Buck(eye)ing the System Lands Jim In Hot Water

For the past month college football fans have been wondering when the other shoe would drop on Jim Tressel and his Ohio State Buckeyes and while there’s no decision yet, yesterday the NCAA lifted their leg.

The NCAA sent a “notice of allegations” to the Buckeyes yesterday, in which they accused Tressel of lying about player benefits and not informing Ohio State that players were ineligible because they had sold items to a tattoo parlor. (Oddly enough, Terrelle Pryor used his money to buy a “born to be bad” tattoo).

Odds are that we may not know what penalties will land at Ohio State’s door until after the 2011 season but everyone outside of Columbus is starting to see this as a fireable offense for Tressel. I know Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee doesn’t want to fire Tressel and the Buckeye fans love him but OSU has to consider the possibility that canning Tressel might get them some lenience from the NCAA. It’s too late to find a permanent replacement now but Luke Fickell’s interim coach tag could last longer than five games.


Then we come to the elephant with the heart condition in the room – Urban Meyer. Meyer, a Toledo native, is sitting on the shelf at ESPN after walking away from Florida for the second time in two years. Many college football pundits, including my favorite albino basset hound Beano Cook, are wagering that Urban finds his way to Columbus by 2012.

No one can deny that Urban Meyer is the most successful coach of the past decade. He won multiple national championships at Florida and shaped one of the greatest careers in college football history in Tim Tebow. But he did have a very public meltdown. He has medical issues, mostly what one would assume is a shaky heart, and these issues were exacerbated greatly by the stress of his job at Florida. Florida is a big time football job with the eyes of the nation constantly upon the program’s leader. I think I know a job just like that and the coach there for now sports a red sweater vest.

I'm just thinking if you want to go the stability route you might not go with the guy who may need a quadruple bypass if he drops a game to Michigan State. I kind of think Ohio State would be crazy to pass up an alum who has run a program with zero felony arrests or NCAA violations but I don’t really want the Buckeyes taking my Bofriend so I guess I should be happy if Urban lands the job.