier. 

fitty88

March 8th, 2011 at 8:29 PM ^

While Tressell said some of the right things, Gee came across as disconnected and anything but contrite. While I think he was trying to defend and support Tressell, it came across as a hollow, inappropriately-timed, sales pitch.
<br>The worst thing, however, is that your defense for not disclosing violations you were made aware of, is that you didn't want to breach the confidentiality of the federal drug investigation of current players?!!! Really! Wow! You might as well start turning over rocks for them, cause the NCAA is gonna be looking under all of them! Free tats, sale of memorabilia, test drives out of state, and federal drug investigations? If that isn't an atmosphere of non-compliance, I don't know what is. Add to that a cover up (which was the centerpiece of the SMU death penalty), it's hard to see how there aren't major sanctions coming. I am as skeptical as others, as it is Saint Tressell, but I think there is blood in the water and once the sharks are circling, it's hard to stop a feeding frenzy. Should be an interesting few days.

Needs

March 8th, 2011 at 8:20 PM ^

OSU's going to be watching Tennessee's case very nervously. Bruce Pearl is accused of doing something analogous to Tressel, they suspended and fined him (well the SEC suspended him), but the NCAA's expected to sanction UT and Pearl more severely. If they dont, OSU can likely feel ok.

Blue Lurker

March 8th, 2011 at 9:04 PM ^

And Pearl got suspended by the SEC for half the conference games.   With all the talk by the Big Ten about how it is more upstanding than the SEC does anyone think that the Big Ten won't suspend Tressel for more games?  otherwise hipocrisy at its best...

Scorekeeper

March 8th, 2011 at 8:22 PM ^

HEre's an old (24 hour) Twitter prediciton of the hand slap that Ohio State got:

 

Finebaum Network
 
Jim Delany just suspended Jim Tressel for the first half of Oho State’s spring game.

SFBlue

March 8th, 2011 at 8:25 PM ^

IMO, this is worse than what USC did, and the punishment should be at least as severe.  If it's true that Tressell knew about this in April, either (a) Tressell committed a fraud on the university and the NCAA or (b) the university committed a fraud on the NCAA.  The underlying offense here is not nearly severe as it was in the USC case, but as the old saying goes, it's not the crime, but the cover-up. 

If this is disclosed in April 2010, it's a couple game suspension for these guys.  Schools and coaches need an incentive to report--the NCAA has to get their attention. 

Bodogblog

March 8th, 2011 at 8:37 PM ^

or the NCAA as an organization will be.  Only one of those two has power to make that decision.  Tressel will be gone by the start of the season, probably through resignation.

Choosing not to disclose something to the NCAA is one thing.  Lying to their face is another.  Cannot do that.  Lying to the NCAA and 'not understanding who to go to with these allegations' are the definition of Failure to Promote an Atmosphere of Compliance.  TSIO can't cover it up and the NCAA can't ignore it.

Bodogblog

March 8th, 2011 at 9:01 PM ^

Even my fiance's jaw dropped when she heard that.

And it's actually much worse, if I understand correctly: Tressel didn't know back in April that the only thing his players had done was sell memorabilia and get free tats - he thought they may have been involved in drug trafficking.  I'm making an assumption based on what he said during the press conference, paraphrasing "I was sent an e-mail about a drug investigation... some of my players were named in that e-mail... thank goodness it turns out none of them were involved in the drug investigation."  That investigation didn't conclude until the tattoo parlor arrests in December - so he didn't know his guys were not involved (in drugs) until that time.

If correct, Tressel wasn't covering the sale of B1G rings or free tattoos.  He was covering up what he thought was his players being investigated for drug trafficking. 

SFBlue

March 8th, 2011 at 9:24 PM ^

OK.  So these facts do not add up, and I think it's intentional.  Here's a preview of tOSU's defense before the NCAA:

In a nutshell, Tressell was concerned about interfering with a federal drug trafficking investigation that did not involve tOSU kids, so he sat on the informaiton he was given, which had not been verified. 

The drug trafficking investigation was a separate, indepent investigation that, for all tOSU knows, appeared to target the tattoo artist who had all the gear the tOSU kids sold. 

Yes, there are e-mails that show Tressell knew about the allegations in April 2010, and in hindsight Tressell should have taken this information somewhere, but he had his reasons for not doing so.  The tattoo artist's attorney, who was conducting an investigation into charges that his/her client had been involved in trafficking drugs/stolen property, e-mailed Tressell.  He told Tressell, "hey coach, please keep this confidential, but my client is being accused of trafficking in stolen goods and/or drugs, and I think it's bullshit because he paid cash for the tOSU gear at issue here."

So Tressell didn't know where to go with the information, because maybe it was bullshit trumped up by a scumbag defense attorney, and even if it were not, he could be interfering with the government's lawsuit were he to breach the "confidentiality," or so he mistakenly thought.  He thought it was best to let the federal probe run its course, and did not want to involve tOSU with some penny-ante tattoo artist druggie who probably had something to do with stealing the uniforms.  So he sat on the information. 

The U.S. Attorney contacted Ohio St. in December 2010, said "we're conducting an investigation of a tattoo artist drug dealer scumbag, and we think this guy may be trafficking in stolen tOSU gear; he says the kids sold it to him for cash, but we think he's lying." 

At that point, tOSU conducted an investigation, heard from the kids it was all true, reported it to the NCAA, and received the five-game suspension, which was announced on December 23, 2010. 

This actually makes some sense, but it requires breathing a theory of the case into this loose collection of facts.  Under this fact pattern, maybe the NCAA will conclude that Tressell had valid reasons to disbelieve the information, not pass it on, or conduct an investigation.  I bet this is the defense tOSU intends to lay out.  (They don't want to necessarily preveiw the whole defense now, as it may look like it was cooked up.)

Of course, this theory is probably bullshit. 

Bodogblog

March 8th, 2011 at 9:47 PM ^

I don't know about yours, but my theory above is bullshit.  The e-mails were released, and it's clear they pertain to the selling of memorabilia and free tats only - there is no indication that the players were involved in drugs in any way (only that the parlor owner could be).

But see the e-mails in the thread above - he's still gone.  He did conceal, and he did lie to the NCAA.  And only a fool would say he wouldn't know who to go to after receiving those e-mails. 

SFBlue

March 8th, 2011 at 9:58 PM ^

Yeah, I just read the e-mails.  It's pretty clear that Tressell trusts the information disclosed by the source.  At one point, in June 2010, Tressell even asks if there are any additional names, because he wants to properly ensure "collateral" was properly withheld. 

tOSU will still likely try the "didn't want to interfere with drug probe" defense, but it doesn't look at all like a winning argument. 

Also from the e-mails, it's clear the government knows of the sold goods in April 2010.  Tressell should have known it would get out publicly. 

 

Uferisms

March 8th, 2011 at 8:46 PM ^

After watching that press conference the only logical conclusion that can be drawn is that Tressel is guilty, tried to cover up and will be dismissed before kickoff in September.  Anything less would be unbelievable.

I loved the fact that the backdrop was plain, not OSU backdrop.   This shows that they want to distance the association of the University from this press conference.

 

 

AZBlue

March 8th, 2011 at 8:57 PM ^

Per the sports radio in Seattle last week - as much as they would hope the Ducks get nailed - apparently the "recruiting consultant" thing was a loophole that the NCAA closed after the Oregon infractions supposedly took place.  They may get hit for the poor ethics involved but I believe they acted within the letter of the law, if not the intention.

I hope OSU gets nailed.  They learned of this through Tressel's Email in January and did not "self-report" them until the story was about to break?  That's more than just Tressel being shady ime.

Blue X2

March 8th, 2011 at 8:57 PM ^

The NCAA looked the other way when Cam Newton's dad tried to sell his eligibility and looked the other way when Tatoo-gate started and let Pryor and the other criminals play in the bowl game.  We thought this was unfair since they hammered Michigan for 20 minutes of practice time.

What's different this time is that they have proof of the violation.  The NCAA hammered Michigan because it was very public, and they had proof.  The same here.  I think they will give OSU a much stronger penalty than the self imposed joke of a penalty.

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