Hero to Zero

I'm not going to talk about our first scheduled topic. Rather, I'm going to talk about the big shit smear that is all over Ohio State.

I've already gone through a range of emotions, most of which don't need to be rehashed here. But after reading countless articles of the Yahoo! Sports story, the press conference, columnists opinions, and the damning emails themselves, it seems pretty clear that Tressel tried to pull a fast one. I would have been disappointed if he had properly reported the email back in April, which would have likely resulted in a couple-game suspension of the 2 players mentioned. I had a bad taste in my mouth when the 5 players were allowed to play in the BCS game. But after discovering that Tressel essentially lied to NCAA investigators in December during their investigation, I'm done. His system, his program, and his reputation held people to higher standards. Or so we thought. I still believe that Ohio State is an outstanding academic institution. But retaining an employee who knowingly violates program bylaws and effectively creates double standards sends the wrong message and tarnishes the reputation of the institution, faculty, students, and alumni. Jim Tressel must go.

What was harder to hear than these facts, or that Tressel never really apologized for these mistakes, was that Dr. E. Gordon Gee and Gene Smith said they absolutely planned to keep him. Clearly the expected loss of income would be harder to deal with than repairing the institution's reputation... That's the message, anyway. I am truly embarrassed.

Just to be clear: I actually like Jim Tressel, and I have tremendous respect for him as a coach. I never cared for his sweater-vests or conservative coaching style, but I thought he truly did try to create an atmosphere where his athletes could get an education and have a better place to mature than they might at some other football factories. His personal style seemed to represent Ohio well. But this conduct is unacceptable... even if the mistake could be considered honest. Retaining him as a coach does lasting harm to the reputation of the university.

My only hope is that the NCAA, in their investigation, finds all the fault with Tressel, and not the University or Athletic Department. And I hope, that upon reading the NCAA report, that the university has the gumption to fire Tressel for cause, pointing to any found NCAA violations and his contract.

I suspect that the Jim O'Brien (basketball coach) firing has left OSU rather gun-shy. O'Brien was fired for cause, as he had acknowledged giving $6000 to a Serbian player's mother back in his home country. While this was acknowledged in the press as a nice humanitarian gesture, it was clearly a major violation of NCAA bylaws. Ohio State fired him. O'Brien took OSU to court for "wrongful termination," and won. OSU had to pay the remaining $2.4M of his contract. Why? A former Chairman of the NCAA Rules Infraction Committee testified O'Brien had not violated any rules. Go figure. At this point I gotta believe that the University will axe Tressel for cause if the NCAA deems that major violations happened. But they'll sit tight and act all lovey-dovey until the NCAA makes its decision.

Regardless, OSU Football has been knocked from it's perch atop the Big Ten. We just don't know how far down it will land. With or without Tressel as coach, I forsee several years in the wilderness, USC-style.

Go Bucks. :/