ESPN OTL: Talbott hosted Pryor, Posey and other Buckeyes for golf

Submitted by psychomatt on
At a private countryclub. Multiple times. 2008. Manager of CC thought it was "odd" and called JT's office, but neither Tressel nor compliance followed up.

BlueByTheAlamo

June 10th, 2011 at 3:34 PM ^

And everything he said was corroborated by the course employee who did not want to be named. This isn't quite a smoking gun because we don't know about reimbursements for the cost of a guest that might have been paid by the players, but it's pretty close to establishing knowledge of the administration about player perks. (Especially because if they were aware should have copies of checks used to provide such reimbursement) The NCAA can use circumstantial evidence and there seems to be a ton of it building up into a slam dunk case for LOIC

justingoblue

June 10th, 2011 at 3:35 PM ^

And the beauty of it comes in when you realize that all you need is this guys phone records showing a call to Tressel's office and the guy saying he called.

Lifetime show-cause? Not to mention that the school "should have known" thus bringing down some type of small nuclear weapon detonating in Ohio Stadium.

BlueByTheAlamo

June 10th, 2011 at 3:15 PM ^

Wonder if this is going to provide the solid link in the Pryor-Talbott-Wexner connection. If Talbott supposedly didn't have the money to fund the sign for cash scam (according to his lawyer) then he certainly wouldn't have the funds to be a member of this private country club. The time frame of the outings, occuring when he was employed by Wexner, seems to indicate that it was due to Wexner he was able to get on the course. Going to be interesting to see this play out.

BlueHills

June 10th, 2011 at 5:30 PM ^

This is a club Talbott belonged to, according to the ESPN article. It looks like the kind of private club lots of people can join.

Wexner is one of the wealthiest men in the US. His kind of private club wouldn't have a mid-level looking clubhouse, or a website touting two other clubs; indeed, it probably wouldn't have a website. It would be WAY more private. 

I highly doubt Wexner is in on this.

 

Section 1

June 10th, 2011 at 3:42 PM ^

You do if you're Lion Kim. 

Augusta National, Cypress Point Club, Pebble Beach GL and San Francisco GC.  Ha ha.  Pretty good year for invites for Lion!

But really, I might be jealous of @TPeazy2 if he had been invited to the real Scioto (CC), or Double Eagle, or The Golf Club.  I'd be floored if an invitation to play golf, made to one of Michigan's kids, at our local equivalent of Scioto Reserve, turned into any sort of major violation.

I'm rather intrigued at the notion that Pryor is a golfer at all.

In reply to by Section 1

COB

June 10th, 2011 at 4:02 PM ^

is a dog track.  The idea that people insinuate Les Wexner had anything to do with this is just laughable.  Les Wexner would shoot himself in the face before having anything to do with that course.  The man is a billionaire, that is a course that does two-for-one memberships. 

TVBLUE

June 10th, 2011 at 3:31 PM ^

So, I doubt you can just call up Tressel's office and say "Hi, can I speak with Jim please?" and get through.  He had to go through someone else first.  Obviously, Tressel can't be the only one who knew about all of this stuff.  Systemic problem.

Edit: Oh, just read the article.  He talked to the secretary.

 
 
 

Elmer

June 10th, 2011 at 3:30 PM ^

Ohio State will just claim the players were trying out for the golf team.  Jack Nicklaus will vouch for them, just like he did for Tressel.

Elmer

June 10th, 2011 at 3:30 PM ^

Ohio State will just claim the players were trying out for the golf team.  Jack Nicklaus will vouch for them, just like he did for Tressel.

RadioSimon1983

June 10th, 2011 at 3:32 PM ^

So how much stuff needs to come out before the death penalty becomes an actual "what if" scenario?  We find out that Pryor has been breaking rules since he set foot on campus and that Tressel has covered up his violations more than once.  How is that not death penalty esque?  The only difference at this point between OSU and SMU is that OSU hasn't been caught and told no only to do it again.  They've just been caught doing it for several years.  I'm sure Pryor isn't the first person.

bouje13

June 10th, 2011 at 4:04 PM ^

Let's put away the maize and blue sunglasses and look at this objectively. Are all of these things taken together bad? Yes. Are they bad enough to give them the death penalty? No way.
<br>
<br>It's not like they got a free home or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

turtleboy

June 10th, 2011 at 3:47 PM ^

Since the school was notified about it the main questions the NCAA will ask are:

Who knew?

Who should have known?

Was there an investigation?

Tressel knew when he was tipped off, -coverup

compliance should have known but didn't, -lack of institutional control

no investigation was done by the university. -lack of oversight

After Reggie Bush the NCAA made it very clear that ignorance is not an excuse, it's just as bad as being complicit

MasonBilderberg

June 10th, 2011 at 4:19 PM ^

Do you even have a clue of what took place at SMU or what would constitute the Death Penalty? There will be some form of sanctions, but it will be no where near SMU. A few players receiving extra benefits from a few local scumbags is far different then receiving cash and benefits from people directly affiliated with the school.

turtleboy

June 10th, 2011 at 9:12 PM ^

Same team. Just leave out the-do you even have a clue-next time. The rest is absolutely valid and I agree with. TSIO is nowhere near the den-of-scum-and-villainy that SMU was but it sure was trying. Someone else blanked you, but keep it informative, not personal. Peace out.

Feat of Clay

June 10th, 2011 at 3:39 PM ^

This Talbott guy sounds like a real starf*cker and it's just gross.  Grown men getting off on their chance to "be friends with" top college athletes--uber creepy.

mackbru

June 10th, 2011 at 3:55 PM ^

And since this happened shortly after Pryor and Posey first arrived in Columbus, it raises more red flags about OSU's recruiting practices.