We Might as Well Discuss Jim Tressel Too
This time of year, the college sports landscape is dominated by basketball. With the regular season recently ending, conference tournaments in full swing, and the NCAA Tournament just around the corner, there is little thought to the rest of the college sports world. Of the two big sports, this is college basketball’s time to shine. But college football isn’t going down without a fight. The bigger of the big two continues to thrust itself in the spotlight despite the fact that it hasn’t played games in nearly two months and is already a month removed from National Signing Day.
The latest breaking news came to us from Ohio State and the Buckeyes’ head coach Jim Tressel. Already a point of humor for many for the laughable suspensions given to five players who exchanged memorabilia and awards for money and tattoos (yes, it’s laughable, their suspensions were put on hold so they could play in the next game), Ohio State one-upped itself with the recent news that Tressel knew of the issue well before he had let on.
Earlier this week, it was reported that although the rest of us found out about the players’ indiscretions in December of last year, Tressel knew about at least part of the problem as far back as April. But he kept quiet, for months. Tressel had learned that two of his players had sold memorabilia and he basically did nothing. He didn’t tell anyone and he didn’t punish the players in any way. He actually said “[i]f you all of the sudden sit down some player who have earned the opportunity to play, there are a whole set of new questions.”
After returning from Ohio State’s victory over Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl, Tressel finally told the school that he had not been entirely forthcoming. And then it all came out just this week. One day after reports started to surface that Tressel knew about the problems before they came out, Ohio State held a press conference. Shortly before, it was announced that Tressel will be fined $250,000 and be suspended for the Buckeyes’ first two games of the 2011 season. Why wasn’t he given the same suspension as the five players? Or what about Oklahoma State’s Dez Bryant after he lied? Well, to answer both of those questions, he could still receive more punishment. So far, this is just what Ohio State will impose. We have yet to hear from the NCAA. With the recent history of problems in the sport – USC, UNC, Cameron Newton, Oregon – the NCAA may want to make an example out of Tressel. It’s hard to say how harsh they’ll be, but two games may not be enough for them.
Plenty of coaches commit violations. There are very few (if any) who can honestly claim their program has never committed even a minor violation of some sort. But this isn’t minor. This is a major violation. This is bigger than sending improper text messages to recruits. You can bet the NCAA will look at this and you can bet it will be a point of discussion up to and during the 2011 season. Tressel did something wrong, even if he didn’t seem too remorseful during the press conference. Hopefully we won’t be laughing at the final ruling just as we were when we found out no one would be watching the Sugar Bowl from home.
Until now, Tressel seemed untouchable. He’s had players with issues in the past, but as a coach, he seemed like someone who would always stay out of trouble himself. That has all changed now and so has the public opinion of him. Ohio State fans may stand by their man, but they may also be wondering what the future could bring. Is this a crack in Tressel’s longevity? Is this the first sign of the end? Or was it merely one bad choice made? As has been said millions of times in the past, people don’t change and if it happened once, it has probably happened before. As of now, Tressel will be watching, not coaching, the Buckeyes first two games this season and there’s a very good chance it could be more.