loose threads on the sweatervest

[Boogahz]

How hard will the hammer fall on Ohio State? I know the University has not actually responded to the NCAA charges that the Coach had known about prior infringements and been attempting to cover them up yet...

2 years + vacated wins for the upcoming season (if not the last season as well) + scholarships? Think the entire athletics dept will get hit from it?

[Sylvus]

Being a Wolverine, I can't comment without bias, but the reading I've been doing the last couple days (also from Michigan-biased sites) speculates that Tressel could be facing a show cause penalty, which... ouch. He pretty clearly knew that he had players that should be ineligible and played them anyway, didn't mention any of his knowledge to his university's compliance department, and straight up lied to NCAA investigators that he knew anything about it.

I think that's frowned upon.

If they vacate wins for last season, does that snap their winning streak against UofM?

[Kluden]

I hate to see Big10 schools in the muck, but it is what it is. In another conference, this would be a side note, not a major story.

[Boogahz]

If it were a top school in any other conference, it would still be a major story. If he hadn't lied about it, this wouldn't have come back into the news.

[Sueven]

I think Tressel will eventually have to go but OSU as an institution won't be hit too hard, if at all. They'll probably vacate their regular season wins from last year, but who cares? They still won the games whether the NCAA says so or not. And Reggie Bush actually won the Heisman. If it happens on the field, it happens.

I think this is kind of a sad commentary on college football. Tressel's crimes are really fairly minor-- not being forthright about a gear-for-tattoos swap. If this were the worst thing that happens in college football, it would seem ridiculous to prosecute it so aggressively. Sadly, it's not the worst thing that happens-- it's just low-hanging fruit in a massively corrupt system. Because the NCAA is toothless and impotent and can't do anything about the real problems, they're stuck bringing the hammer down over crap like this. I guess it's better than just ignoring corruption entirely, but it's not going to make much of a difference. And so it goes.

[masteen]

Florida has the same problems, year after year. Foozball and weed, Go Gators!

[Canoe]

I think this is kind of a sad commentary on college football. Tressel's crimes are really fairly minor-- not being forthright about a gear-for-tattoos swap. If this were the worst thing that happens in college football, it would seem ridiculous to prosecute it so aggressively. Sadly, it's not the worst thing that happens-- it's just low-hanging fruit in a massively corrupt system. Because the NCAA is toothless and impotent and can't do anything about the real problems, they're stuck bringing the hammer down over crap like this. I guess it's better than just ignoring corruption entirely, but it's not going to make much of a difference. And so it goes.

Very, very well put Sueven.

[Sabek]

As an OSU fan who happens to like Tressel, I don't envision a situation where he is still the coach after 2011.
OSU cant have a Bruce Pearl situation.

[Sylvus]

Tressel's crimes are really fairly minor-- not being forthright about a gear-for-tattoos swap.

I don't totally agree with you there. The players' crimes were really fairly minor. I'd liken them to an actual crime that I don't even think should be illegal, say possession of drugs for personal consumption. Tressel's crimes include repeatedly lying to his school and to the organization that provides oversight of rules violations (as well as playing players that he knew would be ineligible if not for his cover-up). That sounds more like obstruction of justice. Is it more wrong to commit a crime that you don't believe should be a crime or to interfere with the subsequent investigation? I honestly don't know, and I'm probably judging him more harshly than I would if he wasn't associated with the college I loathe more than any other.

But there is also a bit of a pattern emerging: Ray Isaac (when Tressel was at Youngstown State) getting money/cars from boosters, Antonio Pittman saying the players had been getting free tattoos for 10 years, Maurice Clarett and his money/car, Terelle Pryor getting pulled over multiple times in cars "loaned" from Columbus car dealerships (he was allowed to test-drive a car back to his hometown in Pennsyvlania to see if he liked it. Really?) as well as Tat-gate (I hate scandals being affixed with "gate", but that's what I'm seeing it called). Sure, that or worse might happen at every school, but I can't think of that many things being explicitly cataloged about a single coach without that coach having been pretty severely punished.

Did Tressel have direct knowledge or involvement of the improper benefits given to Isaac, Pittman, and Clarett? I have no idea. But in light of the fact that he did know about and deliberately try to cover-up information about the improper benefits given to Pryor, I can't see how he walks away from this without some blood on his sweatervest.

[Sylvus]

Oh hey, look, I predicted that Pryor would be bad news! thread from August 2008

Full disclosure: I was WAY wrong about my predictions for Michigan's football season in that thread.

[Winnow]

The punishment should be OhioSU booted from Bit Ten (12) , replaced by Appalachian State!

[masteen]

Oh hey, look, I predicted that Pryor would be bad news! thread from August 2008

Full disclosure: I was WAY wrong about my predictions for Michigan's football season in that thread.

Hey, pretty soon you can join Notre Dame in the "Totally Irrelevant" conference!

[Raistin]

OSU will get hammered hard. If they don't the NCAA will look weak on big programs. And they should be hammered hard. Smoke has been following Tressel since his days at Youngstown. The entire thing with Pryor Ohio and PSU recruitment should have shown it. Pryor was pretty much close to a lock with PSU, only to take a vist to Ohio and 2 days later driving around in a brand new car. PSU took back their offer and said good luck.

Over all, there are some good schools in the Big 10/11/12. I just hope JoePa can go out on top. At least they can hang their hat up saying, We never had a infraction the entire time and kicked asses along the way.

I'd rather have 9-4 win seasons with a few 10-2/11-1 seasons, than be riddled with this cheating shit. Look at _ALL_ major football programs. Look at all the sleezy coaches, recruiting practices, infractions, SEC, and graduation rate.PSU will always be too good for the Big 10.

[Sabek]

Local radio station is saying there is another article about OSU and Tressel coming out on Tuesday. They said they have it from a guy who has seen the article that OSU will have no choice but to fire Tressel once it is public.

On the upside at least our Volleyball team won the national championship.

[masteen]

I am going to miss seeing Cheaty McSweatervest getin his semi-annual SEC prison rapings in the BCS title games!

[Xatrei]

He's done.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6606999

It's a pity. I was looking forward to seeing the Vest making his 2011 debut in Lincoln.

[Boogahz]

from the end of that espn.com story:

Tressel also received support at the spring meetings from fellow coaches such as Michigan State's Mark Dantonio and Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald, as well as from Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne, a longtime friend.

"Coaches are great," Tressel said then. "They understand all the challenges everyone has. It's good to be with them."

doesn't really paint the others in a very good light.

[Ashur]

weak.

[Winnow]

At least with the corruption they didn't lose to teams like Appalachian State. What now?

[Ashur]

Heard there was more Terrelle Pryor crap coming, cars etc... probably why he quit.

[Xatrei]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/m ... =hp_t11_a2

[Spang]

Tressel wears an American flag pin on his sweater vest; he should be cleared of all charges.

[Raistin]

Pryor showed up in a used 350z with temp tags at tonight's team meeting. That should tell you something right there.

[Boogahz]

The argument that Tressel is gone, and the school should be spared is silly. This is sounding much bigger than something that just one man should have stopped.

[Xatrei]

The argument that Tressel is gone, and the school should be spared is silly. This is sounding much bigger than something that just one man should have stopped.

Yep. I can't imagine a scenario where Tressel could have / should have stopped, yet his assistants including DC/IHC Fickell are squeaky clean.

[masteen]

Rumor is that Tressel actually quit over a week ago, but the lack of speed in every aspect of the Big Tweleven conference prevented this news from reaching the rest of the world sooner.

[Ashur]

I think the SEC championship game should be played in the snow.

[Winnow]

played in the snow.

If that's a slang term for cocaine, it is!

[masteen]

Please, most of the SEC is meth country.

[Xatrei]

But most of the country is meth country.