Jim Tressel Rumor

[oudavid1]

http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/15527




http://i56.tinypic.com/1zlqdtg.jpg
Let me be clear by saying that at this point, this is an unsubstantiated rumor. But it is a rumor, that if true, would be such a substantial occurrence, that I thought it important to mention. Rumors began circulating today that long-time Head Coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, Jim Tressel may be coaching his last game at Ohio St. in the Sugar Bowl. As the rumor states, Ohio State recruits are being advised that Tressel will not be coaching beyond the Sugar Bowl and they've been given the option to attend other universities if they so choose.

The program was certainly shaken by the recent NCAA violations leading to Terrelle Pryor and 4 other prominent Buckeyes' suspensions for 5 games in 2011. This is certainly the largest instance of violations during Tressel's tenure, but it isn't near the scale of the violations and impending sanctions placed on USC that caused Pete Carroll to bolt for the NFL. For this reason, the rumor is categorized in the doubtful category as far as I'm concerned.

But there are a couple possibilities that could make this true. The first, as one rumor suggests, is that Tressel will step down but it's not at all his decision. Jim Tressel has absolutely owned the Big Ten since arriving at Ohio State and he's won a national championship in the last decade. Assuming the NCAA violations are limited to what we're already aware of, I couldn't imagine the University severing ties with "The Vest" over these violations and they certainly couldn't base it on performance. Despite some issues with Tressel's play calling, roster decisions, etc., he's still had incredible success and this year is no different.

Any program in the country would love to have a perennial ticket punched to a BCS Bowl game with a legitimate opportunity to win a National Championship. I honestly can't see this happening and I believe there is a better chance of him actually stepping down because he's just burned out as opposed to the University forcing him out. But I'll get to that in a bit.

So that brings me to the second possibility. One possible reason I could see causing Jim Tressel to step down either voluntarily or involuntarily would involve wide-spread and pervasive NCAA violations on scale with, or worse than what we saw recently with USC. If the NCAA is already sniffing around and Tressel and the University are aware of significant violations which could lead the NCAA to concluding that they lack "Institutional Control", then it would make perfect sense for Tressel to leave.

If something horrific like this were going on and he or the University sees the writing on the wall, then it would make sense for either side to part ways. I'm certainly not suggesting that this is what's going on and sure hope it isn't but one article I read today referenced Ohio State leading the nation in NCAA violations from 2000-2009. Obviously most have been minor and have gone unnoticed, but there would appear to be some issues going on in Columbus if this is accurate.

The only other reason I could plausibly see this actually happening goes back to the burn out theory. We recently saw a much younger coach with similar success, in a similarly prominent position walk away because the stress of the job was too much anymore. There have been whispers that the job has begun to wear on him and it's entirely possible that he's just had enough and needs to walk away for good, or for a couple years like we see so many coaches do.

If so, what better time to step away for a couple years than when your biggest recruit ever is suspended for half of next season and he's likely going to declare for the NFL Draft. The timing of this also makes it slightly plausible as Pryor's camp may have already decided that they will enter the draft and they notified Tressel of the decision.

I'll keep a close eye on the story (or non-story) as it develops and I'll update as soon as I hear more.

[cleller]

"Didn't see this coming"

Well I did....

[oumartin]

More breaking insider info from david

[Jason]

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/daily-chicago-sports-tab/2010/12/jim-tressel-leaving-ohio-state.html

[OUinFLA]

oh, oh, I know....start a new thread about Stoops going back to his homestate.



check tomorrows front page.

[oudavid1]

More breaking insider info from david

lol insider wouldnt be on the web genius

[oudavid1]

oppps

http://www.soonerfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149764

[yermom]

see, search is your friend :D

[oudavid1]

see, search is your friend :D

lol i just saw it, i should pay attention more.

[OUthunder]

Ohio State runs a dirty program...who knew?

[mgsooner]

OUdavid is a tool

[CBUS_SOONER]

BTW when tosu hired tre$$el, people here in columbus said they could have had Stoops if they wanted.... Foolish F!ucks

[mdklatt]

Ohio State has one of the largest compliance departments in the country, yet they have reported 375 violations to the NCAA from 2000-2009, the most in the country.


Without knowing how many violations go unreported at other schools, this doesn't mean much. You want your compliance department to catch violations. The only way this reflects poorly on OSU is if the violations are preventable in that being caused by inadequate athlete education or supervision. You can't control the actions of a 20 year old on a 24/7 basis.

[SoonerRick46]

Without knowing how many violations go unreported at other schools, this doesn't mean much. You want your compliance department to catch violations. The only way this reflects poorly on OSU is if the violations are preventable in that being caused by inadequate athlete education or supervision. You can't control the actions of a 20 year old on a 24/7 basis.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/14479220/feigned-ignorance-equals-bliss-full-bowl-roster-for-ohio-state

The stereotype of the big, dumb jock is not dead. The NCAA is telling us this loudly and boldly.

From the organization that gave us Cam Didn't Know comes Five Football Student-Athletes From Ohio State Who Didn't Know.


Terrelle Pryor and his partners in crime could take off for the NFL after playing in the Sugar Bowl. (Getty Images)
Incredibly, that was the NCAA's explanation for not suspending for the Sugar Bowl five Buckeyes who sold their souls -- or came darn close. They didn't know it was wrong to sell their jerseys, trophies and keepsakes. As it stands, the five players will miss the first five games of the 2011 season for selling awards, gifts and uniform gear and getting various extra benefits. A sixth must sit out the first game of 2011 for lesser violations.

The question is why the five are allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl. All of them are juniors who could conceivably declare for the draft after the Jan. 4 game.

Then what exact punishment would the Buckeye Five be getting?

Exactly.

Part of the reason the players are allowed to participate in the bowl game is that the NCAA said they "did not receive adequate rules education during the time period the violations occurred." Really? Isn't that why you penalize Ohio State to the fullest extent of the law? The school has one of the largest compliance departments in the country -- seven people. For good reason. This is a school that reported 375 violations to the NCAA from 2000-2009, the most in the country according to the 69 schools that responded to the a request by the Columbus Dispatch for such information. This is the school that went through the Maurice Clarett debacle, which almost brought the football program to its knees.

Six years ago, quarterback Troy Smith was suspended for two games (including a bowl game) for accepting $500 from a booster. This is the school whose faculty apparently sent a note to then-president William Kirwin protesting former linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer's questionable academic profile.

"The academic record of the University has become a joke," according to correspondence obtained by Sports Illustrated in 1999.

So no, lax rules education or lack of rules knowledge is not -- cannot be -- an excuse. Not at Ohio State. These players were hardcore pawn stars. It is a load of crap that players didn't know selling jerseys and championship rings was against NCAA law. I don't believe it. You shouldn't either. Somewhere Cam Newton is smiling. No, laughing his *** off. It's the NCAA's play-dumb defense that has legions of critics furious that something didn't happen in the Cecil Newton case.

The default setting now on two of the highest-profile cases of the past decade -- all within the past two months -- is, The kid(s) didn't know.

More on Ohio State
Blog
Gregg Doyel
No, the NCAA wasn't protecting the Buckeyes with its ruling. The NCAA was protecting fans -- it was protecting you. Read More >>
Related links
Pryor, four others suspended first five games of '11
Fornelli: At least some good news for Buckeyes
Sugar Bowl: Ohio State vs. Arkansas, Jan. 4
Ohio State 2011 schedule

Video
Jacobi: Looking at what the suspensions mean

Thursday's developments weren't just about accepting discounted tattoos. This was selling some of the most revered hardware in the Big Ten. Buckeyes Mike Adams, Dan Herron, Devier Posey, Terrelle Pryor and Solomon Thomas sold, in some combination, Big Ten championship rings, a Fiesta Bowl sportsmanship award, a football jersey and the crown jewel of Ohio State football -- their Gold Pants.

Asked after the Iowa win in November whether it was more important to beat Michigan the next week or win the Big Ten, tight end Jake Stoneburner said, "Getting the Gold Pants for sure."

Every Ohio State player and coach who beats Michigan gets a miniature charm of gold pants inscribed with his initials and the score. The tradition is considered so sacred at Ohio State that center Mike Brewster didn't even think of giving his latest version of the Gold Pants to a girlfriend. Instead, the junior gave his to his mother.

"I can't explain the feeling, getting those pants," Brewster told me after the Iowa game. "Today doesn't matter anymore."

In other words, the Buckeye Five were A.J. Green times, well, five.

How do you not know that selling your jersey, pants and shoes ($1,000, Herron) is a violation? What dumb pills did Pryor take when he sold his Fiesta Bowl sportsmanship award, Big Ten title ring and his Gold Pants ($2,500)? Pryor's "legacy", whatever it was or is, is now permanently tarnished by selling the charm that thousands of Ohio high schoolers would give their left arm to possess.

Didn't know? Didn't have proper rules education? Merry Christmas, Ohio State. You had the biggest Santa in the biz in your corner. Of course, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany got involved, supposedly working the NCAA. Ohio State's BCS bowl wasn't going to be taken away but the embarrassment factor is high as it is. The Buckeyes are 0-9 against the SEC in bowls.

AD Gene Smith tried to explain that these are "very tough times" and the players were only trying to help their families. If a tanking economy is a mitigating factor in NCAA penalties, SMU never should have gotten the death penalty. The country was just coming out of a recession in the early 1980s when the NCAA first started tracking those illicit payments. Also, Cecil Newton just found an excuse. A plunging Dow makes selling a jersey and a six-figure solicitation OK.

This is selling your bling for cash, plain and simple, more than a combined $10,000 worth. I don't know about you but, like a lot college students, I went through a lot of financial hardships while in school. I would have to be shriveled up in a ball on the sidewalk before selling my conference championship ring or trophies. Guess winning six Big Ten titles in a row gets old, so old that even the commemorative jewelry becomes a revenue stream.

Wonder what Florida State is thinking? Three years ago, approximately 20 players were suspended for the Music City Bowl in the midst of a cheating scandal that cost Bobby Bowden some of his dignity, a bunch of wins and ultimately his job. How was FSU's rules education back then? Hell, how was the economy? Did those players not know academic fraud was wrong?

Best to plead ignorance these days. Ask Cam. Ask the NCAA. It worked for Ohio State, the jewel of the Leaders Division.

Yeah, that sounds ridiculous, too.

[yermom]

the fact that they are suspended for FIVE games but not the bowl game is beyond words. the NCAA is such a joke, it's amazing

Ohio State, Auburn and USC have the blueprint on this stuff

[soonerchk]

the fact that they are suspended for FIVE games but not the bowl game is beyond words. the NCAA is such a joke, it's amazing

Ohio State, Auburn and USC have the blueprint on this stuff

It would be a joke if Cam Newton hadn't gotten to play the entire year after Auburn bought him.

[oudavid1]

OUdavid is a tool

good one!

[oumartin]

good one!

No really.

[oudavid1]

No really.

no really what?

[jbstrick]

oppps



From another one of your "Sources"?
:pop:

[oudavid1]

From another one of your "Sources"?
:pop:

only have 1 really.

[oumartin]

only have 1 really.


the internets is one big source

[Leroy Lizard]

Supposedly the tOSU compliance department is huge, which demonstrates a commitment by the U to keep a clean program. Okay, I'll buy that. The department also habitually turns in violations to the NCAA. Okay, that's good. That is what the U is supposed to do.

So if I'm a Buckeye fan, I wave off complaints about the 375 infractions as the result of a compliance department doing its job. Until recently, that would have been a good argument.

But then how does one explain how the players didn't know the rules? If I was tOSU, I would fight the NCAA ruling on grounds that the players had to have known the rules. Otherwise the question immediately comes to mind: If these players didn't know the rules, who does? And how much stuff has been sold by other players if the players, by and large, don't even know it's against the rules to do so?

And finally, does this not constitute lack of institutional control when players have never been informed of one of the most basic NCAA rules?

One more thing: I am not sure that tOSU needs to suspend the players for the bowl game. In the school's eyes, they turned the matter over to the NCAA and the NCAA handed out the punishment. The punishment is ridiculous, but that isn't the school's fault. I am usually a defender of the NCAA in most matters, because I think the organization has a tough, thankless job. But they blew it here.

[oudavid1]

the internets is one big source

the internet is not reliable, the person i talk to gets paid to be. And he/she gets paid a lot.

[soonerchk]

the internet is not reliable, the person i talk to gets paid to be. And he/she gets paid a lot.

Well I'm reliable too after I've seen it everywhere on the world wide webs! AND I share my knowledge for free and without starting new threads for old info.

[Sooner_Tuf]

the internet is not reliable, the person i talk to gets paid to be. And he/she gets paid a lot.

No way there is a he/she on stoops' staff.

[soonerchk]

No way there is a he/she on stoops' staff.

It's Schmitty. It's why he tries so hard to prove how tough he is.

[CBUS_SOONER]

Schmitty=meat/helmet head

[soonerchk]

Schmitty=meat/helmet head

See, he has you fooled, too.

[oudavid1]

lol i wouldnt mess with Schmidty. He is truly crazy.

[CBUS_SOONER]

Troy Smith (another of tressel's finest) had a meltdown today also...btw Sammy B sent his arse home today with an L. I luv it

[CBUS_SOONER]

T Gibson refutes what tosu ad said about players not knowing... Basically saying he is lying to protect players... Also former player Antonio Pittman tweeted that players have been getting tats for free since 2001. This has the potential to get real ugly. That would make me gitty.

[soonerchk]

Explain to me why players can't sell their own stuff? I know it's the rule and all, but it seems kind of stupid.

And still not anywhere as bad as Cecil Newton selling his son's services.

[The]

Explain to me why players can't sell their own stuff? I know it's the rule and all, but it seems kind of stupid.

And still not anywhere as bad as Cecil Newton selling his son's services.

I'm still waiting for it to come out that a certain OU punter was a male prostitute.

[soonerchk]

I'm still waiting for it to come out that a certain OU punter was a male prostitute.

Ghey prostitute. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[sooner518]

Explain to me why players can't sell their own stuff? I know it's the rule and all, but it seems kind of stupid.

And still not anywhere as bad as Cecil Newton selling his son's services.

theyre not supposed to profit off being an amateur player while they are still an amateur. Once they are done with school, they can sell anything they want.

[soonerchk]

theyre not supposed to profit off being an amateur player while they are still an amateur. Once they are done with school, they can sell anything they want.

I know it's a rule, but it's a dumb rule. They should be able to sell what they want to sell if they didn't break any rules getting it.

[KantoSooner]

Don't forget 'Free Shoes U'. If you allowed this (players to sell their equipment/memento's), you'd set up a backdoor channel for paying players.
I'm not necessarily against paying the players; but, if you do so, you have to regulate it or accept that you're setting up a junior NFL affiliated with colleges.

What gets me about this is the 375 infractions over a decade. I mean, 'wow'. that works out to every ten days or so, Ohio State is self reporting some infraction. In season and out.

Now, there are a lot of rules and some make little sense. And some, repeat SOME, players are not the sharpest knives in the drawer, but that is a whole lot of violations; over a very long period of time. One would think any manager (Delaney and/or Tressel would fall into that category) of a big money operation, when faced with an ongoing and potentially life-threatening problem would take measures to not merely monitor and self-report but to eliminate or at least reduce the incidence.
I may be naive and other schools could be facing the same general level of violations, but I kind of doubt it. Does anyone have an overview to share?

[Leroy Lizard]

I know it's a rule, but it's a dumb rule. They should be able to sell what they want to sell if they didn't break any rules getting it.

Then they wouldn't be allowed to receive any gifts.

[soonerchk]

Then they wouldn't be allowed to receive any gifts.

Why? The gifts they get for bowl games aren't breaking any rules. Why not let them sell them after if they want?