Friday, March 18, 2011

Tressel to serve 5-game suspension - Brilliant PR maneuver, Tressel, but NCAA will have final say -

BUCKEYES TO START TOURNAMENT RUN TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!







Tressel to serve 5-game suspension
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Now that the NCAA has finalized its ruling that five Ohio State football players who took improper benefits are suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season, Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel says he wants the same punishment.
On Thursday night, the NCAA denied Ohio State's appeal on behalf of the players, including star quarterback Terrelle Pryor, reasserting that they must sit out the first five games this fall for selling autographed memorabilia and receiving discounted tattoos.
Tressel had been handed a two-game suspension in a separate investigation by Ohio State after it was discovered he had not notified the NCAA, his Ohio State bosses or the school's compliance department that he was aware for more than nine months -- including throughout his team's 12-1 season in 2010 -- of the players' improper benefits.
"Throughout this entire situation, my players and I have committed ourselves to facing our mistakes and growing from them; we can only successfully do this together," he said in a statement. "I spoke with athletic director [Gene] Smith, and our student-athletes involved, and told them that my mistakes need to share the same game sanctions."
Ohio State had learned of Tressel's knowledge of his players' NCAA violations while preparing a seven-page appeal to the NCAA of the players' suspensions. On March 8, the university announced Tressel would sit out the first two games of the 2011 season.
But before the NCAA could rule on his punishment, he added three games to his penalty.
"Coach Tressel has requested that he sit out the first five games of the 2011 season. I have accepted his request and we are taking action to notify the NCAA," Smith said in a statement. He declined further comment.
The NCAA announced the decision on Thursday night -- during the midst of the first day of men's basketball tournament. The football news may upstage the basketball team's NCAA tournament opener. The Buckeyes are the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament and will play Texas-San Antonio in the second round in Cleveland on Friday.
Pryor, along with starting offensive lineman Mike Adams, leading rusher Daniel Herron, first-team receiver DeVier Posey and backup defensive lineman Solomon Thomas, acknowledged they sold rings, trophies and apparel in 2009. In addition to sitting out the first five games against Akron, Toledo, the University of Miami, Colorado and Michigan State, they also must repay to charity the equivalent of the benefits they received, ranging from $1,000 to $2,500.
"Like my players, I am very sorry for the mistakes I made," Tressel said in the statement. "I request of the university that my sanctions now include five games so that the players and I can handle this adversity together."
Ohio State disclosed the proposed penalties against six football players (another was assessed only a one-game suspension) in December. But the NCAA permitted all to play in the Buckeyes' 31-26 victory over Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl.
Tressel had repeatedly told investigators that he knew nothing about the players' violations. His contract stipulates that he must disclose any potential violations or could be fired. Yet he signed an NCAA disclosure form last September that he was unaware of any violations -- even though he had exchanged e-mails in April and June with a Columbus lawyer who told him of his players' relationship with a Columbus tattoo-parlor owner and of the benefits the players had received.
Tressel has said he didn't tell anyone because he felt bound by confidentiality, since the tattoo-parlor owner was the subject of a federal drug-trafficking investigation. The 11th-year coach of the Buckeyes said he was concerned for his players' safety, and said he never even considered that the players' acceptance of the improper benefits might affect their eligibility.
In addition to the original two-game suspension, Ohio State also said Tressel must pay a fine of $250,000 of his estimated annual salary of $3.5 million, must attend a compliance seminar, will receive a public reprimand and must apologize for his actions. In several speaking engagements in the past week in front of supportive fans -- at most of his appearances he was met with a standing ovation - Tressel has said he regrets his actions and has apologized for embarrassing the university.
There is no timeline for any additional actions by the NCAA regarding Tressel. Although, with the appeal being denied, the penalty for the players is now finalized.
The NCAA could vacate the 2010 season because Tressel knowingly used ineligible players.






Brilliant PR maneuver, Tressel, but NCAA will have final say

It took 11 months, but someone at Ohio State finally made a sound decision in the case of the NCAA's least favorite tattoo parlor.
Tuesday, The Columbus Dispatch reported that after the NCAA upheld a five-game suspension for five key Buckeyes for swapping memorabilia for cash and tattoos, Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel asked the school to increase his own suspension to five games for hiding the entire affair from the NCAA.
After an abomination of a press conference last week that public relations professors will use for years as an example of how not to handle a crisis, Tressel and Ohio State made a brilliant PR move on two fronts Thursday. First, the increase in the suspension allows Tressel and the school to say to the NCAA that Tressel finally understands the gravity of hiding knowledge of the tattoo parlor transactions since he was tipped off by an e-mail in April 2010 by former Ohio State player Christopher Cicero and for essentially lying to the NCAA twice -- once when he signed a disclosure form in September pledging that he had no knowledge of any potential violations and again when he said nothing of the e-mails when investigators looked into the case in December. Second, by leaking this news on the first day of serious NCAA tournament action, the Buckeyes knew coverage of the move and the necessary rehash of the slimy circumstances that preceded it would get buried beneath an avalanche of buzzer-beaters.
As PR goes, it was BCS-bowl worthy. But that's all the suspension increase was. PR, and nothing more.
This isn't over. Not even close. The NCAA's Committee on Infractions will have the final say, and the committee can accept Ohio State's penalties or add to them. (One addition almost certainly will be the vacation of 12 wins in 2010. After all, Ohio State's head coach knowingly played at least two ineligible players.)
Thanks to Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl, who also lied to NCAA investigators and who also was charged with violation of Bylaw 10.1 (unethical conduct), we have a handy roadmap for how Tressel's case should play out. A lot of people thought Pearl's troubles were behind him after Tennessee docked his salary and the SEC suspended him for the Volunteers' first eight conference games this season. That simply wasn't the case.
Tennessee received a Letter of Inquiry from the NCAA in September for a case involving Pearl and recruits attending a cookout at his home during an unofficial visit. Pearl's penalties were applied shortly after that. Tennessee received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA in February. The notice spelled out the precise allegations against Pearl and former football coach Lane Kiffin. Tennessee is scheduled to appear before the Committee on Infractions in a few months.
Whether Pearl will be employed by Tennessee at the time is in doubt.
Wednesday, Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton gave a bizarrely timed interview with Knoxville radio host Jimmy Hyams that suggested Pearl's job is in serious jeopardy. Perhaps Tennessee's brain trust realized that the COI hasn't been historically kind to coaches found to have broken Bylaw 10.1.
The NCAA is still investigating Tressel's case, so it's unclear when Ohio State will receive a Letter of Inquiry, a Notice of Allegations or a date with the COI. A lot can change between now and then, but the mountain of evidence and the fact that the case involves just one person should allow the case to move up the docket quickly.
Thursday's move by Tressel can't do anything but help. The COI hammered USC in the Reggie Bush case in part because of the arrogance of USC athletics officials during the investigation. Instead of contrition, former USC athletic director Mike Garrett and company gave the NCAA nothing. In Ohio State's case, NCAA officials have to be furious about Tressel's actions because the NCAA cut a sweetheart deal with the Buckeyes that allowed the affected players to play in the Sugar Bowl. This at least gives the appearance of contrition, and on it's surface, it's a fairly serious upgrade in discipline.
Instead of only missing warm-ups against Akron and Toledo, Tressel also will miss games against Miami, Colorado and Big Ten rival Michigan State. His suspension now also mirrors the suspensions of quarterback Terrelle Pryor, tailback Boom Herron, receiver DeVier Posey, offensive tackle Mike Adams and defensive end Solomon Thomas. That suggests Tressel considers himself equally at fault.
The only catch is that historically, the NCAA considers lying to the NCAA a far more serious offense than selling memorabilia. The penalty for the latter, based on the ones handed out to Buckeyes players and former Georgia receiver A.J. Green, is four or five games. Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant was suspended for Oklahoma State's final 10 games in 2009 after it was found he lied to investigators. In 2010, USC assistant Todd McNair received a one-year show cause penalty after the COI determined he knew about and failed to report that Bush was receiving money from a sports agent.
One of the conditions of McNair's show cause was a one-year ban from recruiting. No in-home visits. No phone calls. No contact with players on official visits. No contact even with signees who had yet to enroll. Less than a month after McNair received the show cause penalty, USC declined to renew his contract.
The McNair case should be especially troubling to Tressel. The NCAA's evidence that McNair "knew" about the arrangement between Bush and wannabe agents was questionable at best. In Tressel's case, the NCAA has a set of smoking-gun e-mails. If Tressel received a similar penalty to McNair, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith and president Gordon Gee would have to make some hard choices, because a coach who can't recruit for a year is awfully difficult to employ.
But maybe Thursday's move will mitigate the final judgment. If anything, it should help Tressel receive a lighter sentence from the court of public opinion.






Tressel asks for, receives same five-game suspension as players


We were one of the many, many people who were very, very vehement in their opinions that the two-game suspension given to Jim Tressel by his Ohio State amounted to nothing more than a feathery slap on the wrist.
Apparently the head coach agrees as he’s asked the school to hit him harder. And they’ve obliged.
Shortly after it was officially confirmed by the NCAA that the five Buckeyes found to have received impermissible benefits had their appeal on a five-game suspension denied, Tressel announced that he had asked for, and received the same five-game suspension as his players.
“Throughout this entire situation my players and I have committed ourselves to facing our mistakes and growing from them; we can only successfully do that together,” Tressel said in a statement. “I spoke with Athletics Director Smith, and our student‐athletes involved, and told them that my mistakes need to share the same game sanctions. Like my players, I am very sorry for the mistakes I made. I request of the university that my sanctions now include five games so that the players and I can handle this adversity together.”
The PR maneuver news of Tressel upping his own punishment was first reported by the Columbus Dispatch.
Tressel was suspended for two games by the school earlier this month after emails were discovered January 2011 which showed the coach knew in April of 2010 that at least two of his players — quarterback Terrelle Pryor and wide receiver DeVier Posey — had likely received impermissible benefits. Tressel, as revealed in the school’s letter to the NCAA announcing his suspension and $250,000 fine, had at least three opportunities between April of last year and January of this year to forward the information he received from a former OSU player/current attorney to school authorities. Instead, he squatted on the information based on a limp confidentiality defense and, in at least one instance, lied to the NCAA based on his signature on a compliance form.
Still to be determined is whether what’s now a five-game suspension will be the end of the sanctions Tressel faces, or whether the NCAA will tack on additional time away from the game-day sideline.
As it stands now, Tressel and the Buckeye Five will miss games against Akron, Toledo, Miami (Fla), Colorado and Michigan State. Only the game against the Hurricanes is on the road.

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