Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel has not resigned and he has not been fired. High-level sources in the university's athletic department confirmed that for The Dispatch this afternoon.
They said that Tressel, in his 11th year as OSU's football coach, will continue in that capacity but faces a possible sanction and/or fine for committing an NCAA rules violation. That is expected to become more clear at a news conference at 7 tonight featuring OSU president E. Gordon Gee and athletic director Gene Smith, along with Tressel.
This comes in reaction to a story that appeared on Yahoo Sports last night that alleged a tispster made Tressel aware of "tattoo-gate" months before it was formally investigated by OSU in December. The story quoted an anonymous source who said Tressel was informed in April of last year of the goings-on between Ed Rife, owner of Fine Line Ink Tattoos and Piercings, and the Ohio State five of Terrelle Pryor, Dan Herron, DeVier Posey, Mike Adams, Solomon Thomas and Jordan Whiting.
Smith and Tressel said during a news conference on Dec.23 that they weren't made aware of the memorabilia-for-cash-and/or-tattoos situation until it was brought to the school's attention on Dec.7 by the U.S. Attorney's office, which had uncovered it in an investigation of Rife. The players involved were allowed to take part in the Sugar Bowl win over Arkansas, but Pryor, Herron, Posey, Adams and Thomas face five-game suspensions to start the 2011 season while Whiting must sit out one game.
Whether Tressel now might have to sit out a game or two, and/or pay a fine remains to be seen.
"We have reported a violation, a perceived violation, that we were having discussions with them (NCAA) about the best way to handle it," OSU president E. Gordon Gee told the Associated Press while at the Ohio Statehouse for the governor's State of the State address today. "We reported that immediately when we found it."
The question of why Tressel didn't report what he knew back in April is at the forefront of the situation. The Dispatch learned through sources today that the coach is expected to explain that he at first was given information implicating a couple of players back in April, but that the information came from an attorney. Sources said Tressel did not pass the information along to the compliance office because it was part of an investigation and came from an attorney.
The information, which was said to have arrived in two e-mails, apparently was uncovered in January when Ohio State was preparing its appeal of the penalties leveled on the six players. Sources said OSU notified the NCAA immediately.
Whether this would have come out eventually isn't clear, but the Yahoo Sports story accelerated the process. The news was so important that Smith -- he was in New York City yesterday and was scheduled to be in Indianapolis tonight to begin his duties as the chairman of the NCAA basketball committee, which will set the NCAA Tournament field on Sunday -- returned to Columbus to take part in a high-level meeting on the matter this morning.
Tressel is expected to make about $3.5 million this year, per a contract modification he signed a year ago Wednesday. But also according to his contract, his having knowledge of a possible violation of NCAA policies, in this case, improper benefits for players, and not passing that knowledge along to the school's compliance office is grounds for discipline, which could include dismissal.
The team is going through the final days of winter conditioning this week, and after the early morning session today, Tressel addressed the players. He didn't refer to specifics about what was going on, several sources said, but he did tell the players the team should stand firm together, and he made no hint of stepping down.