Jim Tressell out at Ohio State University

As of early this AM, and just in advance of the Sports Illustrated piece that's supposed to uncover new allegations, Jim Tressell resigned as head football coach of the Ohio State University.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20110530/SPORTS0203/105300367/Tressel-resigns-as-Ohio-State’s-football-coach

There have been several instances where Tressell or his players have drawn the attention of the NCAA and run afoul of its rules and bylaws.  The following is a timeline:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6607982

Not coincidentally, QB Terrelle Pryor, who is already suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season, is drawing additional attention for the almost stereotypical "jock driving a hot car" schtick:

http://detnews.com/article/20110530/SPORTS0203/105300385

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm a University of Michigan alumnus and huge fan of their football team.  On one hand I think that it will hurt the Big Ten in general - and Michigan in particular - if OSU suffers crippling sanctions by the NCAA.  On the other hand, all one need do is look at the timeline in the second link to conclude that there is very likely some serious cheating going on...the kind the impacts recruiting in a positive way for the cheater.

Discuss....

The SI article is out:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/magazine/05/30/jim.tressel/index.html

Agreed that oversigning is a particularly offensive thing, especially in the SEC.  Someone needs to do something about that, I mean right now.  The events that occurred at LSU when that QB who had been at school all summer was suddenly relieved of his scholarship and effectively booted off campus is egregious, and that Les Miles (whom I wanted to come to Michigan and coach) was in the middle of it was particularly disappointing.

IMHO the BCS and NCAA come off looking especially bad for permitting the 5 ineligible players to play in the bowl game.  That was a bow to the advertisers who suddenly weren't too pleased that some of OSU's best could potentially be suspended, lessening the interest in the bowl game they'd ponied up big money to sponsor.  The whole mess with Terrell Pryor (MAN am I glad that Michigan didn't get him in the end) driving all these cars that don't belong to him is like the old "jocks driving hot cars" schtick.  If that turns out to have legs, it's going to be really ugly.

I agree that there are some other things that have made the game less enjoyable, but it's still my favorite sport.  It is, more than anything else (IMHO), relatively unspoiled.  I'll continue to watch with interest where I have a dog in the fight (so to speak), and even at times when I don't.  That said, I had NO interest in the BCS championship game last year...the nonsense surrounding Cam Newton just completely turned me off.

I hope that the NCAA takes a close look at the ridiculousness that's been going on lately and lays some serious hurt on schools like Auburn and OSU that are clearly looking the other way.  If the word gets out that a school has $100 handshakes and the whole football team drives hot cars, it HAS to ultimately give that school an unfair advantage in recruiting.

Uncle Eric, I feel for you.  Unfortunately, since the likes of Reggie Bush can just gallop off to the NFL (as can, for that matter, folks like Pete Carrol), those who remain - and their fans - will suffer.

I went through this with Michigan B-Ball and the Fab Five/Ed Martin.  I don't think that it was unfair to punish the school, as the school made the hiring and recruiting decisions.  Those sanctions (and the accompanying stain that hung over the program) sent us to the bottom of the Big 10 for 10+ years...only NOW are they back to anywhere near what they were back then.  It sucked, but we deserved it.  Which is not to say that the cheaters didn't deserve some sort of comeuppance, but I don't know how one does that.  I mean, someone who has no issue with cheating and the potentially crippling sanctions that can come with that isn't going to lose much sleep over being persona-non-grata on campus.  I guess the ultimate answer is be VERY careful when it comes to character in your coaches and athletes.

Think Terrell Pryor for a sec.  During his recruiting, there were all sorts of red flags about his character that are only now showing (can anyone believe that with all that crap swirling around him wrt cars right now that he chooses to show up at the team meeting announcing Tressell is resigning in a new 350Z that's not registered to him?  What a narcissistic dirtbag!!). 

Think Jim Tressell for a sec.  There were all sorts of things going on at Youngstown State (think "lack of institutional control") that foreshadowed exactly what's going on now at Ohio State.

Should the school pay the price for bringing these two into the program?  As much as it sucks for those who remain on the team and the fans of the team, I have to say yes.

BTW - Thank GOD that Michigan and Rich Rodriguez lost out to OSU and Tressell when Pryor was being recruited.  I have this thought that we wouldn't have been in the kind of fix OSU finds itself in now, but that would have been NOTHING but trouble.  As an aside, it will be VERY interesting to see where he is in five years...I don't see him making it in the NFL as a QB, and he doesn't seem like a team-first guy to me who would be willing to switch positions.  This whole mess is eventually going to explode largely because of him, and I don't see where he's going to have that OSU alumni network to fall back on as he staggers around the Arena B-League.

Relative to, oh, say, the NBA for example? 

I will never understand what the NCAA was thinking about wrt letting those 5 players play.  It was bound to blow up in their faces, and sure enough it did.  All that remains to be seen now is whether Gene Smith and Gordon Gee end up caught in the explosion too.

I really do feel badly for any serious fan of OSU football - not the folks who are yowling about how everyone does it - for having to deal with Terrelle Pryor.  He turned out to be a complete dirtbag, and I like to think that folks like Woody, Earle Bruce, and John Cooper (man, do we miss HIM around these parts ) wouldn't have come within 100 miles of that guy.  To think that there was a time when we thought he'd end up here are were EXCITED about it...makes my blood run cold!

I'm with you 100% about folks escaping without consequence.  One can only hope that karma does indeed turn out to be a bitch!

As an aside, even though I was a huge Michigan fan since I was a wee lad, I was always impressed by the old USC teams.  I'll make a huge exception for the Charles White "Phantom Touchdown" game...worst call in the history of NCAA football until that 5th down came along.  There is still a huge b&w photo in Schembechler Hall of the ref signalling a TD with CW in the air and the ball lying on the ground at the 2 yd line.  There's a big white circle around the ball...ugh!!

Back to Karma...I have to wonder how Tressell comes out of this.  It will be interesting to say the least.  I can see him emerging at one of the SEC schools in a few years (maybe after Nick Saban comes to OSU he'll go to Alabama?).  I fear that, ultimately, he'll get a 2 year vacation from NCAA coaching positions, and be back to his merry business...unless the entirety of the NCAA suddenly gets religion and excommunicates him.  I just don't see that happening.

I've already stated why I don't see good things happening down the line for Pryor.  With his sense of entitlement, I see him getting into the kind of trouble that will be difficult to weasel out of at some point.  I don't see the OSU alumni base lining up to come to his aid.

This whole mess, as much as I enjoy seeing it happen to OSU on a superficial Michigan fan sort of level, is really pissing me off.  This is going to do nothing but harm the Big 10 going forward.  Their most successful program in the last decade is going to get spanked for NCAA violations that I'm quite certain occur with regularity at 50% of the SEC schools that he couldn't manage to beat.  The whole conference is going to be painted with the same broad brush wrt Tressel's slippery ethics, and simultaneously suffer the indignity of looking like patsies now that the Big 10 powerhouse OSU Buckeyes are going to be pounded into short-term oblivion.  Life just isn't fair....