Fire Jim Tressel
[Ed: I said on WTKA this morning that I didn't think this should cost Tressel his job, but I changed my mind upon reading the Hayes piece that contained details of exactly what Tressel did in the months between April and now.]
So I was pretty pissed yesterday. It was one of those moods that's obscure until suddenly it isn't, and the moment of clarity came when one of the Eleven Warriors guy pinged me on IM, suggesting that I must be happy today. I responded that I'd be happy if Ohio State's prospects for the near future had actually been affected… and there it was.
Jim Tressel was dishonest and his team benefited to the tune of a Big Ten co-championship and a BCS bowl victory; Ohio State's response to this was to suspend him for games against Akron and Equivalent. Ask Georgia fans who watched their team stumble to 1-3 start absent the services of AJ Green how that feels:
As a partisan, my immediate reaction to the complete bullshit which emanated from last night’s Ohio State presser was a question: what was Jim Tressel’s first thought upon hearing the news that A. J. Green had been suspended for the first four games of the 2010 season? “Suckers“? “There but for the grace of God go I”?
I'm a partisan too but a couple months ago I went on the Bucknuts podcast and told them I though Tressel was a top five coach who had created a problem I never thought I'd have as a Michigan blogger: lack of material. I bought the Senator act wholly. My biggest complaint was that he was boring beyond belief.
I've now reverted to default partisan conspiracy-mongering and hatred. It's hard not to when the mea culpa press conference features Tressel lying his ass off about emails now in the public domain, forcing out stumbling answers that are such obvious crap that not even the state of Ohio thinks Tressel got what was coming to him:
Even the deepest red section of the country looked at OSU playing see-no-evil to a BCS bowl victory and said "uh-oh." In no way is OSU's response proportional to the crime. That's what pisses me off. Michigan eventually proposed penalties that were reasonable given precedence and were accepted essentially as-is by the NCAA. (The committee added a third year of probation, as they are wont to do.) Ohio State proposed functionally nothing for a far worse offense. Twelve coaches have violated the NCAA bylaw Tressel did in April, and eleven were fired.
What's more, they spent the press conference announcing their gentle wrist massage lying. Tressel invented a fiction about how he couldn't look into the matter because of "confidentiality" that absolutely would not prevent him from interviewing the accused or finding out whose frickin' names were on the pawned memorabilia and then suspending them for the proverbial violation of team rules. This would not have exposed anyone to lethal payback from ruthless drug dealers or whatever, not that anyone was actually in danger.
Ohio State's trying to pull a fast one, and the NCAA should hammer them. A show-cause for Tressel is just as viable as the one widely speculated to be heading down the pike at Bruce Pearl. Tressel's lies were repeated. OSU's official letter to the NCAA lays it out. As summarized by Matt Hayes:
• Tressel signed a document on Sept. 13, 2010 that said he was not aware of NCAA violations.
• He failed to tell school officials on or around Dec. 9, 2010 about emails he received in April explaining players’ involvement in selling memorabilia.
• He failed to tell school officials about the emails — or his knowledge of players selling memorabilia — when specifically asked on Dec. 16, 2010. He also misled school officials that day when stating he “did not recall from whom he received the tip,” and that he “did not know that any items had been seized.” …
Another significant — and potentially more damning — issue: In a Feb. 8, 2011 interview, Tressel admitted it was “inevitable” that players named in the email had committed NCAA violations and would be ruled ineligible. In other words, Tressel knew the players were ineligible and played them anyway.
Whether it's a lie of omission or commission it's a lie, and Tressel's had a much larger effect on his team than Pearl lying about whether or not Aaron Craft was at his house. It is impossible to believe he did not remember the repeated correspondence from this lawyer. He probably sent it up the chain, making this a department-wide decision, but we have no proof of that. We do have proof that Tressel had at least four opportunities to come clean, starting with the day he got the first credible email from that lawyer, and failed to take any of them. As a result Ohio State won a Big Ten title.
With serious benefits should come serious repercussions; Ohio State's incredibly weak self-sanctions are an insult to the NCAA. If the association doesn't want to make themselves a joke they will come down hard on OSU with a thorough investigation stretching back to 2001 with the potential for vacating multiple years and a show-cause penalty that should make it impossible for OSU to continue employing Tressel as their head coach. That's a punishment that fits a very serious crime in the eyes of the NCAA—eleven of twelve fired before the NCAA had a chance.
The NCAA should use this and the Pearl case as a warning.
by your avatar's hair.
It's a great movie. David Lynch did it while he was still a student.
Tressel comes off as pathetic. JT everyone knows you are lying, please drop all the pretense and own up. The sad part for me is many other HC's around the country would have acted exactly as Tressel has. The pressure put on these coaches to win far out weighs the expectations to act with integrity.
It takes a ridiculous amount of disrespect for the NCAA and, well, the collective intelligence of everyone watching for JT to have lied as he did. It's incredible that he or the tUofOSU staff really believed that sort of PR would play out in the public domain. They had to know that the public foment, particularly after the Cam Newton thing and the TPryor eligibility issues, would be remarkable.
Then again, they're from Ohio State and perhaps reading + comprehension was just too much.
End of the day, people can tolerate cheating but they cannot tolerate a cheater who lies *after* they've been caught.
The "nothing to see here" defense sometimes works well in politics even in the face of partisan adversaries. I just hope somebody in the NCAA has the stones to pull them all down if the OSU administration doesn't want to take this seriously. I'm sceptical whether they are going to get hammered as they so clearly deserve. Hopefully, this can stay at the top of the news cycle for a long time.
Ugh It is outstanding to me when you look back wn years that he has not had no punishment.
I look forward the NCAA investagtion like a small child looks forward to Christmas.
I continue having a problem with believeing that Tressel didn't talk to OSU's compliance people or Smith and/or Gee before the story broke last December. Either the guy is incredibly dumb or incredibly deceitful or maybe both. Kind of wonder if he isn't the sacrificial lamb of sorts. Due to OSU's success on the field, which would give him some degree of teflon, it seems plausible Tressel was asked to take a hit to protect someone else. He had prior NCAA issues at two schools and had to be aware of NCAA reporting requirements. Maybe I have been watching too much TV.
If you don't know what to do and you used to be an athletic director, you're ignorant and shouldn't be the CEO of a major college football program. If you did know and chose to cover it up, you're a scumbag and a liar and shouldn't be the CEO of a major college football program.
but what's interesting is that the Ray Isaac thing (1988-1991) happened before he was AD (1994 until his move to O$U).
Of course, given what we know now about Tressel's tenure at O$U, my suspicion is that as both coach and AD, he simply had more opportunity to cover up whatever else he was doing there. As coach alone, he couldn't hide it all.
They're already in a ton of trouble for covering up and witholding information. You think they're going to compound that now? If they haven't come totally clean now, they're seriously flirting with the death penalty.
Many in the NCAA have all but said, "We'll never do the Death Penalty again". They have seen that even 20 years later SMU has not recovered. Scholarships, fines, forfeits, and loss of postseason are it from here on out.
My guess is that tOSU will see all of the above. I am particularly gleeful that Pryor and company will now also miss the NFL draft further complicating things for a guy that only had an NFL body, but not the talent or aptitude.
What I wouldn't give to see Ohio State with the Death Penalty.
So deserving.
I look forward to The Game too much for it to go away.
That's not really true. The NCAA almost gave Bama the death penalty in the Albert Means case. And SMU hasn't recovered for the same reason it cheated, they don't have the institutional cache (private school only 6,000 total undergrads) to be super competitive.
Other, what if there were no hard evidence, such as emails. What if Tressel walked down the hall, sat down with his printed copy of one or more emails and had a conversation. All you need to do is have all parties deny the conversation took place. Of course, that suggests that Tressel would be willing to blemish his name and take the hit, which I have more than a little bit of trouble accepting. On the other hand, I find it virtually inconceivable that the head coach of one of the major football programs in the US wouldn't immediately consult his compliance people.
when a reporter asked him at the press conference if he had forwarded the emails.
This has got to come down hard on OSU. Lack of intitutional control.
UNLESS, some law enforcement agency says we told JT not to say anything. I read a rumor on 11 Warriors yesterday that such a statement would break yesterday, but it never did. Thta's the only thing that could save them.
Come on people, all I want is an 8 game suspension of the coach, i.e. he can't do anything with the program until October 29, 2011, and a vacation of all of their wins last season. Is that too much to ask?
I thought when the question of forwarding emails came up, Smith wouldn't let the question be answered.
If you watch the video at 24:05, you can see that he says uh-huh and shakes his head up and down. It is debatable whether or not he was answering affirmatively before Smith cuts him off or whether he was just listening to the question, but it sure looks like he did it.
http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17300&id=758192
Just going to the site from that school down south makes me feel dirty.
First: there is no OSU logo's anywhere.
Seconded: I had Metallica's One stuck in my head the whole time.
Now the world is gone, I'm just one.
Oh God help me.
Hold my breath as I wish for death.
Oh please God, Help me.
by saying "uh-huh" and then Smith cut him off before he could go any further.
He does say "uh-huh" - unless the words were merely an acknowledgment of comprehending the question asked of him, it certainly does lead to other questions.
I just don't get it. If the emails were forwarded, that will come out eventually. If not, simply say "no" and be done with it. If emails were forwarded to the right people, then he wouldn't be accused of concealment. Am I missing something?
He used ineligible players all of last year. They should lose all games for 2010, and the BCS victory (sorry still haven't beaten the SEC). Because of JT's actions they should lose scholarships over the next 4 years and be ineligible for any bowl appearance for the next 4 years. The B1G should also restrict them from playing for a B1G championship for 2 years.
Then leave it up to TSIO ... if they fire Tressel then the penalties are cut in half. Keep him and suffer the penalty.
C'mon 347 self reported NCAA violations and now this ??? Game OVER !!
Go Blue !
"Tressel signed a document on Sept. 13, 2010 that said he was not aware of NCAA violations."
This guy does this on his tax returns he goes to jail. From the way this thing is going it sounds like Tressel may not be long for tOSU.
I was kind of hoping this was the straw that would break the camel's back for him.
I'm convinced the NCAA will puff out their cheeks, wag their finger, and add three games to Tressel's suspension, basically further castrating themselves of any perceived power they had left. Until some program gets another "BAN HAMMER" type punishment for repeatedly flaunting the rules of the sport, the NCAA will continue in its impotence until they have no power left to act.
The only punishment in Ohio that will actually make people sit up and notice would be no football at all. Until then, as long as they can keep playing and winning, they won't care what the head of the program does. What's baffling to me is the extreme poles of arrogance or denial/deflection about it in Columbus from the fan base. It's either "I still don't believe it, there has to be more." or "Yeah we cheat, and what are you going to do about it. If you do something, you'll kill a cash cow and we'll take our ball and go home."
How is this not " ...some program gets another "BAN HAMMER" type punishment for repeatedly flaunting the rules of the sport..."
Certainly seems like a perfect case of a program repeatedly flaunting their skirting of the rules at the NCAA without a smoking gun for the NCAA to nail them on, and here it is. They finally have their smoking gun. A sawwed off shotgun, at that. They need to take action and make this their landmark for which future investigations hinge. If they don't, the NCAA may not survive in its current form.
How can someone with his experience level actually think he was going to get away with this? This is such an unconscionable error, one that he had plenty of time to think about during the offseason before pressing onward. It doesn't matter if these were his two best players. He had to know this was a bill that had an awfully high probability of coming due.
Which leads to my question: is Tressel a junkie? "Successful" junkies (of any kind - drugs, gambling, alcohol, sex addiction) tend to be able to hide their junkiness for a while. They get away with it and do more and eventually things get so out of control that they're snorting coke off the towel rod in the bathroom when their teenage kid walks in on them. As compiled by Brian earlier and referenced above, this is not the first smoke emanating from potential fire on Tressel's watch. It just happens that with those e-mails this smoke comes straight from the gun itself. And Tressel left his prints all over it.
He really was on top of the world. Leading the only significant program in the third most talent-rich state. Big Ten titles and BCS bowls and top recruiting classes. He evidently even had the president of the university in his back pocket. Tressel is now college football's Tiger Woods. He pushed this thing as far as he could while still getting away with it. He should have blown his own whistle as soon as that e-mail came through. Any resonable person would have seen the inevitability of the situation. But he obviously thought he could get away with it. Are we to believe that getting out of jeopardy scot-free in the past is not a factor in his decision to ignore the obvious?
They say never trust a junkie. That's hard to do if you don't know they're a junkie in the first place. Sometimes you need proof to stop enabling. I can't imagine the NCAA will try to do anything less than a harsh intervention. Not anymore at least. Dude hasn't even accepted that he has a problem yet. Someone needs to sit him down and tell him what's what. It's clear that the peopel close to him aren't going to do it.
I have more confidence that the NCAA will bring the hammer than I did when this story first broke. They surprised me with how hard they hit USC, and this is a more severe violation (from an institutional standpoint). There is too much public attention to ignore, and too many people are acknowledging that this is a test case where the NCAA has to prove their worth.
I'm not a betting man, but I think that OSU is going to get hit hard. I also think that the Big Ten will not circle the wagons for them. They might not hammer them, but they won't try to defend them either.
To me at least, it looks even worse now that the players got to play in the Sugar Bowl. I think the ncaa was planning on suspending them for the Sugar Bowl but OSU, Delaney and the Sugar Bowl stepped in and got the suspensions lifted for that game. The fact that Tressell knew about the misconduct and lied and it helped the players not get suspended for the Sugar Bowl makes it look like they fulled a fast one on the ncaa, imo.
I don't view it quite that way, because those guys got still suspended for five games the following year, which includes the Big Ten opener. Considering what was public knowledge at the time, that's not very lenient. At the time, many people thought that was the end of Pryor's college career. Plus, I can't blame the NCAA and the Big Ten for not wanting to tarnish a bowl game when an alternative punishment is available.
Just leads to Urban Meyer being the coach for the next 10 years?
I think Meyer is done, at least for the next couple of years. Regardless, if he comes back, I think his manic drive is gone for good, and that's what made him great.
It'll be a sign that Michigan is officially cursed.
We already beat Urban Meyer.
Twice
We did?
We beat Bowling Green in 2000, and Meyer's first year there was 2001.
We beat Utah in 2002, and Meyer's first year there was 2003.
Bring him on. We beat him once in his only bowl loss as a HC, and we can beat him again.
and they''ll do it for the next 10 years then.
offering RR a job as their Offensive Coordinator.
What you program is being investigated for major violation which will lead to postseason and recruiting bans? Sign me up.
They're going to put a organ grinder monkey in there until this shitshow is over. Think 4 to 5 years.
When all of this first came out, I was rather sympathetic to Tressel's position. Not so much anymore. I agree that he really ought to be on his way out of Columbus, and that that still shouldn't be enough to satisfy the NCAA's hunger.
I'm fine with the outrage directed at Tressel, but wasn't it a couple of months ago people had evidence Cam Newton was shopped around to other schools for big money and nothing much came of it? I'll believe that the hammer will fall when you show me an NCAA with some testicular fortitude. That said, Tressel will probably step down any day now.
Yeah, but Newton said he wasn't involved at all and, thus far, there is no documentation out there proving otherwise. I suppose Tressel could say his dad got the e-mails and deleted them? :)
oh there is proof. It is just being withheld due to a FBI investigation into auburn's trustees with regards to voter fraud and money laundering. In the academic circle, there are a lot of rumors going around about the leadership of their university.Once the FBI is finished with Auburn, Newton is going down, just like the Fab five situation.
I can't weight until the charges come down in that one, I have a hunch its goint to be a real time 30 for 30 masterpiece.
What the guy above me said.
The NCAA doesn't have proof yet in the Auburn case, but that is expected to change. Based on our experiences with the Fab Five and USC with Reggie Bush, this stuff takes time and documentation.
It's been clear to me since that shaky presser that Tressel was probably done as TSIO coach (though I agree he'll resign rather than be fired). Once I read the e-mails there was no doubt . I'm paranoid enough to believe the presser was a stall tactic, and a reaction to the Yahoo story being published. They simply can't be obtuse enough to believe 2 games was enough: it's a placeholder. Tressel will never coach against M again.
to be disappointed.
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