Sexual Predator was just the Tipping Point for Anzalone
http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=384313
This article has some very, very interesting quotes from Dr. Anzalone (Alex's father). Seems like a decommitment was coming even before the events of today/yesterday and they are biting their tongues as to what really "wasn't right" at OSU.
That's fine. All I am suggesting is waiting until we know, rather thanm assume. I refer you to the eloquent "Anal Zone" anagram post above to make my point. I'm not saying this is a torrid scandal. I'm saying I, who am on record as being a notorious prick to our adversaries, would like to wait and find out before acting the rake here.
People don't have to agree with me. I just hope they would.
You stay classy, San Diego.
EDIT: I take your point. I do. This is not meant to be bellicose. I merely advocate as I do for concern of the gentility of the Michigan fanbase.
Yeah, someone might have to explain to me how that "Anal Zone" joke from aaamichfan has reached "
moderation is based on what the mods find offensive rather than any policy. same goes re: political content.
Anzalone faced before he became the size of a D-1 prospect linebacker? Growing up with that joke might make you even more sensitive to a situation where it might crop up again.
Not to mention... another pedophile scandal is NOT exactly good for Big Ten football...
Just some wild conjecture, but what it the entire OSU program is in the closet? Tressel did make a bit of a splash a few years ago by standing up for gay rights.
DirtyUrby has to know his program is being closely watched, but he can't control people who try to contact his recruits, everyone knows that. There's something else going on under the surface.
This is bologna. Are you serious?
Great, insightful contribution to the discussion, AdaBuckeye.
I respect that he used the word "bologna" instead of "baloney". Impressive.
His bologna has a second name...
but how can I resist this beauty:
This is not an Ohio State problem. The quotes by Anzalone's father are understandable, but are misguided anger. It is impossible for the coaching staff to follow the kids 24/7 while they are on a visit, or to control who they interact with on social networks.
I also disagree with the fellow who said this answers why Lewis Neal decommitted? I have read up on this BDubsTriviaGuru over the past few days and have not seen any evidence of interaction between he and Lewis Neal. Guru had contact with Mike Heuerman, Alex Anzalone, and Joey Bosa on the evening of Saturday, April 21. On Sunday, April 22, he met at Chipotle for lunch with two signed OSU players (Tyvis Powell and someone else).
This guy had no affiliation with Ohio State, he's just some guy. This is not an Ohio State or Urban Meyer problem. I totally understand that Alex's father is upset about what happened, but Alex chose to follow this guy on Twitter, he chose to meet with him at BW3 or where ever, he chose to take a photograph with him, and he chose to retweet these "motivational quotes", and there was not a darn thing that Urban Meyer, Luke Fickell, or anybody else at OSU could have done about it.
I agree. But I think the OP was arguing that something was amiss even before this event, at least concerning the recruitment of Neal.
Why is this creep so close to the program, or at least many of its players/recruits? Something doesn't seem right, and I'm guessing he is giving them improper benefits. Why else would OSU send out the warning today?
BDubsTriviaGuru is a guy on Twitter literally sending out hundreds of tweets a day to players, coaches, and recruits. Some players, coaches, etc., responded to him and retweeted his stuff every day. He arranged to meet with recruits on his own doing and they apparently agreed to meet him.
OSU Compliance received a tip about this, looked into the situation, and discovered his dirty past.
If Waugh was providing improper benefits, I'm not sure how it reflects negatively on Ohio State since the person is not enrolled at Ohio State, OSU didn't have knowledge, and they took immediate remedial action onces discovered that there may be an issue.
We ran a dirty program for 2010/11. But yeah, decade sounds much better.
Clarett was kicked off the team and Troy Smith was suspended for two games. Two players being punished for their actions in 10 years is far from dirty.
You're making my point? Those players that got us on probation acted seperately from the team in 2010 and managed to get themselves suspended for 5 games each. Where is the "decade of cheating" meme coming from? Show me the proof?
He could be a convicted serial killer and as long as he was still 8-1 against Michigan they'd love him.
Clarett got kicked off the team, you're making my point for me. Santonio Holmes was never busted for anything, allegations are just that--allegations. Prove to me that he did anything wrong, I'll wait.
The NCAA broadly defines a "booster" as an individual, agency, entity or organization who is known by an institution to:
- Have participated in or been a member of an agency that promotes the institution's intercollegiate athletics program
- Have made financial contributions to the athletics department or a booster organization for the department
- Have been involved otherwise in promoting the institution's athletics program
- Have been a season ticket holder
- Have provided benefits to student-athletes or their relatives or friends
The fact that ohio has so quickly and adamantly stated that this guy is not a booster only makes it seem more suspicious that he actually is.
that last part makes him a booster, no?
Ohio has had long standing systemic issues with boosters and fans who get way too close to the program. Ohio stonewalled the NCAA investigation and took a slap on the wrist, but never really addressed the problems at the heart of the matter. People like AD Gene Smith who say it is not a systemic issue and try to avoid making any difficult change are responsible. On the plus side, they get predators like Edward Rife, Dennis Talbott, Bobby DeGeronimo, & Jack Maxton Chevy who provide some illegal benefit to the program. On the negative side, these other types of predators get access and something like this eventually happens.
Yes, it is a problem everywhere. Just today, Adam Taliaferro was elected to the PSU Board of Trustees with the highest vote total although he has no qualification to make those kind of decisions about an academic institution. How in the world PSU learned nothing from the the Sandusky scandal about football worship is beyond me.
You'll hear no argument from me that Gene Smith needs to go, but it's very frustrating to see some blasting Ohio State for this. The recruits go on their visit, generally go to dinner with some coaches, and then they're off on their own. The staff can't be watching them or then posting people outside their hotel to make sure they stay in there for the duration of the evening.
You are correct about it being impossible to control every person a recruit might come into contact with. However, it doesn't sound like the whole story has come out about the Anzalone decommitment, so we really don't know if the coaching staff deserves some blame.
If you've read anything about Meyer from his time at Florida, he's shown a lack of character multiple times.
using your defense that they aren't responsible for supervising minors there on recruiting visits. That surely won't play well with parents.
My understanding is that current players are given that task while acting as hosts. I imagine that many of those players do what their own hosts had done. At some schools, that means visiting boosters. We went through that here with basketball. I don't think anyone should be surprised if that's going on at OSU.
It's one thing to say you can't keep an eye on kids 24/7, and that's true of all the kids on the team, but we're not talking about kids on the team. We're talking about recruits there to visit for a day or two.
How hard is it to keep track of a couple kids for 2 days?
If OSU can't make sure a kid on a 2 day visit doesn't get into trouble, how are you supposed to entrust them to handle said kid for 4 years.
Please, what was OSU supposed to do? Hey, no, you can't go to Chipolte! Or go outside the gates of Ohio Stadium after the spring game! Come on.
On an unofficial visit?
The quotes from the Anzalones seem to indicate that this was just (as the OP suggests) the last straw, and that there were serious concerns before this latest crap (which I agree isn't an OSU thing, it's just a thing that happened at OSU).
<blockquote>This is not an Ohio State problem. The quotes by Anzalone's father are understandable, but are misguided anger. It is impossible for the coaching staff to follow the kids 24/7 while they are on a visit, or to control who they interact with on social networks. </blockquote>
I'm not expert on recruiting, but I would think having at least someone on the staff accompany recruits at all times would be standard. I mean, these are high school juniors after all. You don't just dump a 16 y/o on a college campus, tell them to have fun, and hope for the best.
Do they sit outside their hotel in an SUV with tinted windows? At some point OSU representatives and recruits part ways.
Are you implying the picture was taken after the kids snuck out fo their hotel rooms? There's nothing I've seen to suggest that
So, did you hear the one about the completely irrational Buckeye fans that everybody points to in order to summarize their fanbase as having their own heads up their asses? Oh you didn't? You probably had Hang on Sloopy turned up too loud to notice.