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.

The FannMan

March 7th, 2011 at 11:36 PM ^

From his name is a Michigan fan trapped in Ohio.  I mean, imagine that!  You have to forgive him (or her?) for occassional lapses into ALL CAPS ANGAR every now and again.

It's ok BlueInOhio, let it out . . . just let it all out. 

Blazefire

March 7th, 2011 at 9:29 PM ^

I just had a horrible, horrible thought!

Say this all turns out to be true, and in order to try and spare themselves MASSIVE NCAA penalties (And don't kid yourselves, this would be huge), OSU says, "We didn't know ANYTHING about it! It's all his fault! *Points at Tressel*", and cans him.

Yes, OSU probably takes a big hit and falls off their tower and we can beat them. Yay. Problem.

We never actually beat Tressel to knock him down. He defeated himself. Then, for the rest of the eternity of all time FOREVER, we have to put up with every friggin Buckstache on the planet saying turning Tressel into some sort of a martyr. "All praise the indefeatable Tressel! Just one loss against M while he was still establishing his program!" "You only started winning again because of the penalties! Paper champions!" etc, etc, etc.

I hate OSU, but generally, they are less annoying than many Sparties. ... They won't be after all this happens. IF this happens, we will never really beat them again, according to them. There'll always be some bullshit excuse.

FreddieMercuryHayes

March 7th, 2011 at 9:37 PM ^

Who cares?  If this is really true, and the NCAA does actually do something, and it is actually deservingly big, then all the whinning in the world wouldn't matter.  Their arguments wouldn't have a leg to stand on, because all of the "winning" can be called in to question because of cheating.  They could piss and moan, but no one would believe them (including themselves), and all they would have is the crushing knowledge that their golden savior was nothing but a fraud.  I would have no problem stepping on their throat after that.

pharker

March 7th, 2011 at 10:22 PM ^

 

...for OSU coaches who beat Michigan to go down in flames. IIRC, Tressel's just the fourth OSU head coach with a winning record against Michigan. The first three left dishonorably. Frances Schmidt beat U-M 4 times in a row, then lost the next three, then quit before OSU could fire him, moved West and apparently ended up a whimpering mess. We all know why Woody was fired. And Earl Bruce was 4-4, and would have been 4-5, except that he got fired a week before the U-M game and his team sent him off with a win. 

So it's not out of the question that something bad could befall a guy with a winning record against Michigan. 

wiper

March 7th, 2011 at 10:00 PM ^

revokes osu's season, i for one will remember the last game being UM 44 OSU 12. 

gonna start remembering it the way i want to remember it now.

justingoblue

March 7th, 2011 at 10:36 PM ^

Both are cases where the NCAA said the coaches/schools should have known what went on. That's why penalties were so severe in both cases.

In this case, Tressel would have known what went on (if the story is true).

Zone Left

March 7th, 2011 at 10:17 PM ^

Yahoo! Sports may be the final bastion of actual investigative journalism in sports. ESPN has decided to go the way of the irrelevant sound bite and SI is quickly becoming irrelevant. If Yahoo! hires Andy Staples, watch out, he and Dr Saturday will be the only interesting MSM (sort of) reads for college football on the net.

This was my feeling before dropping the shoe on OSU. SI's big breaking news story this offseason was an expose showing that college athletes commit crimes at a rate similar to the population at-large. ESPN has some awesome movies about the past, like Pony Excess and what I hope to be an amazing Fab Five documentary, but that's it. I've quit watching SportsCenter.

FreddieMercuryHayes

March 7th, 2011 at 11:23 PM ^

I have a hard time believing this statement.  Isn't hating all things associated with the schools you hate regardless of rationality part of fandom?  This is why I choose to believe that Tressel is the reason my childhood dog died.  I hate him every day for it.

dosleches

March 7th, 2011 at 10:30 PM ^

Is this even a problem under NCAA rules?  Do you have to report known violations ASAP?

Unfortunately, it seems like something that will become a non-story like... tomorrow.

Darth Tressel

March 7th, 2011 at 10:43 PM ^

It's absolutely a huge problem if true because if the raid by the FBI never happened and the memorabilia wasn't found but it was still known by the coaches or just Tressel it shows that they weren't going to say anything about this. You can't keep your mouth shut on something until you're caught then explain what happen and expect the same consequences for your actions.

tn wolverine

March 7th, 2011 at 11:06 PM ^

I believe they really frown upon lying to or omitting things from the NCAA during an investigation. This is what has Bruce Pearl ( basketball coach) in so much trouble at Tennessee. He had a cookout he knew was against the rules at his house and told the players what he was doing was illegal so don't say anything about it. Then when the NCAA showed him pictures that were taken at his home and asked if he knew where they were taken he said no. Then they showed him a picture of a lady in his home and asked if he knew who it was again he replied no. It was the wife of one of his assistants. He was turned in by Aaron Craft  (yes that Aaron Craft). The SEC made Pearl sit out the first 8 SEC games this season, but the school expects there to be much more piled on when the NCAA investigation is complete. Omitting things or lying to the NCAA has serious consequences and if they have any consistency Tressel will get smacked down. 

Urban Warfare

March 7th, 2011 at 10:40 PM ^

Bottom line:  As someone said over at Eleven Warriors:

"There are many coaches I could see this easily from. While some of Vestie is certainly facade, the core of what is presented is true.

Bluntly stated, he isn't that damn stupid."

FreddieMercuryHayes

March 7th, 2011 at 10:44 PM ^

Honestly, this is the reason why I have trouble believing the story is true.  Did Tressel want an NC run so bad that he would try and sweep it under the rug and hope it would go away?  He has to know that in today's day and age, things like that don't just go away.  Information sticks around forever now.  Something this big cannot be easily explained away, and he would know that.

MfaninOH

March 7th, 2011 at 10:45 PM ^

There is NO way Jim Tressel would sacrifice his legacy, reputation, etc. for some nonsense like that.  Never believe writers who won't name sources.