I Think I Am Coming Down With Something. ACCTournitis. The Only Cure Is More Basketball!
Before we get there, I want to look at Jim Tressel and Ohio State. Skip it if you aren't interested. Considering what our football team has been through, I think it is important to understand what is going on in Columbus.
Jim Tressel: A History of Fraud
and Plausible Deniability
As Jim Tressel's star began to rise in Columbus, I was always skeptical of how genuine he was in the way he represented himself. My skepticism did not arise out of any inherent cynical distrust, but Tressel's failure to acknowledge the things that lay in his past as he moved forward at OSU.
What's Past, Is Past?
In 1986, Jim Tressel took a job as the head coach at Youngstown State. In 2000, when Tressel would leave to accept the head coaching position at Ohio State, Youngstown State found itself mired in self-imposed penalties for NCAA violations for extra benefits and a lack of institutional control. Ray Isaac was the crux of the penalities. Isaac enrolled at Youngstown State in 1988 and immediately began accepting extra benefits from Youngstown State booster and Board of Trustee member, Michael "Mickey" Monus.
Tressel arranged the introduction of Isaac and Monus under the auspice of Isaac needing a job. After that first meeting, Isaac's amateur eligibility was compromised as he accepted $150 spending money from Monus. The acceptance of illegal benefits continued through the spring of 1992. Over Isaac's career at Youngstown State, he received more than $10,000 and the use of various used cars in extra benefits. Per Tom Farray of ESPN.com,
Isaac said Tressel never knew about the payments, and the NCAA found no evidence that he did. But as would be the case later with Clarett, questions would arise about how much Tressel and his bosses really wanted to know. In January 1994, a month after winning the team's second national title, Youngstown State got a letter from the NCAA notifying the school that an anonymous tipster had blown the whistle on Monus and Isaac. Just one month later, based on assurances by Tressel and athletic director Joe Malmisur, school president Leslie Cochran informed the NCAA that there was no substance to the allegations. The NCAA promptly dropped the matter.
Youngstown State's internal investigation was a sham. So little diligence went into pursuit of truth that Malmisur never confronted Monus with the allegations, nor apparently did Tressel contact Isaac, as Cochran said he had instructed them to do. Tressel, in a December 2003 interview, declined comment to ESPN.com on most aspects of the case but said he can't remember if he discussed the Monus allegations with his former player. Isaac is more definitive: "I didn't talk to nobody."
These revelations came out only because of court room testimony when Isaac was later found to be guilty of jury tampering and testified against Monus in 1998. It was not because of Tressel's earnest and diligent pursuit of the truth. Because the statute of limitations had expired and in spite of the 1994 NCAA inquiry and subsequent artificial investigation, Tressel was not implicated by the NCAA and Youngstown State's self-imposed penalties were accepted. It should be noted that the NCAA report stated:
The committee said Youngstown State failed to provide appropriate institutional control in its football program by not thoroughly investigating possible violations of NCAA legislation after receiving information concerning possible violations in January 1994. The university reviewed its 1994 internal investigation as a part of its recently concluded examination and determined there that no in-depth investigation had been conducted.After Tressel escaped unscathed, AD Andy Geiger hired him to be the next head football coach at OSU.
While Tressel might have left Youngstown State, he brought the NCAA issues with him. Once at Ohio State, Tressel's first verbal commitment was the highly touted running back, Maurice Clarett. I will not review Clarett's adverse and questionable attendance at OSU. In the interest of brevity, Clarett was the subject of two significant NCAA investigations that involved the receipt of extra benefits and academic impropriety. The following are links that will refresh your memory if necessary.
Souls of the departed haunt Youngstown by Tom Farray.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL; Ohio State Will Investigate Report on Clarett Benefactor by unknown at NYTimes.
Colleges; When Values Collide: Clarett Got Unusual Aid in Ohio State Class by Mike Freeman.
PLUS: COLLEGE FOOTBALL; Keeping Quit In Clarett Inquiry by unknown at NYTimes.
The most important aspect of the Clarett fiasco at Ohio State for me revolves around Tressel's denial of knowing Clarett's alleged benefactor, Bobby Dellimuti. As Farray reports, Clarett made statements that "Tressel actually directed him to" Dellimuti. Following those statements, Tressel initially denied knowledge of Dellimuti and only acknowledged meeting him the spring prior to Clarett's enrollment after being pressed by ESPN. Questions regarding Tressel's willingness to be an informed person circled around the Clarett investigation. As one person close to Clarett at the time stated, "Tressel is acting like Sergeant Schultz."
In further interest of brevity, I will not chronicle the numerous NCAA violations that have been self-reported by OSU under Tressel's tenure, but they are numerous. I couldn't find an accurate accounting or chronology to cite, but a simple google search will support my assertion. It is important to know that there have been issues involving improper benefits provided to both recruits and players throughout Tressel's tenure that resulted in punishment of varying degrees. While most of these infractions were relatively minor, they are persistent and continuous. In 2009, the Columbus Dispatch reported that 375 NCAA infractions had been reported by OSU, which is the most by any FBS school in the county. The 375 number is inclusive of all sports, so it does not represent violations of the football team exclusively. However, more than 75% of those violations are attributable to 17 of the 36 OSU sports programs and includes basketball and football.
The Here and Now.
In December of 2010, OSU football player memorabilia was discovered in the home and tattoo parlor of a suspected drug dealer, Eddie Rife, in Columbus, Ohio. OSU was notified by the U.S. Attorney's Office and an OSU investigation commenced that revealed that Terrelle Pryor, Dan Herron, DeVier Posey, Mike Adams and Solomon Thomas sold memorabilia, including 2008 Big Ten championship rings, Herron's jersey, Pryor's Gold Pants for beating Michigan and Pryor's 2009 Fiesta Bowl Sportsmanship Award for a total of $7,050. Additionally, Herron, Posey, Thomas and linebacker Jordan Whiting also receive discounted tattoos. In a contraversial ruling, the NCAA ruled that the guilty players would be allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl, but would be suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season. Tressel assured the media, after public outcry, that all the guilty players would return to school to face the punishment and not declare for the NFL draft. OSU ultimately took the blame for failing to properly educate the players and Tressel never acknowledged being privy to the improprieties prior to December. Until yesterday.
At a press conference yesterday, OSU self-imposed penalties on Tressel for violating NCAA rules when he failed to notify OSU of players receiving improper benefits in April. In my opinion, the self-imposed penalties are a joke. A public censure and apology, two game suspension against Akron and Toledo, and a $250,000 fine for a man that makes more than $3.7 million annually. After a Yahoo report revealed that Tressel had knowledge of the improper benefits dating back to April, OSU was forced to act. Some members of the media openly question whether the facts would have been reported by OSU at all had it not been for the Yahoo report. OSU initially became aware of Tressel's knowledge of the situation in January, after an email review for an unrelated matter, but did not go public until it was done for them by Yahoo. Below is the video from the press conference. I will warn you. IF you watch it, you may feel the need to shower. A transcript is provided directly below.
In Tressel's own words,
Last spring practice, I received some emails regarding an ongoing federal criminal drug-trafficking case. And in those emails, and I think you may have them, I’m not sure, it was pretty graphically outlining some of the parties involved and was obviously of tremendous concern to me … It elicited obviously a different emotion than you typically get from someone who needs a hospital call or a visit. It kind of jogged in my mind some of the toughest losses i’ve ever had in coaching. I get a lot of good emails saying that people enjoy the job that our guys do or their professors not happy with their behavior in class.First of all, Tressel immediately tries to illicit pity by enumerating the personal losses he has seen as a head coach with players being murdered, incarcerated, and lost to the drug culture. He even states he is scared, SO SCARED HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! We have a saying in the south, "that dog don't hunt." If you were really concerned for a players well-being, you would find a way to intervene. Not to mention, Tressel wouldn't have sat on his hands once the information was revealed in December if it wasn't self-serving for him and he didn't understand the implications. Secondly, how is it a teachable moment if you fail to act. What are you teaching them? Deny or disavow any knowledge until you are painted into a corner and they have the hot docs and evidence to prove your knowledge. If that represents a teachable moment for Tressel, he is doing a disservice for the entire college coaching profession that battles against that win-at-any-cost perception. If he was that scared, why didn't he act?
This one was obviously much different than that. I’ve had a player murdered. I’ve had a player incarcerated. I’ve had a player get taken into the drug culture and lose his opportunity for a productive life. So it was tremendously concerning. Quite honestly, I was scared. Especially the fact that two of our current players were mentioned in the emails, and as we sit in homes, we talk about how we’re gonna take care of these young people, and we’re gonna treat them like they’re our own.
Admittedly I probably did not give quite as much thought to the potential NCAA part of things as I read it. My focus was on the well-being of the young people. In those emails it was very emphatic that there be confidentiality. The tenor, as I read them, perhaps because of my emotion, was that it was serious and that confidentiality was critical. As I thought about a plan of action, the most immediate thing that I did is ramp up the discussions that we have about the importance of who you associate with, where you are, company you keep, and so forth.
With the seriousness of what was discussed in the emails, and also the confidentiality component, we worked very hard to make it a teachable moment, and as time went on, in my mind what was most important was that we didn’t interfere with a federal investigation.
Confidentiality was requested by the attorney, so I followed thatWhen December came and we were given info from the Attorney General’s office that six of our athletes were involved, that was concerning. It was encouraging that no one was involved in any federal drug trafficking and there was no criminal investigation. That was a huge relief. At that time I knew there would be NCAA ramifications that we would deal with immediately, which we did.
I also felt during that entire [ordeal? Definitely missed a word] that I upheld the highest confidentiality that made it safer for our young people … I asked for a little advice as to how i should’ve taken this forward. I’ve learned that I probably needed to go to the legal counsel person at the university and get some help as to how you handle criminal investigations and confidentiality and perhaps gain the protection that you might need from within the process.
I’m disappointed that this happened at all. I take my responsibility for what we do at Ohio State seriously. And for the game of football. And I plan to grow form this, and I’m sincerely saddened by the fact that I let some people down and didn’t do things as well as I could possibly do. I am pleased that the young people involved are safe. They’re not involved in any criminal activity. They’re all in college and they’re all going to graduate from Ohio State.
To me thats what it’s all about. But I understand that we’ll have sanctions, I will have sanctions. But the only thing that I’ve talked to our team about after there was discussion in the media last night, was a quote I had heard George Bush say that the most pathetic thing is a leader who’s looking for self-pity. So at no point in time in this moment or on the moments ahead with my team am I looking for anything other than doing what needs to be done.
Despite saying that the NCAA was secondary in his mind, Tressel knew that these revelations could cost him his key players for a promising season. Personally, I think he was hoping that the facts would not surface until the statute-of-limitations had run as it did in Youngstown State when he did not investigate issues presented to him by the NCAA. After all, federal investigations typically take years. His failure to come clean after the facts came to light in December is further proof of his true self-serving intent. If there is any doubt about Tressel's mind frame, I am convinced that a review of the actual emails will alleviate that, especially considering the first email, on April 2, makes no mention of confidentiality. The second email, sent on April 16 and two weeks later, is the first to mention confidentiality. It is not hard to argue that Tressel should have responded before the second email was sent. His disingenuous press conference did not contain an apology and was void of any accountability. In my opinion, it was a PR move by Tressel and OSU in an attempt to placate those unwilling to look harder at the situation.
Federal Sentencing Guidelines account for two factors when determining a sentencing recommendations. The first is the instant offense and the second is criminal history. In my opinion it is impossible to ignore Tressel's willful and intentional ignorance and refusal to investigate improprieties when alerted to them. So in addition to being penalized for lying to the NCAA, Tressel needs to be held accountable for his history of establishing plausible deniability to avoid sanctions. Tressel's approach to avoiding issues is the epitome of a failure to monitor and failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance. If Dez Bryant deserved to loose a year for lying to the NCAA, how sever should Tressel's punishment be? No question it should be harsher than the punishment of his players. After all, this isn't his first rodeo and he is the leader of the program.
Related Articles that I found Interesting:
Scandal tarnishes Tressel, Ohio State
Jim Tressel suspended 2 Games, Fined
In Columbus, Playing In the Mud (Pre-Snap Read is a great unbiased college football blog)
Tweet of the Day
Alums Lending a Hand: CHAPEL HILL, N.C. –- North Carolina’s summertime pick-up games are a rite of passage for a... http://bit.ly/fsbnf1
ALL-ACC?
Yesterday, I said I would discuss the All-ACC selection and I will . . . very briefly. This has turned into a long post. In my opinion, the All-ACC selection doesn't matter and I doubt the players really care very much. It is awarded by the media and, as a close follower of basketball and the media, there are a lot of opinions that are completely unqualified in the media. As a result, it is a hollow selection. Want proof? Do you really think Singler deserves first team consideration?I recently sat down and selected my first, second, and third team All-ACC teams (I agreed with the other selections for POY, COY, ROY, and All-ACC Freshmen Team). My criteria was easy. Who would I want on my team? Just like picking teams in grade school. Well, this is what I came up with. I have to be honest though. It was a lot harder than I thought and difficult for me not to put Marshall on the first or second team. I am trying to be objective, but it is hard to tell the difference between the head and the heart sometimes . . . .
All-ACC Team 1
Nolan Smith
Reggie Jackson
Harrison Barnes
John Henson
Jordan Williams
All-ACC Team 2
Malcolm Delaney
Iman Shumpert
Kyle Singler
Jeff Allen
Tyler Zeller
All-ACC Team 3
Kendall Marshall
Demontez Stitt
Chris Singleton
Joe Trapani
Tracy Smith
All-ACC Defensive Team
Iman Shumpert
Dexter Strickland
Chris Singleton
Jerai Grant
John Henson
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