tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Tressel’s Gone But Only Tip Of Iceberg

On Monday Jim Tressel resigned as football coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes.  It had to happen and probably should have happened months ago.  Before I go on, I have read numerous articles about the situation and I want to start out by saying that Jim Tressel has accomplished many great things.  His record as a football coach, both at Youngstown State and Ohio State, is one of success.  In reading what plenty of former players had to say it was clear that Tressel was well respected and has had a positive impact for many of them.  These achievements cannot be taken away from him.

However, what is hard to reconcile is why a man who obviously understood the importance for these young men to be prepared to do things the right way in their lives would knowingly allow and in some instances assist in the violation of NCAA rules which specifically dealt with trading memorabilia for various items.  Those items ranged from tattoos to cars.  You can argue about the ridiculous premise for this rule but the fact remains that they are there and should be abided by and I think Coach Tressel would agree.

While Tressel bears responsibility for this so does the University.  Remember when he was asked whether he would remove Tressel, OSU President Gordon Gee said that he hoped that Tressel wouldn't fire him??  What a message!!!  It basically was saying to the world that football is king in Columbus.  It's one thing for some southern Ohio yahoo to be saying that it's another thing for the University president to say it.

The University has had several opportunities to get out in front of this situation.  Reports are coming out of Columbus that the University forced or urged Tressel to resign.  They could have done this in January after the Sugar Bowl.  One has to wonder if the reason for the change in direction had to do with the knowledge of the SI investigative report and the hope that by Tressel being out of the picture that the NCAA will go easy on the OSU football program.  Hopefully, OSU will have guessed wrong.

The other person who should also be shown the door is OSU Athletic Director Gene Smith.  Obviously Smith was asleep at the switch.  He would have to be blind not to see what was going on yet he decided to let it all happen as Tressel was beating Michigan, winning Big Ten Championships and a national championship.

One of the most telling comments made by a former player was that of Craig Krenzel, the quarterback of the national championship team Tressel coached at OSU.  As indicated in an article in the Columbus Dispatch, Krenzel expressed his utmost respect and admiration for his former coach.  However, he did express his disappointment in the current athletes on the OSU football team.  "There's been a culture change that I've seen over the last five, six years in terms of guys coming in with a sense of entitlement," he said. "It's no longer good enough just to have a chance of being a Buckeye - as an opportunity and a gift. They look at it (today) as, 'Hey, it should be more.' I couldn't fathom selling my Big Ten ring or gold pants."

That might be an indictment on modern day athletes in general which is a topic for another day.  But the fact remains that Tressel and Smith allowed this culture change to happen and for that Tressel has lost his job and the OSU football program should be punished.

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Tomorrow, check in for comments on the new Winnipeg NHL team, Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals and the Yanks series ending game against the A's.