Does Sarniak now totally change the OSU investigation?
I unfortunately have been ill lately and havent been able to follow this story all that well, but wanted to get the feel from some people on if they believe this is going to bring up even more trouble? I would imagine that he will change this whole investigation and the NCAA will now uncover all the "extras" that OSU players have been receiving for years. Anyways I just wanted to see what the general thought was about all of this. Thanks for any feed back Go Blue!
I imagine that if it is just the coach, then only the coach will be punished, but if he had sent the stuff to the Compliance dept or the AD...then it becomes a lack of instutional control and the school gets punished.
this is what i believe too - that the admin did get the e-mails and sat on them (or covered them up). this is why tressel has to be the sacrificial lamb - to avoid the big ban hammer for lack of institutional control.
osu has to say that it was all tressel.
Thanks, this make sense. Just trying to look at it from the OSU side...excuse me now I have to shower with a Brillo Pad.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:22 AM ^
but I think some of the ncaa violations at YSU were because Tressell/YSU failed to properly investigate possible violations - the same thing that Tressell did with the Tat5 incident.
I think this is true.
I remember reading a quote from the YSU QB where he said he went to Tressel after he knew he had been caught and wanted to talk with Tress about the situation, and Tressel said something along the lines of, "Stop. I don't want to know what you know." So it was less of Tressel actively breaking the rules, and more of a "turning a blind eye" situation.
Here is the quote from the article:
<blockquote>Later that year, Isaac called Tressel. At the time, Isaac was under investigation by the FBI for tampering with the lone juror who had refused to convict Monus in his first corporate fraud trial. Facing 17 years in prison unless he squealed on Monus, his sugar daddy, Isaac wanted Tressel's advice.
"This is what I know ... " Isaac told Tressel.
His mentor, as Isaac describes Tressel, cut him off before details flowed.
"I don't want to know what you know," Tressel said. "Just tell them the truth."</blockquote>
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=1920867
Edit: HTML Fail
March 28th, 2011 at 10:25 AM ^
NCAA investigators interviewed Tressel in February as soon as OSU made an initial report. I'm not sure whether the investigation is ongoing or whether they're evaluating sanctions at this point.
March 28th, 2011 at 10:34 AM ^
Way I see it, best-case scenario (as in, OSU gets off lightest) is that the email to Sarniak shows that Tressel undertook a plan to cover everything up as best he could - from last April all the way up to that farce of a press conference and beyond. That's a minimum. The email to Sarniak, if nothing else, is clear proof that Tressel is a serial liar and was still doing so at the press conference when he pulled that lame-ass and obviously false "confidentiality" excuse.
Armageddon scenario is that the NCAA pulls the Sarniak string and the whole sweater vest unravels, but that's really just saying "you never know." Because truthfully, you don't. But whatever happens will probably be a lot closer to the first paragraph than the second.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:10 AM ^
After getting away with Clarett, I'm still trying to hold back and take a "I'll believe it when I see it" approach to Ohio State. Getting away with the whole Clarett thing still boggles my mind to this day, and no one will ever convince me that he wasn't paid off to keep his mouth shut after the story broke.
If the NCAA lets them skate this with barely any punishment above the self imposed sanctions, it will be the biggest in your face OSU is too big to fail and we don't give a shit by the NCAA that I've ever witnessed, which they pretty much already accomplished by letting them play in the Sugar Bowl to begin with. With Cam Newton there was an ignorance plea, deniability and zero paper trail (apparently), there is none of that in this case.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:23 AM ^
How could they find nothing fishy about a car dealership loaning a Denali to an unemployed kid with no income source for a test drive? Not to mention the test drive being for 48 hours and involving out of state travel. I would need proof of one incident of that happening to a regular OSU students (non athlete) in the same financial siyuation. Otherwise it's an improper benefit to an athlete.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:38 AM ^
I am also bothered that Jim Delaney has not made any statement or the B1G has not launched it's own investigation.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:40 AM ^
He did make a statement. It sounded a lot like Gee, but it was a statement. I don't have the text with me but the effect was that they will not consider suspending Tressel like the SEC did with Pearl.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:54 AM ^
It's a little disappointing that the Big Ten is giving up the - for lack of a better phrase - moral high ground on situations like this, especially to the SEC.
I wouldn't expect Delany to say anything different.
If he could sweep this whole mess under the rug for OSU, he would.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:31 AM ^
I like to think that the Clarett situation was one of the last see-no-evil incidents that the NCAA allowed, and the publicity from that was one of the links in the chain of events that caused them to actually punish USC with something in the vicinity of what they deserved. The NCAA does seem to be looking into things a little more harshly these days, although I certainly can't blame anyone for believing that was a one-time thing and they'll go back to the see-no-evil days with this one. It's why I'm limiting myself to a few chuckles about the situation for now. At the end of the day I really do think the NCAA will come down hard(ish) and that Tressel has coached his last game at OSU. But I'm not counting my chickens either.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:29 AM ^
he was a friend of pryor's during and prior to his recruitment, which if i recall correctly means he is a family friend, and pryor can accept gifts from him
seems to be in the same vein as jalen knowing ed martin throughout his h.s. days
and we all know how the Jalen/Martin relationship ultimately affected Michigan.
I can't say I want to see the same thing happen to Tressel. I'd much rather try to convince the NCAA to let him stay so we can pound his ass into the ground for a few years.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:31 AM ^
We don't have all of the facts. We don't know exactly what the contents of the communications between Tressel and Sarniak were. We can't even be 100% sure that there were any communications, as the media hasn't seen the alleged emails.
More importantly, I think, we don't know what Tressel's communications with the five players were. The players may have said things to Tressel that reasonably changed his perception of the situation.
Disclaimer: I'm not arguing for the justice or likelihood of any particular outcome here. I'm just saying that we don't know everything.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:40 AM ^
If we knew everything we would be posting the Earl Bruce dancing with J. Edgar Hoover pictures.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:48 AM ^
that occasionally goes to games and I get a letter once a year telling me that I am a booster. In this letter, it details what actions to avoid so that I don't violate NCAA regulations. If I'm a booster, then Sarniak has to be.
The University of Michigan did not self-report any of the violations for basketball. They sat on them for quite a while and denied any wrongdoing for much of the time that it was known that Ed Martin was being investigated by the FBI. This put a dark cloud over AA and other coaches used this to woo recruits away from Michigan. This was another factor in the downfall of Michigan basketball.
Even if they rule that Sarniak was a friend of the family like Jalen with Ed Martin, there are limits on what friends can give to athletes. They can't just do anything they want, because they've been friends for a while.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:56 AM ^
Or do you get those letters just because you buy the occasional game ticket?
March 28th, 2011 at 12:51 PM ^
I'm not a season ticket holder. I think I get the letter, because I'm registered at mgoblue.com and occasionally buy tickets through the website. I was shocked the first time I got that letter, but I guess Michigan was just doing everything they could to make sure no one mistakenly violates NCAA rules.
I've bought tickets from mgoblue but I am not a site member. I've never received a letter like that. I wonder if being a site member is the difference.
I get all kinds of emails with information and sweet deals.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:59 AM ^
This whole story about this advisor to Pryor just reinforces one of RR's biggest blunders as head coach at Michigan. To put all your eggs into getting this kid and having no real back up plan for QB in the first year was a huge mistake. The more that comes out, Pryor was not worth the trouble.
I also find it interesting that RR comes out to say Tressel was NOT one of the guys who negatively recruited against him. Why bother saying that? You just spent 3 years of your life trying to absorb a culture that hates Ohio State, and then you come out and make a weak attempt at defending their crooked coach. It's fine if you just sit there and say nothing at all. You look a little bit like a whiner if you come out and say something to the effect of "See what I was up against while I was at Michigan?!?! How could I beat cheaters?". The thing you don't do is defend this prick you'r esupposed to hate. Clearly RR never intended to adopt any of Michigan culture becuase he forgot it all in an instant. Wrong man for the job.
Your argument doesn't deserve a full rebuttal, since it's not even really an argument, just a dumb comment, but I thought I would share this little tidbit with you:
"I've known Jim Tressel a long time, he's a quality guy."
- Brady Hoke
OMG HE SUPPORTZ TRESSEL HE'S OSU INFULTRATER NOT MICHIGAN MAN.
Please make a reasonable statement next time you comment; coaches always support other coaches. Please give me an example of one time Hoke, RR, Carr, Mo or Bo have said anything other than, "he's a good guy"; "he doesn't negatively recruit, he's a classy guy" or something similar.
Bo and Woody thought of each other as family...Rodriguez was classy and (presumably) honest in what he said.
Definitely; Bo went down to Toledo to try to get Woody to apologize in an effort to save his job. Imagine what people like the one who made the first comment would say about Bo for that.
Bo not a Michigan Man because he attempted to save Woody's job? Imagine the comments if RR tried to save Tressel's job after going 5-4-1 against him.
Bo's record against Woody would have been 6-3-1 had the Mike Lantry field goal been called correctly in 74. But you're right. He did try to help Woody save his job and he defended him the rest of his life. He blamed Woody punching the Clemson player mostly on his blood sugar being out of whack. And he laughed off all the times Woody acted like a maniac throwing sideline markers and punching ABC TV cameras. Bo was absolutely crushed when OSU finally fired him.
We need Ohio State as much as they need us. Bo needed Woody, Woody needed Bo. They were different, but the same.
In this situation though, they just sold their souls to the devil by hiring Tressel. And that payment has come due.