First to the podium was "the" Ohio State's Athletic Director Gene Smith. Smith had an almost confrontational demeanor, he was all about business tonight. His part in this skit was to lay out the ground work and background story for Jim Tressel to take the stage. His first major point was that this was totally separate case from the violation of the Ohio State players who were caught reviving extra benefits in December. That may be how "the" Ohio State is spinning it, but he is wrong. The two cases have everything to do with each other. Apparently the emails and information Tressel received this past April were from an attorney working on a federal investigation into a drug ring. This investigation is the same investigation that alerted Ohio State to the players receiving the extra benefits in ;December. So the two are inherently connected, if Tressel had reported to the NCAA in April, the discovery of the extra benefits would have happened months earlier. This probably would have kept Ohio State out of the Sugar Bowl, lucky for Ohio State that Tressel kept his mouth shut.
Smith then called the source that the Yahoo Sports department credited in their original story a "leak." This isn't a covert top-secret mission Gene, the term whistle-blower might have been more apropos. The term "leak" has a negative connotation, and that was certainly implied in the way Smith said it. He spoke with contempt when he mentioned the "leak." He followed this by saying that they were hoping to release this information by the end of the week anyway. He made it sound as though this leaker had harmed national security, instead of outing a football program that is guilty of breaking rules.
Smith thanked the NCAA and Mark Emmert for their swift action and help to Ohio State. Of course he did, when else in history would you get to play those players in the Sugar Bowl and get away with such a light punishment for essentially lying to the NCAA?
Smith finished up by saying that Tressel was, and will be, the football coach of "the" Ohio State University. Smith said that you have to look at Tressel's body of work to really get a feel of what he has done and make an accurate judgement. Hiding something and lying by omission to the NCAA, well that is a big mistake to overlook and move past though.
Next up to the stage was Tressel himself, he looked contrite and sorry for his actions. Tressel said he had notes and wanted to stay on point. Tressel said he received the emails last spring, claiming that they were from an attorney and had to deal with a pending federal drug investigation. Tressel says that the real reason he did not report them was that he didn't want to interfere with the investigation. He also added that because of the nature of the investigation privacy was important. Tressel says that his response was to speak to the team and students about what company they were keeping and who they were associating with. Apparently, he did this all for the sake kids, because the kids are who he was most worried about. Tressel is still not being completely honest, if he was thinking of the student athletes first he would most certainly gotten the Ohio State attorneys and administration involved. He would have contacted parents or guardians and done everything in his power to make sure these young men were not inovlved in this in any way. Of crouse, by doing any of this, he would have informed to many people to keep this secret. Ohio State would have been forced to report this to the NCAA. But he didn't do all that, instead he told them to stay away from the bad crowd. By trying to keep things quiet he proved he was more worried about the football team than the well being of any player. Tressel says privacy was the issue at hand, if he thinks he can not trust his compliance department to keep things private, they may have some real problems at "the" Ohio State.
Tressel next claimed he didn't know who to talk to about these issues. Surely Ohio State has a crack team of lawyers on campus, having the nations largest athletic compliance department. Jim Tressel is smart enough to know anything he spoke to an attorney about would be privileged information. We simply don't buy that he was to scared and stupid to know who to talk to.
Tressel says he takes his responsibility with Ohio State very seriously. If that is the case he would have just been completely honest and open tonight? If Tressel had simply said he knew about it, but didn't want to draw a bunch of attention till he knew more, we could have bought that line. If he had just said he wasn't sure and didn't want to stir up trouble. That he knows it was a huge mistake and he is sorry for it. We would be right now writing about how rare it is to see a public figure take responsibility for his actions. That is one thing we were missing from Tressel's speech. There was no apology, Tressel never said he was sorry.
The trio of stooges was topped off by the "little sister of the poor" herself E. Gordon Gee. Gee's part in this production was to talk about how great Jim Tressel was. What a stand up guy Tressel is, just look at that sweater-vest. We have no doubt that Tressel is a stand up guy, and he is still one of the most successful and likable coaches in college football. But he is to blame for this, and he is shirking responsibility.
Tressel's punishments are ridiculously light. When Dez Bryant lied to the NCAA he lost an entire year of his college career. Of course, that was before Mark Emmert became the president of the NCAA. Tressel will receive a two game suspension; Ohio State plays Akron and Toledo the first two games of next year. We hardly think that Ohio State will need Tressel on the field to beat them. Tressel will also be fined $250k, a lot of money for you and me. But for a coach that makes $3.5 million a year, it's a drop in the bucket. Finally he will have to attend a compliance seminar, that sure his harsh. No games forfeited by Ohio State and no recruiting restrictions or loss of scholarships. Jim Tressel lied by omission and got away with it.
I self report all the time
Tweet
2 comments:
Boy I wish you could spell but the saliva must have made the keys slippery. Here are some questions that should be answered now..
1. Who specifically were the e-mails from?
2. What was their true purpose?
3. Why was Tressell the only recipient at Ohio State?
4. What was the total content of the e-mails and why has this not been published?
5. Was this a setup?
Commenting on spelling, you are a internet tough guy! You must be so superior!
1. an attorney who will soon be dis-bared for speaking about an ongoing investigation.
2. Their purpose was to warn Tressel his players were selling their rings and jersey's for tattoos.
3. It appears so, as of now. If other people also received them it would be far worse for Ohio State.
4. Ohio State released the emails, they did the blacking out, ask them.
5. No, and to think this is a set up is absurd. Tressel got caught, his excuse doesn't wash. Own the mistake.
Try not to be a complete idiot if you are going to call someone out.
Post a Comment
If you are going to be racist, sexist, or blatantly idiotic I will probably delete your comment.