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Besides hot girls, USC pulled in the #4 Recruiting Class. And that's after losing out on the top prospect. lol Sanctions my ass.
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Besides hot girls, USC pulled in the #4 Recruiting Class. And that's after losing out on the top prospect. lol Sanctions my ass.
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Tressel gets two-game suspension, $250K fine for rules violation
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz1G7x160QD
Ohio State has suspended football coach Jim Tressel for the first two games of the 2011 season and fined him $250,000 for failing to notify the school of NCAA violations involving Ohio State football players and a financial arrangement with a local tattoo parlor, the school announced Tuesday.
Ohio State self-reported a violation of NCAA Bylaw 10.1, which bans "unethical conduct." In the process of handling another legal matter on Jan. 13, Ohio State officials discovered that Tressel was made aware by e-mail in April of a financial relationship between a Columbus, Ohio, tattoo parlor and two Ohio State players. Months later, it was revealed that six players had traded championship rings, jerseys and awards to owner Edward Rife of Fine Line Ink Tattoos in exchange for cash and discounted tattoos, but the April e-mails referred only to two players. Ohio State first contacted the NCAA about Tressel's violation on Feb. 3. Previously, Ohio State officials had said they didn't learn of the relationship until Dec. 7, when federal officers investigating Rife contacted the athletic department to determine whether the memorabilia was stolen.
Violations of Bylaw 10.1 are considered major infractions by the NCAA. Ohio State's self-reporting of that violation does not preclude NCAA investigators from tacking on more accusations after they finish their inquiry. Based on previous cases, Tressel also could face charges of failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance and a failure to monitor for not reporting the information to the NCAA. Both of those also are considered major violations. The NCAA also could force Ohio State to vacate all 12 wins in 2010 for using players Tressel knew to be ineligible.
Tressel is scheduled to miss home games against Akron and Toledo, but Tressel also could face additional penalties from the NCAA's Committee on Infractions. He will be called before the committee after NCAA investigators complete their inquiry.
Tressel said Tuesday that he held off on informing anyone about the information because he worried about his players getting mixed up in a federal drug investigation. "Admittedly, I probably didn't give quite as much thought to the NCAA end of things as I read it," Tressel said. "I was focused on the young people." He also said he wanted to protect the confidentiality of the attorney who tipped him off to the arrangement between the players and the tattoo parlor. In Tuesday's press conference, Tressel was asked if he had forwarded the e-mails to anyone. He began to answer but was cut off by athletic director Gene Smith, who said Tressel wasn't allowed to answer out of respect to the NCAA investigation.
You just witnessed the strength of geek knowledge. N.W.A., Nerd With Attitude. Straight out of Vulcan!Comment
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Self-imposed Suspension/Fine = Bullshit.
He got $3mill for the SugarBowl win and he fines himself $250,000? He probably would have donated that anyway. Take him and his players out for 5 games. CONFERENCE games.Comment
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OSU's Tressel piles lies on top of lies
COLUMBUS: He can't stop lying.
Even when he was trying to explain Tuesday why he lied in the first place, Jim Tressel was still lying.
He lied and deceived his bosses — all of them — for months. Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith, university President E. Gordon Gee and NCAA investigators who came to town in December looking for the answers he refused to supply.
Typically, lying to all of those people is a fireable offense — it's even written into his contract as such. But Tressel is returning to work today as the football coach at Ohio State University because of six consecutive Big Ten championships, a 9-1 record against Michigan and a national championship soiled in the same stains that cloak the program again today.
Tressel should have been fired for lying to his bosses. Not Tuesday, when OSU officials finally came clean because of a Yahoo Sports report that forced their hand, but back in January when they first discovered Tressel's lies and cover-up.
Tressel learned last April, through an e-mail from a local attorney giving him a heads-up, that the federal government raided a local house and at least two current players were involved in a memorabilia scam with a convicted felon (Eddie Rife) and receiving free tattoos from him.
He lied to everyone about it and pleaded ignorance — the same ignorant excuse he used in 2002 when Maurice Clarett was driving around town in free cars, in 2004 when Troy Smith was taking money from a booster and previously in the late '80s and early '90s when Ray Isaac's pockets were stuffed at Youngstown State under his watch.
For Smith and Gee to suspend Tressel for two games (against Akron and Toledo) and fine him $250,000 (14 percent of his salary for next season) is a snub of arrogance at the rest of college sports.
When Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl lied to NCAA investigators, he was suspended half of the conference season by SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. When Washington football coach Rick Neuheisel lied to NCAA investigators, he was fired by the university.
Pearl lied about hosting potential recruits at his house and Neuheisel lied about a March Madness office pool — hardly the same as lying about playing ineligible athletes.
And let's be clear: Jim Tressel knowingly played six ineligible athletes all of last season.
According to the self-report the university filed with the NCAA on Tuesday, Tressel lied to Ohio State at least three times about his knowledge of the case — twice when pressed about it by school officials in December and prior to that on Sept. 13, when he signed an NCAA Certificate of Compliance indicating he had reported any knowledge of possible violations to the institution.
Tressel did reveal, according to the report, that he had received a ''tip,'' but couldn't recall from whom. He claimed he did not know that any items had been seized.
The whole time he was telling those lies, he had multiple e-mails in his university account from that Columbus attorney with intricate details of the entire case.
School officials didn't discover the e-mails until stumbling upon them while investigating a separate matter. Otherwise, it's fair to assume Tressel never was going to come forward with his knowledge or the e-mails.
He would've simply strolled through life and pleaded ignorance, just as he did when Clarett was cashing in with cars and Isaac and Troy Smith were taking cash payments from boosters.
Tressel received the first e-mail on April 2 and replied to it four hours later. He could've forwarded it onto the compliance office or, at the very least, mentioned it to his boss, Gene Smith.
Instead, he tried Tuesday to hide behind a bogus request for confidentiality that didn't exist.
In the initial e-mail Tressel received, which the university released copies of Tuesday night, there is no mention of keeping the e-mails confidential. That request for confidentiality didn't come until April 16 — exactly two weeks after Tressel received the first e-mail.
Lies. All lies.
He could've suspended the two players he knew were involved, but chose to continue to play them.
''The focus of mine was to not interfere with a federal investigation,'' Tressel said. ''If you all of a sudden sit down some players that have earned the opportunity to play, it's a whole new set of questions that arise.''
Only one problem — they hadn't earned the opportunity to play. They had violated NCAA rules and he knew it. Beyond that, college athletes are suspended every season for a broad ''violation of team rules'' infraction and no further explanation is ever offered. Tressel could've sat the two players he knew were involved for a nonconference game early in the season, but his arrogance and ability to slide out of so many previous scandals infused in him a sense of entitlement to do it again.
This time, he finally got caught.
This isn't over.
Just because Ohio State thinks a pathetic two-game suspension and hefty fine suffices, the NCAA doesn't have to agree. It can assess more sanctions, such as a longer suspension and in more meaningful games.
Pearl didn't play any ineligible players. Tressel did.
And for once, he can't plead ignorance about it.
''The integrity of this program,'' Gee said, ''and the integrity of this coach is absolutely superb.''
Lies. All lies.Comment
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For all those who like to pile on Coach Kiffin for his "violations", this is for you....
I decided to research just what those six violations were, and quite frankly, was surprised to discover just how trivial they actually were - considering how often they're referred to in the media as evidence of his callous disregard for following the rules.
Sheesh...two of the six violations weren't even committed by Lane himself... but we're rarely, if ever, told of that.
There's a reason even the NCAA defines a secondary violation as...
"an isolated or inadvertent violation that provides or intends to provide only minimal recruiting, competitive or other advantages. Secondary violations occur frequently and are usually resolved administratively."
In no particular order, here are his six violations. Note the first one listed, ESPN not only set the trap for the violation, but didn't withhold airing the piece, even though they were aware it was a violation before putting it on the air.
Read these ridiculous violations hereComment
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Jim Tressel resigns, report says
Embattled coach Jim Tressel has resigned from Ohio State, The Columbus Dispatch has reported, citing university sources.
The news comes two weeks after Buckeyes athletic director Gene Smith affirmed his support for the coach, who has coached Ohio State for 11 seasons.
At the Big Ten spring meetings earlier this month, Smith -- while declining to discuss any details of an ongoing NCAA investigation of Tressel -- said his outlook toward the coach's position hadn't wavered.
"Oh, definitely, no question," Smith said. "I haven't changed, I haven't changed. But I'm not talking about the case beyond that."
Smith noted last month in an interview with The Associated Press that Tressel should have apologized at a March 8 news conference, where Tressel acknowledged he failed to notify Ohio State officials of emails he received about some of his players receiving improper benefits.
Smith has also talked about the high legal costs Ohio State is dealing with, calling the ongoing NCAA situation "a nightmare."
Tressel also received support at the spring meetings from fellow coaches such as Michigan State's Mark Dantonio and Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald, as well as from Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne, a longtime friend.
"Coaches are great," Tressel said. "They understand all the challenges everyone has. It's good to be with them."Comment
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Go Blue!!!!!
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What a great morning this is turning out to be! Happy Memorial Day Buckeyes!Comment
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As a Longhorn I have thoroughly enjoyed ESPN shitting all over A&M.
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I haven't had the chance to keep up with the A&M drama. So are they in the SEC or not?Comment
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Texas A&M would be effing retarded to jump to the SEC. This is their best chance to win the Big 12 in a long time.
Now they want to fuck it up by going to the SEC?
Stupid move.Comment
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TWO MORE DAYSComment
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Pac 10 getting killed by another SEC team.
When will they learn?Comment
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