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Jim Tressel is out....

Just announced that Jim Tressel has resigned as OSU head coach. There is no doubt he screwed up, and maybe this is not a major surprise. But this incident excluded, he seemed to be a good man and a great coach. The search for a replacement should be interesting....

Comments

  • mcadamsmcadams Posts: 2,611 ✭✭✭
    Good for OSU and Bad for OSU. Despite Tressel running a successful program for a while now, the fans at OSU deserve not to be embarrased. Tressel's screw-up was not minor- he knew about major NCAA violations in his program and did nothing about them. It was fireable offense. OSU's AD could have done his school a favor by firing not Tressel, not allowing him to resign.
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  • BrickBrick Posts: 4,923 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It was inevitable. OSU is probably better off. NCAA would penalize Buckeyes much more severly as long as he was here.
    Collecting 1960 Topps Baseball in PSA 8
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    Ralph

  • goodbye tressel, hello urban meyer. seems like a fair swap. the question is; how many national championships will meyer win?
  • itzagoneritzagoner Posts: 8,753 ✭✭
    for Pete's sake that sweater vest guy sure is a good carroller.
  • IronmanfanIronmanfan Posts: 5,424 ✭✭✭✭
    vest in peace

    IMF
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  • msassinmsassin Posts: 1,564 ✭✭✭
    image
  • mcadamsmcadams Posts: 2,611 ✭✭✭


    << <i>vest in peace

    IMF >>



    +1. Nice..
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  • Sad day for BuckeyeNation. What or when did Jim tell Gene Smith or E. Dufus Gee ? We may or may not EVER know the full story. Jim says he never told them about the selling of merchandise by the players. Do you REALLY believe that !!! I know I don't. There is NO WAY that any reasonable person would believe that Tressell did NOT say anything to either of his superiors.
    What I REALLY want to see from this point forward, is that after those five STUPID, SELFISH, THOUGHTLESS, IDIOTIC, BRAIN DEAD college seniors are once again allowed to play after serving their five game suspension, is that they then have their ASSES**screwed to the bench and that they NEVER set foot on a college football field again. I also hope and pray that they do NOT get drafted by the NFL next year, and that they have to get "real" jobs somewhere, and that they forever regret being such STUPID, SELFISH, THOUGHTLESS, IDIOTIC, BRAIN DEAD jerks.
    WANTED:Football Hall of Fame Autograph's;Hugh Ray,Tim Mara,Charles Bidwell,Walt Kiesling,Bill Hewitt,Len Ford,Fritz Pollard,Curly Lambeau,Steve Owen & Joe Carr. FOR SALE : 100's of auto'd HoF 8x10's & dozen's of auto'd HoF cards.
  • fergie23fergie23 Posts: 2,079 ✭✭✭✭
    That's right blame the players because the coach lied to NCAA investigators and didn't have any integrity. Jim Tressel saw that he had a potential national championship team and showed he cared more about winning than following the rules. He deserved to be fired when his infractions were first reported but was allowed to resign.

    He was a tremendous coach but in the end turned out to be as flawed as every other major program coach out there.

    Robb
  • MorgothMorgoth Posts: 3,950 ✭✭✭
    Pryor is under intense investigation now and will most likely be ruled ineligible for next season. He reportedly has had 6 new cars from one dealer in under 4 years.
    Currently completing the following registry sets: Cardinal HOF's, 1961 Pittsburgh Pirates Team, 1972 Pittsburgh Pirates Team, 1980 Pittsburgh Pirates Team, Bill Mazeroski Master & Basic Sets, Roberto Clemente Master & Basic Sets, Willie Stargell Master & Basic Sets and Terry Bradshaw Basic Set
  • jeffcbayjeffcbay Posts: 8,948 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>That's right blame the players because the coach lied to NCAA investigators and didn't have any integrity >>



    Wait a minute... if it wasn't for those EFFING MORONS, Tressel wouldn't have anything to lie about in the first place!! Those a-holes better never see Columbus turf again...

    The only good thing that will come out of losing Tressel, is no more Tressel Ball... no more sitting on the ball with a two-touchdown lead. I want to see teams buried like the other teams do it. I want to see the Bucks win 80-0.

    Haters gonna hate... see you on the field!
  • What's this? Ohio State CHEATS?

    (sorry, jeffcbay, I just can't resist kicking they in the balls)

    I would guess that OSU will still be a decent team (even though they cheated their way to a 15-1 record against U of M and MSU). I honestly do not think Meyer will take the job if it's offered to him a year or two from now.
    South of Heaven...North of Canada
  • jeffcbayjeffcbay Posts: 8,948 ✭✭✭✭
    Yeah, because tattoos are performance enhancers. lol

    I'm cool with Tressel being forced out... I just don't think they deserve to have bowl eligibility taken away. Taking the 2010 wins away, MAYBE, but that's pushing it. If they have future sanctions put on them, that would be penalizing people who had nothing to do with it.
  • dirtmonkeydirtmonkey Posts: 3,048 ✭✭


    << <i>Yeah, because tattoos are performance enhancers. lol

    I'm cool with Tressel being forced out... I just don't think they deserve to have bowl eligibility taken away. Taking the 2010 wins away, MAYBE, but that's pushing it. If they have future sanctions put on them, that would be penalizing people who had nothing to do with it. >>



    Are you seriously delusional, or are you just not reading anything past the tat story? All of these allegations from former players isn't likely just some act of vengeance because they didn't get to the star-status that they believed they deserved. The parlor owner saying there's more players involved than just the 6 could be deadly for this years team, being that they said there were 9 more current players involved. Further, the claims that they were trading for cars and drugs, too, is troubling. Add the stories about the dealership, rigged raffles, payments, "mentor", Pryor cars, hookers, etc, and if even an iota of this is true, Tressell is certainly to blame. There's no way he didn't know about this stuff going on, especially when it's been happening since 2002 (tattoos). He's corrupt, plain and simple. As for the players, they're stupid, for sure. But if this has been going on with the football team since 2002, why shouldn't they think it was okay? Apparently the coach didn't care. I doubt Gee and Smith did, either. They had a "win at any cost" attitude, and now it's time to pay.
    image
  • jdip9jdip9 Posts: 1,895 ✭✭✭
    <<<He reportedly has had 6 new cars from one dealer in under 4 years.>>>

    I believe it....why else would Pryor go to a team with a system that makes no sense for him to be in???

    This situation is completely laughable, including the decision to suspend players FOR THE FOLLOWING YEAR for infractions known about before the bowl game. That decision is all you needed to know about who Jim Tressel really is.
  • dirtmonkeydirtmonkey Posts: 3,048 ✭✭


    << <i><<<He reportedly has had 6 new cars from one dealer in under 4 years.>>>

    I believe it....why else would Pryor go to a team with a system that makes no sense for him to be in???

    This situation is completely laughable, including the decision to suspend players FOR THE FOLLOWING YEAR for infractions known about before the bowl game. That decision is all you needed to know about who Jim Tressel really is. >>



    Sadly, that decision was handed down by the NCAA, which is all you need to know about them. It's money first and nothing else. As for Tressell, I suspect some old school coaches would have made his players sit for the bowl game, regardless of the NCAA ruling. I think JT has always been about wins first, so there was no chance of that.
    image
  • jeffcbayjeffcbay Posts: 8,948 ✭✭✭✭
    I know Terrelle Pryor was a punk when he pulled THIS CRAP at a press conference, a full five weeks after everyone else had announced where they were going to college. Punk...
  • dirtmonkeydirtmonkey Posts: 3,048 ✭✭
    I was disappointed when he picked OSU over Blue. In the end, I'm not so disappointed anymore. They may have been better on the field with him, but their reputation likely would have ended up taking a similar hit. RR did enough, so no need for this cat. It's sad for OSU and the Big 10. I hope, for the sake of the rivalry, both teams can recover from these slip-ups soon enough. Michigan appears to be on the right track, just by looking at recruiting for next year. Time will tell what happens to OSU and how fast they may be able to recover. This kind of crap needs to be eliminated from college football. I don't see how, but the NCAA overlooking sCam Newton indicates maybe they will never care, as long as the cash keeps rolling in to them.
    image
  • I would have thought that the NCAA would bust a SEC team first.

    Any favoritism here?
    Scoreboard Malfunction
  • jdip9jdip9 Posts: 1,895 ✭✭✭
    <<<As for Tressell, I suspect some old school coaches would have made his players sit for the bowl game, regardless of the NCAA ruling. >>>

    Exactly my point.
  • TabeTabe Posts: 5,920 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Why is everyone acting like Tressel is some paragon of virtue and that this is all so incredibly surprising? Um...hello - his last school went on probation under his watch, too. The guy was dirty when he was hired, was dirty when he was there, and was dirty when he got fired.

    Wake up, people.

    Tabe
  • larryallen73larryallen73 Posts: 6,055 ✭✭✭
    I can't believe Buckeye fan defending this clown. Once this story is fully done you will be hoping not to get the SMU death penalty! It's pretty clear this guy was running a horribly corrupt program like most colleges did in the 1970's.
  • jeffcbayjeffcbay Posts: 8,948 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>It's pretty clear this guy was running a horribly corrupt program like most colleges did in the 1970's. >>



    [insert your favorite college team here]'s players are doing the exact same thing, they just haven't gotten caught yet. I would bet my card collection on it.
  • jeffcbayjeffcbay Posts: 8,948 ✭✭✭✭
    Blame Tressel, Smith, players ... and yourself

    Canton Repository Article by Todd Porter

    As much as Jim Tressel tried, utopia does not exist. Tressel tried to package and sell utopia and everyone wanted to buy it. Everyone wanted to believe a good man could win with good players who didn’t bend and break NCAA rules, who didn’t smoke pot or make the $500 handshakes after games.

    What we’ve learned the last six months is Ohio State is not different than most other Top 25 programs. Buckeye fans can take their heads out of the sand now.

    Major college football is never clean. Utopia is a figment of our imagination. It doesn’t survive nor thrive in an industry where universities stand on the shoulders of young men to make billions every year, where universities sell their jerseys and $30 parking spots on sold-out gamedays and tell the kids to like it because their education is free.

    College football is great business for places like Ohio State. What does the education of a college football player actually cost the school, save for books? The rooms and food are already paid for by the 50,000 other students. Ohio State is bartering a service that cost it virtually nothing and is gaining hundreds of millions every year.

    Fans and boosters alike will look at Ohio State’s mess with rubber necks and aghast mouths because it’s easier to feign shock than see truth.

    Fitting it was Memorial Day when Tressel chose to be the good soldier. He fell on his sword, the sullen general walking away to save the entity, or what’s left of it. Tressel is not the angel fans wanted him to be. Surely he’s not the monster he’s being made to be now. He is all too human.

    Who’s guilty for the fall of Tressel and Ohio State?

    You are.

    I am.

    Everyone is.

    If Ohio State President Gordon Gee could sell a loge in his Ivory Tower, we’d all buy in as well.

    Why is it a college football crime for a player to sell something he owns for tattoos or money, and when Ohio State announced the NCAA findings on its website, there was an advertisement for fans to bid on game-worn jerseys? Why did the NCAA allow the suspended players to participate in the Sugar Bowl after executives lobbied for it?

    Hypocrites.

    I’m no tattoo aficionado, but last summer when I saw the intricate “block O” tattoo on quarterback Terrelle Pryor’s arm, I wondered how a college kid with nothing more than pocket lint in his wallet could afford it. Every week when Tressel would hold his weekly press luncheon and I would drive past the players’ parking lot at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, I wondered how some players afforded cars worth at least twice the cost of mine.

    Surely Tressel saw clues as well. There is a mentality among coaches and athletic administrators — yes, you Gene Smith — that exists at places like Ohio State where the less is known, the better. In other words, Tressel had to see clues, but in this business clues are allegations and until someone brings tangible proof, Tressel isn’t bound by anything — morals or NCAA rules — to investigate. As a matter of fact, Ohio State has a team of compliance employees whose job it is to make sure players are in compliance with NCAA rules. Allegations are their field.

    That department failed Ohio State. Gene Smith failed Ohio State. Jim Tressel failed Ohio State.

    Most of all, every player who looked for a hand out instead of a hand up over Tressel’s 10 years failed Ohio State. Players know the rules. Players break the rules.

    Major college football isn’t about rules. It’s about finding the shades of gray that exist in them and trying to breathe.

    Early on in Tressel’s OSU career, I wondered if he was as saintly as his neat sweat vests and American flag lapel pins would suggest.

    A person with direct knowledge of Tressel’s ethics once told me he is a good man, but he’s still the head football coach at Ohio State and he’s only as clean as that allows. Even if the Dalai Lama were to be OSU’s next head coach, he’d have to find the gray areas to live in.

    Fans wonder why Ohio State recruits players who break the rules. Think back to when Terrelle Pryor became a Buckeye.

    He could have become anyone’s problem child because, like it or not, we live in a world where the rules aren’t the same for everyone. Does the overweight woman in the seat next to you on the plane get the same courtesy as the hot blonde taking up the same amount of space because her Coach purse has the living room furniture stuffed in it? I didn’t think so.

    Pryor could have been anything he wanted.

    A Sooner. A Nittany Lion. A Wolverine. The Crimson Tide. A Badger. A Trojan.

    Everyone wanted him. Everyone recruited him. Everyone knew there were hints of character problems.

    Every college football coach in the country was willing to look as far away from the baggage in his Coach purse because Pryor is built like a tank and runs like a sports car.

    Ohio State and every major college football program in the country recruits players in the same situation as Pryor: Poor kids who believe their only hope to a better life is athletic ability. We feed that lie as well. We want players to buy into that fallacy. We need players to buy into that fallacy.

    Players like Pryor sell jerseys, and tickets, and beer, and parking, and TV contracts. They sell it every Saturday.

    Then on Monday the world is right ... after we put our heads back in the sand believing we have utopia.
  • dirtmonkeydirtmonkey Posts: 3,048 ✭✭
    There's a couple of problems that I have with what many OSU people are saying. First, "Everyone is doing it." I guess, to some degree, it's likely being done at some level or another in every program. But I doubt many are anywhere near what is going on at OSU. And there aren't many as blatant about doing it with little regard to secrecy, it seems. When the story first broke, I remember reading stories where students on campus had said they'd heard many stories about the benefits football players would receive at OSU, some of which have come to light during the recent investigation. It seems as though it wasn't a secret to very many, so it amuses me that guys like Smith and Gee didn't somehow know. Tressell may be the one that pays the final price, but he too was still a part of the problem.

    The second problem I have, and have discussed, is that some believe it was only about guys selling their stuff. First, it seems Pryor, and likely other players, were getting whatever they wanted from the Athletic Department to sign and sell. When Pryor apparently sold GU shoulder pads, it's not like another set just forms from thin air. The team would then have to provide another pair for him. I am sure he wasn't paying for them. Did the team afford such a luxury to every player? Not likely. Further, who determines a fair value for these items? Can a booster not just offer to buy a helmet from a player for 100K in the future, as an agreement to attend the university? Also, wouldn't a player more easily sell an OSU signed helmet for a wad of cash versus a Grambling signed helmet? So doesn't that help aid a premier program in recruiting over smaller schools? Similar things can be said for the gold pants. Not every program offers these. Isn't it really just a means to offer players something of value, likely to be sold for cash? Why can't universities just offer players 6 foot tall golden statues that they can then turn and sell for their weight in gold? Can you not see all of the issues that arise from guys "simply selling their own stuff"?
    image
  • jeffcbayjeffcbay Posts: 8,948 ✭✭✭✭
    Like Chris Spielman said, it's just as much the other players' fault for not standing up to the players breaking the rules. I bet Pryor quits and enters the supplemental draft. He's a coward. Tressel threw himself on the grenade, but there will be more casualties.

    All for tattoos...

    I bet the Bucks still beat Michigan this year though. image
  • larryallen73larryallen73 Posts: 6,055 ✭✭✭
    [insert your favorite college team here]'s players are doing the exact same thing, they just haven't gotten caught yet. I would bet my card collection on it.

    I disagree with you. Yes, all schools break the rules to some degree but I believe it's going to come out that Ohio State was doing more wrong than any program is these days. U$C of a few years ago probably the only team coming close in my opinion. Don't get too defensive this is just my unsubstantiated opinion.

    Also, I am a UCLA fan so if they are doing the same things as Ohio State then they better learn to do it better because they have really sucked the last few years.

    Sure if you look historically all big schools have cheated (i.e. UCLA hoops in the 60's and 70's) but I believe the cheating is substantially less across the board than the old days. I really believe that the level of cheating at Ohio State is going to prove to be far worse than other programs are currently doing. Again, just one man's opinion.
  • dirtmonkeydirtmonkey Posts: 3,048 ✭✭


    << <i>Like Chris Spielman said, it's just as much the other players' fault for not standing up to the players breaking the rules. I bet Pryor quits and enters the supplemental draft. He's a coward. Tressel threw himself on the grenade, but there will be more casualties.

    All for tattoos...

    I bet the Bucks still beat Michigan this year though. image >>



    I completely agree with Spielman's assertion. I think Pryor is likely done, whether he quits or not. As for OSU beating Michigan again, it's certainly possible. I like the direction their program is headed, but there's a lot of unknowns. Sadly, what OSU did to them over the last 10 years will now be overshadowed by all that's coming out. I hate to use the word "cheat", but I wonder how many of the commits that OSU had went to the school because of these benefits, alleged or not, that we've been hearing about. If any stars did, it certainly changes the way those games should be perceived. I'm not suggesting forfeits or asterisks. We'll never know for sure why players decided to go to OSU unless they claim it was because of these "benefits". To me, I'd just like to see this situation get resolved so that the focus can get back on the positives of the upcoming season.
    image
  • TabeTabe Posts: 5,920 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>All for tattoos... >>


    And cars.

    And drugs.

    Let's not ignore that part of the story.

    Or the story that Jim Tressel screwed over kids at his football camps on raffles so he could give big money prizes to elite prospects.

    And that Tressel cheated at his previous job.

    Tabe
  • VikingDudeVikingDude Posts: 1,298 ✭✭✭
    I think a lot of people would be shocked to learn what really happens with "student-athletes" at many colleges, big and small. Do people really think that all of those alumni dollars only go toward scholarships? Do people really think that the "student-athletes" aren't showed any favoritism when it comes to classes, tutors, finding jobs, etc.?

    I have a difficult time blaming the kids, though. I would think most people would have a hard time being a stand up guy and saying "no" to all of that being given to you. Even harder if you came from a difficult background.
  • larryallen73larryallen73 Posts: 6,055 ✭✭✭
    I think a lot of people would be shocked to learn what really happens with "student-athletes" at many colleges, big and small. Do people really think that all of those alumni dollars only go toward scholarships? Do people really think that the "student-athletes" aren't showed any favoritism when it comes to classes, tutors, finding jobs, etc.?

    I have a difficult time blaming the kids, though. I would think most people would have a hard time being a stand up guy and saying "no" to all of that being given to you. Even harder if you came from a difficult background.


    I agree 100% that it happens at all schools but I think some schools abuse it worse than others. U$C, Ohio State and most of the SEC. image I am half joking. I actually think the extra benefits ebbs and flows with administration, coaches, etc.... Benefits happen all over the place at all levels for sure. Some small and some big.

    I went to a division II school with no scholerships given so a pretty low level program. I talked to a guy who played on the team in the late 1960's and they would find wads of cash in their lockers after the game. Nobody asked where it came from!

    I had a friend growing up in the '70's in LA whose dad was a prof at UCLA. He was asked to give a better grade to a basketball player. Not sure if he did or not but I suspect he did the "right thing"... for the basketball team. image

  • GootGoot Posts: 3,496
    As someone who goes to a fairly competitive division 1 school and who knows a number of kids that play/or are currently being recruited to high level programs, certain privileges happen all over. I know walk-ons at Florida, Alabama, Georgia, as well as other schools and they even get a lot of hook ups just for being a part of the team. This is not limited to the superstars. I hear stories and have seen it first hand, although none are even close to the same magnitude of what Ohio St and USC have pulled lately and they are all within NCAA rules. They make a whole lot of money for the school and I believe that some lee-way is not all that bad, its just a matter of keeping it in control which is what Ohio St and USC have failed at doing.
  • jeffcbayjeffcbay Posts: 8,948 ✭✭✭✭
    My brother in-law worked in the athletic department of a certain school in the Big Sky Conference, and even in that small school he said he saw kids trading in their practice jerseys for alcohol, tobacco and cash.
  • jdip9jdip9 Posts: 1,895 ✭✭✭
    Pryor not coming back for senior year....the Sugar Bowl will be the last we've seen of him in any sort of meaningful football role.
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