Saturday, July 16, 2011

Jim Tressel Proves He's No Goody Two-Shoes

Jim Tressel isn't the altar boy most assumed him to be when he strolled the Ohio State sidelines in his sweater vest.

His most recent NCAA violations are well-known, consisting of failing to report violations to either OSU or the NCAA in regards to improper benefits being given to football players.  These violations led to his losing his Head Football coaching job earlier this year.


When the scandal first began to break, many loyal Buckeyes found it impossible to believe that a man who constantly preached about doing the right thing could actually so clearly be doing the wrong thing.  However, this week Ohio State University released Tressel's personnel file and more issues with the NCAA and OSU have been revealed.

Some of the findings:

  • It turns out that in the first four years as Head Coach, Tressel was counseled by his Athletic Director, Andy Geiger, six times in matters relating to trying to improve the coach's NCAA compliance rules.  Each time, a written letter was used to document the exchange.
  • The worst offenses appeared to be committed in the 2004-2005 season, when Geiger rated Tressel's compliance performance as "unacceptable." 
  • Geiger gave a specific warning to Tressel to better monitor the football players having improper access to cars on September 9, 2003. That was the day before former running back, Maurice Clarett, was formally suspended from the football team for taking improper benefits.
  • In April, 2005, the written trail ends when Geiger is replaced by new A.D. Gene Smith.  Smith only evaluates him verbally (even though the basketball coach, the A.D. himself, and the President of the University still get written evaluations)
  • This despite the fact that OSU self-reports 10 violations between 2008 and 2011. Still no written record of any evaluation of Tressel.
  • The real kicker:  Ohio State University policy mandates that each coach have a written and signed review annually.
Current Athletic Director Gene Smith has been unavailable for comment upon this matter, and one could assume by these recent revelations that the turmoil at OSU is far from over.

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