OSU could vacate wins

[Spence]

His 12 emails and phone calls to Pryor's rep weren't about arranging a birthday party.

Nothing in the emails had Tressel encouraging anyone to hide anything. He was trying to get their activity stopped. Tressel did not do what a coach is bound to do by the NCAA - turn over the information he had on players breaking the rules. He is 100% guilty of that- a major violation. That is the only thing the school and the NCAA found. Anything else is speculation.

[Derek]

Well, I agree with Vileborg. Maybe this has been explained before, but why is it against the rules for a player to sell his jersey to a fan? The NCAA will make money off the name of the player, makes money by showing the player on TV, what's wrong with him selling his jersey with a signature on it?

Anyone think Coaches should be fired in situations like this? As a matter of policy, not school choice?

It is a slippery slope. What is a fan? How much over "value" for personal items constitutes a payola scheme?

The North Carolina player suspended for four games sold his jersey for $1,000..to a guy that the NCAA ruled an "agent". Former Auburn players have stated that fans/boosters would give them cash handshakes. Why not buy their old socks?

If players can sell jersies for more than face value...why not let boosters just pay cash to players?

Good points.

[Spence]

The guy that the Ohio State players sold their stuff to wasn't a fan. He was a memorabilia guy, a tatoo artist, and a drug dealer. A guy the players shouldn't have been associated with, but not a fan.

[billybud]

His 12 emails and phone calls to Pryor's rep weren't about arranging a birthday party.

Nothing in the emails had Tressel encouraging anyone to hide anything. He was trying to get their activity stopped. Tressel did not do what a coach is bound to do by the NCAA - turn over the information he had on players breaking the rules. He is 100% guilty of that- a major violation. That is the only thing the school and the NCAA found. Anything else is speculation.

Exactly!!!

"HE WAS TRYING TO GET THE ACTIVITY STOPPED"...as you posted.

Why? Because he knew it was a violation. He was covering, covering, hoping it would stop and not be discovered. He didn;t report it, he did try to stop it. He did attempt to cover it up.

[Vileborg]

He was trying to get the activity stopped because he thought it was stupid for kids to be selling mementos of their accomplishments for pennies.

This thread brings in to question who on this board can be trusted. Do people here turn themselves in when they run a stop sign? Let he who has no sin throw first.

[billybud]

You know? I worked in an environment where your reputation for integrity was paramount. When I made a very rare error, I was quick to make all parties aware of that error and the possible ramifications.

When my son, at age 14, vandalized a building and I found out about it, I turned him in. I paid the restitution (which the boy worked off), court costs, and made sure that he performed his community service. My son, at the time, felt that I was disloyal but he has come to realize that he was raised with a certain standard and I am proud to say that he turned out well.

When you deliberately decide to ignore duty (as did Tressel) you begin an insidious process. It may start with small things......But lapses of character can be corrosive.

[donovan]

I am of the belief that the posters on this site are honest, full of integrity and strive hard to do what is right. Were that not the case, most of us would have moved on or certainly not bare our souls to the extent that we have have done. So questioning anyone's integrity is, in my opinion, not warranted.

None of us know what was going on in Tressel's mind, he may not even be sure himself. I have no doubt had he to do it again he would do it differently, not because he "got caught" but because I think he tries hard to operate an out of control environment the best he can.

He has said he is willing to take whatever licks he has coming. Unfortunately kicking a person when they are down has become a national pastime. I am not even sure what the punishment is at this point...but time to move on.

[Vileborg]

Bleh, everyone here has good moral code. If anything my emphasis on loyalty is the aberration in this conversation.

On a side note. I spent many hours reading the NCAA regulations and I can not find where the particular incident is a violation of a specific regulation. The fact that the items were trade at fair market value makes this a non-issue and even that is not specifically called into question. It seems almost as if Ohio St. brought this up to be clarified so as not to be hounded later should it be ruled against regulations. With the direct evidence being called into such question I can without a doubt say that Tressel would not have considered this a violation. It probably made him mad but I don't see it as a direct violation of any current regulation.

[billybud]

Tressel's job was to notify the compliance experts...OSU's compliance folks and his boss, the AD.

Tressel knew it was wrong and a violation....he just wanted to keep his players on the field. I think he is not stupid, just a coach who wanted to keep his starting QB playing and looked the other way.

The NCAA passed explicit guidelines forbidding players to peddle memorabilia after nine Georgia players were rebuked (though not officially sanctioned, because no adequate guidelines existed at the time) for selling their 2002 SEC Championship rings on eBay. And everyone in the coaching profession knows that student-athletes are strictly forbidden from profiting off their name or likeness as athletes. Compliance Departments like OSU's cover this every year. (and, interestingly, it was rings that figured in on the OSU player's major $$ sales).

The OSU AD found out about the violations when the Justice Department notified OSU in December. Ohio State immediately conducted a press conference. The AD said that they had not been aware of these sales until notified just that month by the Justice Department. Tressel, standing beside him, just nodded along. Of course, Tressel had known for 8 months, yet he still hadn't come clean to his bosses. The NCAA investigation turned up the emails and it was "Liar, liar, vest on fire".

It wasn't as if North Carolina hadn't made headlines months earlier about AJ Green selling his Independence Bowl jersey (uhhh..that might be a flag!).

Naw...Tressel was a guy who wanted to win...badly. He took a chance on not being caught. As often will happen, that chance didn't turn out for him.

(question....why do slim chance and fat chance mean the same thing?)

[Vileborg]

Bleh, I found it. They got them for selling their Jersey with their name on it, their football awards, and for discount services.

The students were not originally aware that this was an infraction but upon education still did not come forward adding a fifth game to a normal four game suspension. Each must pay restitution of the amount of their goods or service discounts to a charity of their choice.

"As part of their reinstatement, Adams must repay $1,000 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring and Herron must repay $1,150 for selling his football jersey, pants and shoes for $1,000 and receiving discounted services worth $150.

Posey must repay $1,250 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring for $1,200 and receiving discounted services worth $50, while Pryor must repay $2,500 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring, a 2009 Fiesta Bowl sportsmanship award and his 2008 Gold Pants, a gift from the university.

Solomon must repay $1,505 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring for $1,000, his 2008 Gold Pants for $350 and receiving discounted services worth $155."

http://ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/ncaa/nc ... s+template

PS I'm going to agree to disagree on certain points and let this go, but the NCAA's own 2010-2011 handbook didn't have the violated rules in it. I had to do a search for an amended copy of the handbook to find an add-in that added the awards and memorabilia sales regulations. They were public record and it is the responsibility of everyone involved to know the rules but had I not known what they were being hit with I never would have known to look for an amended version hidden on their website.

[ktffan]

He was trying to get the activity stopped because he thought it was stupid for kids to be selling mementos of their accomplishments for pennies.

This thread brings in to question who on this board can be trusted. Do people here turn themselves in when they run a stop sign? Let he who has no sin throw first.

I know you only have my word on this, but I don't run stop signs. Besides being against the law, it's dangerous.

[ktffan]

Bleh, I found it. They got them for selling their Jersey with their name on it, their football awards, and for discount services.

The students were not originally aware that this was an infraction but upon education still did not come forward adding a fifth game to a normal four game suspension. Each must pay restitution of the amount of their goods or service discounts to a charity of their choice.

"As part of their reinstatement, Adams must repay $1,000 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring and Herron must repay $1,150 for selling his football jersey, pants and shoes for $1,000 and receiving discounted services worth $150.

Posey must repay $1,250 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring for $1,200 and receiving discounted services worth $50, while Pryor must repay $2,500 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring, a 2009 Fiesta Bowl sportsmanship award and his 2008 Gold Pants, a gift from the university.

Solomon must repay $1,505 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring for $1,000, his 2008 Gold Pants for $350 and receiving discounted services worth $155."

http://ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/ncaa/nc ... s+template

That was such a blatant lie, it's not worth repeating as fact. These guys had been told over and over they can't do this, but they either didn't listen or didn't care. I find it hilarious that Ohio State threw the compliance department under the bus to protect these players, but now the NCAA is saying the compliance department wasn't culpable. Right.

[Vileborg]

I'm with you. I believe what everyone here is saying. I stop for stop signs for the most part but there have been times when I've missed one on an unfamiliar road or my mind has been elsewhere and I went through then realized I just ran one.

[billybud]

I really don't have much to say re blame on the athletes...it is the professional..Tressel, that I fault.

And Gee, the OSU Prez, has turned out to be a weasel of the highest order....or maybe a chameleon is a better analogy since he can aquire the color of his background..


"In 2003, then-Vanderbilt chancellor Gordon Gee famously declared, "There is a wrong culture in athletics, and I'm declaring war on it."

In his "war," Gee did away with Vandy's athletic department and instead folded into the University Affairs office, where athletics is overseen by a vice chancellor.

We bring this up not to make fun of Vandy's athletics (actually, outside of football, Vandy has a solid program) but to instead wonder where Gee -- now the president of Ohio State -- has been during this whole Jim Tressel controversy.

To be fair, Gee did weigh in once, back in March. At a news conference that announced NCAA violations committed by Tressel, Gee was asked if he was going to fire Tressel. No way, Gee said. He laughingly added, "I hope he doesn't fire me."

Gee later apologized for the line, but where is the action from the man who vowed to change college athletics? Last week, when the NCAA officially announced it was investigating Tressel, Gee wasn't heard from.

Indeed, Gee (the highest-paid university president in the nation, by the way) has been strangely silent during the whole Tressel brouhaha. You'd think a guy who declared "war" on big-time athletics surely would have waded into the fray and jettisoned Tressel.

Instead ... crickets.

[RazorHawk]

The NCAA investigation turned up the emails and it was "Liar, liar, vest on fire".

And just outside of Detroit there was this billboard.