Tressel knew of violations 8 months pryor?

Submitted by MGoTarHeel on

Per Yahoo! Sports

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel was informed that several Buckeyes players were selling memorabilia more than eight months before the school claims it was made aware of the scheme, a two-month Yahoo! Sports investigation has found.

Tressel received information that players were selling items to Edward Rife – the owner of Fine Line Ink Tattoos in Columbus – as early as April 2010, according to a source. However, neither Ohio State nor the NCAA investigated the transactions or the players’ relationship with Rife until December 2010, when the school claims it was informed of the situation by the local United States Attorney’s office.

yoopergoblue

March 7th, 2011 at 7:48 PM ^

It would be great for him  to found guility of at least one of the infractions listed there.  I really don't see it happening though.  He is as Teflon as they come.

aaamichfan

March 7th, 2011 at 8:26 PM ^

I'm curious how the US attorney found out. For something that generally seems like small potatoes, there must be some loose lips in and around Columbus.

Darth Tressel

March 7th, 2011 at 8:31 PM ^

The US attorney thing comes from when they originally raided the tattoo shop then found the sports memoribilia. They were investigating something else entirely and came across whatever was traded for tats. Then they contacted OSU about where it all came from, then the NCAA got involved.

Bodogblog

March 7th, 2011 at 9:50 PM ^

Never good when your university, largest city, and entire state feel like they're being pulled into a Jake Gittes narrative
<br>BTW this would make Tressel the sleezy old guy sleeping with his own daughter.

justingoblue

March 7th, 2011 at 8:37 PM ^

 

“I think we all have a little sensor within us, ‘Well, I’m not sure if I should be doing this,’” Tressel said. “And then sometimes it gets overridden by what you think your necessity is. …”

-Jim Tressel

If this case is true, that quote is the height of irony, and I for one would love to see him explain how he had any moral standing to say that at all.

Rasmus

March 8th, 2011 at 7:57 AM ^

No moral standing required. Happens to him all the time. His uncertainty sensor gets overridden by what he thinks his necessity is.

I love this part of that quote: "I'm not sure if I should be doing this" -- he doesn't think they were sure they shouldn't be doing this?

elaydin

March 7th, 2011 at 8:41 PM ^

Is this the same anonymous source that said Tressel was going to retire after the Sugar Bowl?  An anonymous source said another anonymous person told Tressel that players were selling stuff.   Yahoo Sports usually does better than that.

Darth Tressel

March 7th, 2011 at 8:50 PM ^

They only said according to a source. If they have been investigating this since the story originally broke before the Sugar Bowl and still only have the one source, I really think it's going to come down to a "he said/he said argument. Now if more come out about this I'll probably tear up like Dwayne Wade. Until that happens though, it's some guy against Jim Tressel and I'm ok with that.

justingoblue

March 7th, 2011 at 8:53 PM ^

"Jim Tressel was informed that several Buckeyes players were selling memorabilia more than eight months before the school claims it was made aware of the scheme, a two-month Yahoo! Sports investigation has found."

I'm not about to jump on Tressel based on one article in one publication (that they say was originally based on one unnamed source), but they do say they independently investigated.

Darth Tressel

March 7th, 2011 at 9:03 PM ^

I can understand that but it comes down to whether anyone else says anything whether it is true or not. If it's coming from one guy only, I can't see OSU being in much trouble whether OSU found anything or not. Like I said one person against a university means the odds are stacked against that one person of anything remotely scandalous coming out from the university.

justingoblue

March 7th, 2011 at 9:06 PM ^

I don't disagree at all, I was only pointing out that Yahoo! doesn't seem to be writing this story in a fluff "we heard this from one person" kind of way.

Whether that actually means anything or not is anyones guess, and you're probably correct about it being an uphill battle to prove, even if true.

Darth Tressel

March 7th, 2011 at 9:17 PM ^

Yea the only thing that has me worried about this is that it is coming from Yahoo. After the multiple year investigation into USC, Yahoo has become a more credible source than ESPN, which probably wasn't difficult. But once again, if they don't have anyone else or any documents saying exactly that with a picture of Tressel with a vest on giving a thumbs up while signing said documents, this case is closed whether it's true or not. 

The very best that can come of this from an OSU standpoint is that it simply looks bad on the university and more people start to hate them (can anyone outside of Ohio, hate Ohio State anymore?)  

Blazefire

March 7th, 2011 at 9:15 PM ^

Does OSU know anything about the dealings and lives and minds of private citizens which may be closely connected with the story? Suppose one of Tressel's friends, in whom he had confided his prior knowledge of the situation, had misgivings about things getting worse for OSU the longer it was concealed, and decided to come forward. Why do you need to contact OSU? Does OSU have some knowledge about Tressel Friend X that influences the situation?

The FannMan

March 7th, 2011 at 11:31 PM ^

Didn't we all blast the Freep for not making a serious effort to get Rich Rod and Michigan's story before they printed Practice Gate? 

Please in no way view this as a defense of OSU or The Vest.  I am sure they are guilty and will recive a really mean slap on the wrist from the NCAA.  I mean, its not like they had guys practice 20 minutes too long or anything like that!

Needs

March 8th, 2011 at 8:39 AM ^

The most powerful takedown of the Freep story is that they didn't understand, or didn't make clear, the way that the NCAA counts practice hours, ie the distinction between countable and non-countable hours.

That and the misleading ways that they buttressed their story with misleading interviews with two freshmen.

FreddieMercuryHayes

March 7th, 2011 at 9:25 PM ^

Wouldn't contacting OSU ahead of time kind of defeat the purpose of investigative journalism?  It would give them time to circle the wagons so to speak.  The reporters probably put all their ducks in a line, and then let the school know they were running with this story and gave them a chance to comment.  Not every news story requires that the subject be involved with the investigation of said story.

FreddieMercuryHayes

March 7th, 2011 at 9:41 PM ^

They may not need it.  What if the source contacted Tressel personally and Tressel acknowledged the correspondance back somehow?  As long as the reporters have some kind of proof from the source, you wouldn't need any documents from the school for that.  A personal corespondance of some sort, especially of such a delicate matter are not likely to generate offical documentation at the school.

Blazefire

March 7th, 2011 at 9:43 PM ^

Jim Tressel's head?

If Tressel knew about it, and did nothing, which the story alleges, that means he did nothing including telling anybody in the department, emailing anybody, or making any records of it. The way they're going to get him in this one is getting people who were there to come out and say it, and say when these things happened, and verify that Tressel was there at the time.

They're not going to uncover any secret document that says "lets keep this hush hush" from the OSU athletic department, because it's not there. INstead, they'll get a seller of the merchandise and the buyer to both say, "We talked about some memorabilia and set a price on X day. I asked/was assured that Coach Tressel said it was okay to buy/sell this stuff."

 

Urban Warfare

March 7th, 2011 at 9:56 PM ^

Phone records?  Texts?  Did Tressel call/text any of his players right after he was allegedly tipped off?  If so, was the call unusually long or short compared to other conversations?  If there was a text, what did it say? 

 

The fact that Wetzel et al aren't saying anything about documentation says a lot to me about the quality of their investigation.  They keep referring to "a source," but that's all they seem to have.  Where's the smoking gun? 

Wetzel seems to have had it in for Tressel for a while, and Robinson is in Chicago, the same place that the rumors about Tressel retiring after the Sugar Bowl came from.  Remember how that turned out?  Pat Fitzgerald is just doing some negative recruiting, IMEO. 

FreddieMercuryHayes

March 7th, 2011 at 10:02 PM ^

First, you would need a subpoena to get into phone records for any personal phones.  As far as a school issued one, I'm not sure if that falls under the FOIA.  And while texts may be of some use if they could get them, call records would be useless because there is no context whatsoever as to what the contact was about.  That is unless the government has secretly started recording all of our calls.  In which case we have bigger problems.  And also means I'm moving into my grandpa's old fallout shelter for the next 30 years.

Seth9

March 8th, 2011 at 2:18 AM ^

The source could be from OSU. Which would explain why they ran with it. Of course, if that were the case, you'd think they'd say something along the lines of "a source in the OSU athletic department said...", but there are reasons to leave out that information. Granted, this possibility is unlikely, but it shouldn't be discounted.

Also:

Wetzel seems to have had it in for Tressel for a while, and Robinson is in Chicago, the same place that the rumors about Tressel retiring after the Sugar Bowl came from. Remember how that turned out? Pat Fitzgerald is just doing some negative recruiting, IMEO.

Just because a false rumor about Tressel came out of Chicago does not mean that every reporter in Chicago is automatically suspect. Furthermore, I sincerely doubt that Yahoo Sports is going to make a major accusation against one of the most successful coaches in the country based on something coming from another Big Ten school (unless the guy used to work at OSU). Because that would destroy Yahoo Sports' credibility which is the biggest asset they have.

Urban Warfare

March 7th, 2011 at 9:48 PM ^

Three hours still isn't much time to respond to this sort of story.  This is a dirty trick that reporters use when they want to make a story sound worse.  Reporters do it so they can say "X refused/declined to comment on the allegations" or "X failed to return our call," and thus make it sound like X is hiding something. 

BlueNote

March 7th, 2011 at 11:11 PM ^

OSU finds out in April that violations occurred, but says it found out in December.

OSU says it was only given 30 minutes to respond to the story, but actually they were told 3 hours ahead of publication.

Anyone else see a pattern here?

bronxblue

March 7th, 2011 at 9:35 PM ^

Also, it would be in OSU's best interests to feign innocence in this circumstances because they know Yahoo is not going to out any sources at the university who may have spoken to them.  Thus, OSU can play it up as being uncorroborated outside parties even though it is highly likely somebody reasonably high up at that school knew this was coming.  I know, pure conjecture on my part, but if the UM staff had an idea the Freep article was coming (and that was a hack job), something like this, from a reputable source like Yahoo, isn't going to sneak up on anyone.

COB

March 8th, 2011 at 10:04 AM ^

even if the source comes forward publicly, from what the article said, he verbally conveyed the information to Tressel.  So...good luck proving that.  It certainly doesn't look good but there would have to be some bullet proof evidence of Tressel's knowledge for the NCAA to do anything substantive.   If there is...well that could be the end of the JT era.  Otherwise, just a black eye for Tressel, nothing another NC wouldn't smooth over.  I realize how bad that might sound but it's the truth.

J.Swift

March 7th, 2011 at 8:42 PM ^

When we need their investigative skills?  Michael?  Drew?  Maybe those tatto employees were not following good practice rules . . .