Who didn’t see this one coming?
After many months of steamrolling revelations that what was once considered to be an isolated incident of six college football players swapping some jerseys for tattoos was actually a near decade-long series of improper benefits and cover-ups, Jim Tressel is out at Ohio State.
Tressel’s decision to resign (which was about as voluntary as Old Yeller’s decision to be put down) comes as Sports Illustrated rolls out a story chronicling the many sins of the Tressel era Buckeyes. It’s a fascinating read with some pretty salacious details but it wasn’t anything we shouldn’t have seen coming, considering OSU’s past near misses with the NCAA concerning Maurice Clarett and Troy Smith.
There’s tales of free tats, free cars, free booze, free drugs and free love with Tressel, the perceived bastion of honesty and faith claiming to be blind to almost all that went on in Columbus.
The argument I’ve heard most from OSU fans is that Tressel is a scapegoat and that OSU’s problems are systemic and wider in range than just the football program. And in one way they’re right.
If what is written in the Sports Illustrated piece is even 50% true then Ohio State deserves a penalty no less than what USC received. Tressel claims to have been mainly ignorant of what went on at Ohio State.
Athletic Director Gene Smith has made no such claims but if he was ignorant then he has to be the poster boy for lack of institutional control and deserves to be terminated. If not he deserves to be fired for withholding the truth right alongside his former coach. The same goes for OSU’s compliance staff.
But Tressel deserves no sympathy for what he did was worse than doing nothing. He lied to the NCAA when he knew a violation had occurred. The NCAA will forgive ignorance. They’ll penalize the shit out of it, but they’ll forgive it. But lying is much different. That gets you axed and possibly held out of FBS for the rest of your life.
Lying to the NCAA is like running from the cops. You’re not going to get away with it and when you’re locked up for 25 years when you could have only gotten five you have to feel pretty damn stupid. So when Tressel watches Luke Fickell run out of the tunnel against Nebraska in Game 6 from his recliner he’ll probably feel pretty stupid that he didn’t inform the compliance staff, participate in an internal investigation, self-report violations and see this thing go away in 2-3 years. But he wanted to see if his reputation could outrun the law.
And as Tressel steps back into the shadows of Youngstown, where he first violated NCAA rules in an attempt to aid Youngstown State quarterback Ray Issac, his latest QB, Terrelle Pryor, takes his place in the NCAA’s crosshairs.
Pryor is part of a joint OSU/NCAA investigation after allegations that the senior QB has driven as many as nine cars during his three years in Columbus and revelations about just what went down at that tattoo parlor.
From SI.com:
Ellis estimates that Pryor alone brought in more than 20 items, including game-worn shoulder pads, multiple helmets, Nike cleats, jerseys, game pants and more. One day Ellis asked Pryor how he was able to take so much gear from the university's equipment room. Ellis says the quarter¬back responded, "I get whatever I want.”
Hmmm, does the NFL still have a supplemental draft during lockouts?
Until more hard evidence comes out against Tressel I am still inclined to believe he just turned a blind eye. It may have been a semi-knowing blind eye but I do not believe he had his hands in all of this like the SI "story" alleges. Granted I am a biased person when it comes to all of this but he has had contacts with MANY players and coaches with so few whistle blowers? Come on. It just doesn't add up.
ReplyDeleteThere is a supplemental draft during lockouts and I would be willing to bet you a guest opinion blog that he will enter it.
I am getting the feeling the "TPeezy" did whatever the hell he wanted at Ohio State and people were powerless to stop him. He seems more like a thug and a complete moron every day.