UAUM

March 11th, 2011 at 12:28 PM ^

Cicero said when he asked Tressel to keep the e-mails confidential, he meant that he would not go to the media or the public, not that Tressel couldn't inform the school or launch his own investigation.

That's awesome.

MGoShoe

March 11th, 2011 at 1:02 PM ^

..."Switch to plain text editor"

2. Type <blockquote> at the beginning of the appropriate text

3. Type </blockquote> at the end of the appropriate text

4. Click on "Switch to rich text editor"

5. Delete any extraneous carriage returns

6. Click on Save

7. Enjoy your masterfully formatted comment

Captain

March 11th, 2011 at 1:57 PM ^

He shouldn't have to ask that question.  At the end of the day, at most, the request to keep the information confidential amounts to just that:  a request by this emailer who happens to be an attorney to not tell other people. 

This request must be weighed against his personal relationships with his players, his contractual obligations to his school, and his provisional responsibilities to the NCAA. 

While an attorney may have an ethical duty of confidentiality under certain circumstances, an attorney's request to a football coach to keep something he's learned confidential does not generate any legal, ethical, or otherwise cognizable obligation that I'm aware of (attorney speaking) beyond simply complying with the request of a friend.

And if Tressel sincerely couldn't navigate the waters between not jeopardizing the federal investigation for unrelated drug trafficking while still fulfilling his obligations to his players, school and the NCAA, then I've been giving him far too much credit for too many years.

jackrobert

March 11th, 2011 at 2:55 PM ^

It wasn't the first thing Tressel asked because Cicero didn't ask for confidentiality in the first email.  That's why Tressel's story is obviously BS.

There are major problems with Tressel's story even if you set aside this obvious one.  Tressel's story (which OSU has swallowed hook, line and sinker) is that he didn't forward the emails to OSU's administration and legal team because he was concerned about preserving the confidentiality of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.  This was supposedly Tressel's only motivation.  Never mind that the emails did not come from a federal prosecutor or, in the case of the first one, even a guy who identified himself as an attorney.

At any rate, even if you accept the notion that Tressel viewed Cicero's emails as a confidential request from a lawyer (as opposed to a helpful fan who happened to be a lawyer), Tressel's alleged motivation is obviously BS because:

  1. Tressel knew that OSU's administration and lawyers would not immediately announce to the world the potential violations without calling the federal prosecutors to make sure they weren't screwing up an ongoing criminal investigation.

     
  2. Tressel knew that OSU's lawyers could work with federal investigators and, if necessary, the NCAA to keep the ongoing criminal investigation a secret while at the same time addressing the potential violations.

     
  3. Tressel knew that anyone who was truly acting as an attorney would pass this information along to someone in OSU's legal department--not the head football coach.

Tressel's story stinks to high heaven and anyone with a brain knows it.  Michigan fired Steve Fisher because he lied about initializing some documents giving Ed Martin free tickets.  Fisher's story didn't pass the smell test, and when UM caught him in a lie, even a minor one, they fired him.  OSU is choosing to believe Tressel's BS story--and for that they should fry.

FreddieMercuryHayes

March 11th, 2011 at 1:00 PM ^

What a surprise.  All the more reason to not investigate or sit the players.  They would have been fucked.  As much as we like to rip on Pryor, he's still a good QB, and they had little QB depth last year.

4godkingandwol…

March 11th, 2011 at 1:05 PM ^

... Is this Cicero guy also the Yahoo source?  I don't recall seeing that anywhere.  If he is not, then that would mean somebody else had knowledge of this, as well, right?  My timeline is all messed up.

4godkingandwol…

March 11th, 2011 at 3:19 PM ^

...wouldn't that mean that Tressel did share the emails with others?  Or did the source become privy to this information as research continued more recently.  The most recent time Tressel lied about having knowledge, did other people in the AD know?  Or, did he lie, more investigation occur, then he admitted the truth (or at least the part of the truth we now know). 

Just trying to figure out how much the AD knew and when.

readyourguard

March 11th, 2011 at 1:17 PM ^

Am I missing something?

Cicero did what I would expect anyone with this type of information would do.   He emailed the head coach to give him a heads up.  I could understand the death threats if he went directly to Yahoo and failed to tip off the coach or AD.

Of course, I might be thinking this too much....which is clearly NOT what they do at Ohio State.

Wolverine 73

March 11th, 2011 at 2:05 PM ^

This entire discussion of confidentiality by Tressel is a red herring.  The initial email said nothing about confidentiality.  He had an obligation to act on that information and did nothing.  The second email asked him to treat the synopsis of the interview with Rife confidential: "I had Eddie Rife in my office for an hour and a half last night.  What I tell you is confidential."  It said nothing along the lines of "you can't tell anyone that something is going on with these players."  Not to mention that, while there is a basis for attorney/client confidentiality, and source/reporter confidentiality, there is no legal basis for former jock/coach confidentiality, and Tressel's contractual obligations cannot be rendered ineffective by some tipster saying "this is confidential."  Finally, if you expect confidentiality, you get the pledge before you divulge the information.