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Oh goodie...More Tressel stuff

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

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Jim Tressel Again Under Fire

Debbie Henthorn, Yahoo! Contributor Network
May 25, 2011 "Contribute content like this. Start Here."

COMMENTARY | Just as Ohio State University celebrated its athletic programs earning high marks on the NCAA's Academic Progress Report, some more disturbing news about football coach Jim Tressel has arrived.

The Columbus Dispatch reported the football team scored a 971 APR in the 2009-2010 school year with a four-year average of 985. This figure is higher than the national four-year average of 946. The NCAA annually assesses Division I schools in areas such as grades, retention and graduation rates.

The academic achievement won't be enough to soften the next expected blow to Tressel's reputation as the next edition of Sports Illustrated hits the stands Tuesday, May 31.

During the second hour of Tuesday's "Common Man and The Torg" on Columbus radio station 97.1 The Fan, the hosts reported that "the Sports Illustrated editors are salivating" about the article written by George Dohrmann. The weight of the article hinges on Dohrmann's reputation as an investigative journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000. That article exposed the gamut of academic fraud at the University of Minnesota when he was with the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Fans of Ohio State football like me are wondering "What else could Tressel have possibly done?" Fans of Jim Tressel are angry that the national media won't leave their football deity alone.

Quoting an anonymous source, the radio hosts stated that Dorhmann has made two visits to central Ohio to gather information for the article. One of those visits was reportedly to a prison to speak with an inmate who allegedly worked as a tattoo artist at Dudley's. The telephone number for Dudley's Tattoo Shop on West Broad Street in Columbus is no longer in service.

The anonymous source used the words "new," "big time" and "enlightening" describing the information to be revealed by Dohrmann, including new allegations about Tressel's years at Youngstown State.

Sports Illustrated isn't alone in its portrayal of the Ohio State coach as the face of the problems with college football. In the May 30 issue of ESPN the Magazine, the cover portrays a Tressel-esque sweater vest with the familiar Ohio State logo replaced with a curved "Busted." How long would the university have tried to keep Tressel's lies a secret had Yahoo! Sports reporters Charles Robinson and Dan Wetzel not persisted in uncovering the truth?

Don't blame the media for the bad attention that is being heaped upon the Ohio State football program. No matter how silly the rule about financial gain from university-issued uniforms and trinkets, the players broke that rule. Those who would shout that Tressel was only protecting his players and his sins are of a lesser degree than, say, Auburn or USC are misguided.

As a fan of college football and the Ohio State Buckeyes, it's difficult to watch the program being dragged through the mud. However, one bad apple can spoil the whole basket as the rot moves from one apple to the next.

The head coach who has built an image of honor above all has been shown to be a head coach who will hide the facts if it could cost him a win.

The 2010 Big Ten Championship rings were delivered to Ohio State this month. As the possibility of a vacated season looms, did Tressel hand out the rings to his players? Or did he do the honorable thing and put them away until the NCAA makes a ruling on his violations?

This should be a fun thread.

Can't wait to here what Big Moe from L-Block says about Tressel, I'm sure they had many encounters while working for Dudley's tatoo.
 
b00bie comes off as such a butt-hurt pussy.

We get it already...
 
I'm pretty sure this story isn't being released in that May 31 issue, per Ken Gordon of the Columbus Dispatch.
 
So an unamed source got info from a guy in prison.

Smells fishy.
 
hm. This along with the other thread KCOTT started?

Let me ask the Tressel backers this question; Why would this long time and award winning journalist from Sports Illustrated put this stuff out there if not true? Because of the coverups and outright lies already proven as fact, why would anyone question anything else coming out? How much more deception do you all need before saying Tressel needs to go?

And BTW: I'm kind of now swaying to the side of thinking more people within OSU knew of the Tressel coverup. If that is the case, the football program has many more problems than simply finding a new head coach.
 
Some kids had a garage sale and the coach didn't immediately report it. Big deal. I don't care about the outcome either way, but I really don't see where all the vitriol is coming from on this. Is this really an issue at all? I'm honestly trying to understand why anyone cares about this.

Tressel didn't intentionally give the kids stuff to sell right? It was memorabilia that almost everyone assumed the players would keep. If anything, this exposes how college athletics exploits it's athletes. The NCAA makes hundreds of millions of dollars off these kids and when the kids decide to sell off some of their stuff for some extra spending cash (they are kids after all, and do make bad decisions) they are penalized by missing games. If a student not involved in athletics wanted to sell his/her honors award we wouldn't bat an eyelash. In fact, we'd talk about how hard that student worked to earn that recognition and that it's unfortunate that they'd need to sell the award. When the same thing happens in college football, it instantly becomes a huge deal, and people demand that the coach be fired.

Honestly, I don't get where the anger and hate are coming from on this, or how it's a big deal. Please someone enlighten me.
 
These persisting articles are the media's way to play watch-dog and make sure OSU and Tressel are hurt enough for them to get their way. Media has a ton of control over matters because they control public opinion, if you think people are posting non-partial articles, you're a sheep.

Tressel was wrong and it looks logical to fire him, but the university is standing by his side. The slime that runs ESPN and SI know that their articles make a difference, so they're imposing their own sanctions on The Ohio State University regardless of the NCAA sanctions.
 
Some kids had a garage sale and the coach didn't immediately report it. Big deal. I don't care about the outcome either way, but I really don't see where all the vitriol is coming from on this. Is this really an issue at all? I'm honestly trying to understand why anyone cares about this.

Tressel didn't intentionally give the kids stuff to sell right? It was memorabilia that almost everyone assumed the players would keep. If anything, this exposes how college athletics exploits it's athletes. The NCAA makes hundreds of millions of dollars off these kids and when the kids decide to sell off some of their stuff for some extra spending cash (they are kids after all, and do make bad decisions) they are penalized by missing games. If a student not involved in athletics wanted to sell his/her honors award we wouldn't bat an eyelash. In fact, we'd talk about how hard that student worked to earn that recognition and that it's unfortunate that they'd need to sell the award. When the same thing happens in college football, it instantly becomes a huge deal, and people demand that the coach be fired.

Honestly, I don't get where the anger and hate are coming from on this, or how it's a big deal. Please someone enlighten me.

What the players did is completely irrelevant. The problem here is that in the event of ANY violation a coach must report it. Tressel knew there had been violations and he had months to report them. Instead he rolled the dice and chose to sign the certification of compliance form on Sept 13th even though he knew there had been violations....serious or not. You can't lie and attempt cover-ups on the NCAA.


Whether or not players should be paid or how much the NCAA makes off these kids is TOTALLY irrellevant too. As of today there are rules in place...Tressel knows this. If any of these stupid little rules get broken, a coach must report them...Tressel chose no too. That was an awful choice, one that will cost the University dearly and Tress his job. It's a damn shame.

Why the "anger"? We are going to get hammered by the NCAA. The 2010 season will be vacated. Scholarships will be lost. That makes me angry...I think he has just set the university back years. He should've known better.
 
Ray Small just put a knife in Tressel's back.

====

Ray Small tells all: Ex-Buckeye says he sold memorabilia, some players don't 'think about' rules

Ray Small saw it all – and did most of it, too – during his four years suiting up in scarlet and gray.

Small told The Lantern on Wednesday he profited off of memorabilia while at Ohio State, adding that some student-athletes "don't even think about (NCAA) rules."
"I had sold my things but it was just for the money," Small said. "At that time in college, you're kind of struggling."

Small, who played receiver at OSU from 2006-2010, capitalized on the Buckeyes' success during his college career.

"We had four Big Ten rings," he said. "There was enough to go around."

Small said he sold the rings to cover typical costs of living.

"We have apartments, car notes," he said. "So you got things like that and you look around and you're like, ‘Well I got (four) of them, I can sell one or two and get some money to pay this rent."

The wheeling and dealing didn't stop with rings. The best deals came from car dealerships, Small said.

"It was definitely the deals on the cars. I don't see why it's a big deal," said Small, who identified Jack Maxton Chevrolet as the players' main resource.

The Columbus Dispatch reported on May 7 that OSU was investigating more than 50 transactions between OSU athletes and their families and Jack Maxton Chevrolet or Auto Direct.

Representatives for Jack Maxton Chevrolet did not return repeated requests for comment.

NCAA rules prohibit student-athletes from benefiting from the sale of their merchandise. Small said he wasn't the only one.

"They have a lot (of dirt) on everybody," Small said, "cause everybody was doing it."
Although he understands how athletes are easy targets for getting deals, Small said anyone can take advantage.

"(People say) ‘Oh you got a deal, it's because you're an athlete,'" Small said. "Playing for Ohio State definitely helps. But I know a lot of people that do nothing and get deals on their cars."

The Lantern obtained a police report from shortly after 2 a.m. on Sept. 18, 2007, when Small was arrested for a misdemeanor charge of driving with a suspended license. According to the report, Small was driving a 2007 Chrysler 300 that he told the officer he had just purchased. The vehicle had a dealer plate on it instead of a temporary tag.

Police then received a call from Aaron Kniffin later that morning, wanting to know why the car had been impounded. Kniffin, a salesman at Jack Maxton Chevrolet, told the officer the dealership "gives a lot of coaches and faculty cars and that Mr. Small's family is purchasing the car," according to the report. Kniffin told the officer that paperwork for the car had not yet been worked out.

On Dec. 23, the NCAA suspended quarterback Terrelle Pryor, running back Dan Herron, receiver DeVier Posey, offensive lineman Mike Adams and defensive end Solomon Thomas for five games for selling memorabilia and receiving discounted tattoos from Eddie Rife, owner of Fine Line Ink tattoo parlor. Linebacker Jordan Whiting earned a one-game ban.

OSU handed coach Jim Tressel a five-game suspension and $250,000 fine for failing to report the players' actions.

Malcolm Jenkins, who played cornerback for OSU from 2005-2008, said the tattoo violation was overblown.

"The tattoo thing is whatever. It's not that big of a deal, but it's one of the dumb rules that the NCAA has," Jenkins told The Lantern on Wednesday. "I don't see what advantage getting free tattoos has to a university to be a violation, but it's whatever. It's in the rules, so it's whatever."

Small said he isn't surprised players couldn't resist the temptation of discounted tattoos.

"If you go in and try to get a tattoo, and somebody is like ‘Do you want 50 percent off this tattoo?' You're going to say, ‘Heck yeah,'" Small said.

The NCAA's notice of allegations sent to university President E. Gordon Gee on April 21 details the infractions that the six aforementioned athletes committed. It also lists a seventh violator, noted under letter "g" in its document. The NCAA accuses that player of having repeated interaction with Rife for a year-and-a-half.

Small said he didn't know much about Rife or Fine Line Ink.

Among the items this mystery player sold to Rife was a 2010 Rose Bowl watch for $250. However, Small, defensive end Rob Rose and running back Bo DeLande were suspended for the 2010 Rose Bowl for a "violation of team rules."

According to athletic department spokesman Dan Wallenberg, that means Small didn't receive a watch.

"Postseason awards are limited to student-athletes who are eligible to participate in such contests under NCAA and Big Ten Conference regulations," Wallenberg said Wednesday in an email to The Lantern.

Rife declined The Lantern's request for an interview.

Small spent much of his four years at OSU in Tressel's doghouse.

"When I was in college, in my opinion, I was the bad guy," Small said. "I mean I knew that I was being the bad guy. I had took on that role."

Small said the allure of deals and discounts overshadows the rules education that the athletic department's compliance office provides.

"They explain the rules to you, but as a kid you're not really listening to all of them rules," Small said. "You go out and you just, people show you so much love, you don't even think about the rules. You're just like ‘Ah man, it's cool.' You take it, and next thing you know the NCAA is down your back."

Jenkins said the athletic department makes a concerted effort to prevent such scenarios, but not all players follow instruction.

"What the players go out and do on their own time and make their own decisions is on them," Jenkins said. "I know (the compliance department) puts things in place to give us knowledge of the rules, give us education on how to deal with those situations, but what the players do with that is another story."

The Lantern reached out to Doug Archie, head of the OSU compliance department, but instead received a comment from Wallenberg.

"We educate as best we can and expect student-athletes and staff to follow our messaging and policies," Wallenberg said in an email.

Jenkins said some players fail to resist the temptation of discounts.

"When I was in school, I never really encountered too many offers and stuff, and the ones I did, it wasn't hard to say no," Jenkins said. "But some guys who have less self-control feel like they can get away with it."

Although six players have been penalized, Small said players mostly kept their wrongdoing under wraps.

"(It) was kind of hush-hush. I mean, you tell … probably your close friend, or a close friend to your close friend," Small said. "As far as everybody just talking about it in the locker room, that wasn't really a big thing. So if somebody is giving them a deal, it was probably a situation where they kept it to themselves."

Small did not provide details on who bought his memorabilia.

In a September interview with The Lantern, athletic director Gene Smith said outside influences are to blame for players' misjudgments of NCAA rules.

"At the end of the day, everyone's trying to do what's right. There's some things you can't control," Smith said. "Do we have some bad people in the business? No doubt. But 99 percent of our people are trying to do it the right way, and outside influences take them to where they are.

"It worries me constantly that our education sessions might not work, might not make it to a particular family member."

But when speaking to the media at the announcement of the players' suspensions on Dec. 23, Smith said the compliance department could have done more.

"We were not explicit with these young men that you cannot resell items that we give you," Smith said. "They stated in their interviews with us and with the NCAA that they felt those items were theirs, that they owned them, that they could sell them to help their families. … We were not explicit, and that's our responsibility to be explicit."

Smith said the compliance department reaches out to those who might interact with athletes to make sure everyone is on the same page.

"We focus more on education, education, education. Our education is marvelous," Smith told The Lantern in September. "We go out and meet with the car dealers, we'll go into the bars and restaurants with cover charges and nightclubs and educate those people so they don't give our athletes freebies."

Former OSU basketball player Mark Titus wrote Tuesday on his blog, Club Trillion, that the perks within the football program are far from a secret.

"Any OSU student in the past five years could tell you that a lot of the football players drive nice cars," Titus wrote. "You'd have to be blind to not notice it."

Titus declined further comment when The Lantern contacted him, but said he has received "all sorts of hate mail. … If people are this upset with me for pointing out the obvious, I can't imagine how mad they must be at all the guys who actually broke the rules and got OSU into this mess in the first place."

In his four years in scarlet and gray, Small – who is back at OSU pursuing a degree in sociology – totaled 61 receptions for 659 yards and three touchdowns. He returned a fourth-quarter punt 69 yards for a touchdown to seal a 26-14 victory against Ohio University on Sept. 6, 2008. Small spent time on the practice squads of the Indianapolis Colts, Minnesota Vikings and Washington Redskins.

OSU has until July 5 to respond to the NCAA's notice of allegations. The university will present its case to the NCAA Committee on Infractions on Aug. 12.

Small said players get deals just based on affiliation with the university.

"Everywhere you go, while you're in the process of playing at Ohio State," Small said, "you're going to get a deal every which way."
 
Some kids had a garage sale and the coach didn't immediately report it. Big deal. I don't care about the outcome either way, but I really don't see where all the vitriol is coming from on this. Is this really an issue at all? I'm honestly trying to understand why anyone cares about this.

Tressel didn't intentionally give the kids stuff to sell right? It was memorabilia that almost everyone assumed the players would keep. If anything, this exposes how college athletics exploits it's athletes. The NCAA makes hundreds of millions of dollars off these kids and when the kids decide to sell off some of their stuff for some extra spending cash (they are kids after all, and do make bad decisions) they are penalized by missing games. If a student not involved in athletics wanted to sell his/her honors award we wouldn't bat an eyelash. In fact, we'd talk about how hard that student worked to earn that recognition and that it's unfortunate that they'd need to sell the award. When the same thing happens in college football, it instantly becomes a huge deal, and people demand that the coach be fired.

Honestly, I don't get where the anger and hate are coming from on this, or how it's a big deal. Please someone enlighten me.

Sorry Dirk, but your post is the same thing others have posted and is totally missing the issues and the point. I could less about what the players did or didn't do. I do care about the Tressel coverup of rules clearly broken no matter how bad the rules are. I care about the future of THE Ohio State University Football Program. That is precisely why I am angry. Very.
 
This article tells me two things:

1) The boosters are smart enough not to give cash to the players, ala every other program in the USA. Those programs might be sly, but it is sly in that the boosters give cash for these kids to buy the cars and tattoos, thus not making a paper trail (see Cam Newton's dad) and;

2) OSU is likely going to try to point out the flaws in the system instead of cover their asses. I feel like there will be an admission of guilt, but also a diagnosis of how NCAA schools go about giving their players benefits.

If you all think Tressel is the only truly guilty person of something like this, then you're trying too hard not to be a homer.
 
Sorry Dirk, but your post is the same thing others have posted and is totally missing the issues and the point. I could less about what the players did or didn't do. I do care about the Tressel coverup of rules clearly broken no matter how bad the rules are. I care about the future of THE Ohio State University Football Program. That is precisely why I am angry. Very.

Exactly. For whatever reason, people are focusing on what the players did. Personally, I don't think it's that big of a deal and it certainly goes on at other places. However, what Tressel did is the real issue. You can't have the face of your program and "model of integrity" lying and covering up NCAA violations. I'm sure it will continue to be this way until the punishments are actually handed down and people see how severe the NCAA thinks these violations are.
 

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