I remember Memorial Day 2011 as if it were only yesterday. I was out in pretty much the middle of nowhere camping. We were getting ready to pack up and head back home and I walked into the camper to put some things away. I looked down and saw my phone and that I had a message. It ended up not just being one text message. It was more like 12 text messages, all from different people, all to tell me the same thing.

Jim Tressel was no longer the coach of The Ohio State Buckeye Football Team.

What? I mean, I knew this wasn’t a hoax as the people involved didn’t all know each other, and I also knew that deep down inside this was what had to happen in the best interest of the team, but I was blown away. I remember I walked out of the camper in a daze and looked at the other half and said “Jim Tressel just resigned” and it felt surreal. On the entire trip back, I just kept sitting there and thinking the same thing over, and over, and over.

“How in the world did this happen?”

Now, any Buckeye fan out there knows the answer to that question as well as I do. The atmosphere in Columbus is one where these kids are treated as Gods. The community, by and large, will bend over backwards to extend that star treatment. When this happens, the sense of entitlement grows. Some kids get out of it unscathed, some do not. Sometimes it takes one to become the “ring leader” and things take off. This would be the case of Terrelle Pryor. His hands were all over this mess. Unfortunately, others that needed the cash went all-in.

» Continue reading “Buckeyes: The Year That Was”

Christopher Cicero, the former OSU player and current Lawyer who tipped Tressel off to Tatgate and thus began the worst period of my Buckeye life, is in trouble.

Oh, sure, we all kind of knew this was coming but the Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline recommended Cicero received a 6 month suspension for his actions around the scandal. They also recommended that he pay $2800 in court costs.

In all honesty, Cicero is actually getting off pretty easy here. This could have easily been the end of his career. Apparently, however, Tressel is still the only person whose career was destroyed from Tatgate.

To recap other key players:

• Gene Smith still has a job
• Gordon Gee still has a job
• Christopher Cicero pays what he probably makes in 2 days and gets a 6 month vaca
• Terrelle Pryor is a millionaire

Don’t get me wrong, I recognize that it’s quite possible that OSU experienced addition by subtraction with the Urban Meyer hire and the eradication of Jim Bollman, but come on! This guy pulled some pretty serious violations and gets a slap on the wrist. The vilification of one person involved in this mess continues and players who had nothing to do with it continue to be punished.

I hope my next comment on this scandal comes with the dismissal of Gene Smith.

Jim Tressel took a new job at Akron today. He will be the VP of Strategic Engagement. The job has nothing to do with an athletic department. Nothing. At all.

A few Twitter users in glass houses began stone throwing at Tress. Apparently, making errors in judgment at your previous position should bar you from ever working again. Ever. Not in the AD, you mean? No, I mean at all. I guess the fact that it has nothing to do with their football program matters not. Tressel is evil and should never work again.

Some of my favorite anti-Tress employment tweets:

Y U Mad, Bros?

It’s all over Twitter and various local news sources…Jim Tressel has sold his home in Upper Arlington. It was sold to Columbus area automobile salesman Bobby Layman.

This continues a long and proud tradition of Upper Arlington real estate in the news. Upper Arlington was rumored to be the location of a home purchased by Urban Meyer and sparked the “Urbs to OSU” speculation. Urban Meyer was also rumored to have purchased homes in various other areas, but the Upper Arlington rumor never went away.

Tressel selling the house, however, is apparently big news. I’m not really sure why. It seems so TMZ to stalk the home sales of coaches. Tress, after all, is no longer employed by OSU. If most people lose their job and decide to sell their home, people think it’s just a thing that happens. Not here, though. It’s news.

Tress and his wife have a home in Sarasota, Fl. Tress will be 60 this year. This makes him one of countless Ohioans to leave their Ohio home behind when they enter their 60s and move to Florida. It’s not some weird anomaly, this happens a lot. This especially happens with people from affluent neighborhoods as is the case with UA.

I’m waiting for the spin, though. ESPN in their never-ending Buckeye bashing will probably find a way to tie this to an “unknown” scandal. Oh, I know, it went to a CAR DEALER. Car dealer, OSU…well…I’ll let you fill in the blanks.

Thank God it didn’t go to a tat artist.

Regardless, best of luck to Tress in his future endeavors. I’ll be keeping an eye on the news to see where he moves next.

What a long strange trip its been for Jim Tressel.

A year ago at this time he had just coached a much-maligned Buckeye team to a win over Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. Yes, a win. The NCAA ruled the players as eligible and OSU may have later vacated it but I saw it, you saw it, I cheered and I mocked the Hogs. By Memorial Day he had left his position. By this past fall he was picked up to help out the Colts with replays. By winter he was smacked with a show cause penalty which makes it more difficult for him to coach in the College ranks ever again.

Now, he is interviewing with the Colts and some think it could actually happen.

The Colts are coming off of a terrible 2-14 season. They are a young team. This is the only reason that Tressel might be a fit for this job and only this job in the NFL. Tressel would do horribly with a lot of NFL teams. His style wouldn’t likely work very well with an ego-filled veteran team. It may very well work with a young team with (potentially) a young QB. He’s a teacher and plays the “fatherly” role. In fact, his fatherly instincts that would work well in mentoring youth is arguably the thing that got him in trouble with the NCAA.

To the Colts fans I’ve heard stating that they don’t want Tress with the Colts because they want a coach with integrity, stop. Please. You are embarrassing yourself. This is the NFL, this is not the NCAA. Nothing that Tressel did during his time with the Buckeyes would be considered a “bad thing” in the NFL. Also, in a league where coaches assist with things that actually gain an on-field advantage like videotaping opposing team practices, Tress would be a saint. Tattoos don’t give you anything on the field. Nothing.

The Colts will be announcing their new coach this week. Don’t be shocked if Tressel isn’t announced. If he is, and if he can win, the fans will forget about anything that happened at OSU. I’m not a Colts fan, but I would find myself pulling for him to do well. He’s not evil, people, he just messed up. He certainly deserves a shot elsewhere and the NFL is the place for that to happen.

Ohio State will learn their fate today at 3:00 PM Eastern Time when the NCAA reveals their punishment nearly a year after Tatgate broke.

The suspensions of TP and company were pretty much the worst Christmas gift, ever. It was December 23rd of last year when the punishment was revealed, though they were allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl per the NCAA. From there, it kept getting worse and worse and worse as we found out Tressel had hidden the fact that he knew this was going on. He eventually resigned on Memorial Day.

The delay in judgment was due partly to new accusations this fall revolving around overpayment for a Summer job, which eventually lead to the NCAA citing OSU for Failure to Monitor. Which, and this is for people on message boards who like to toss this about as the reason for their shock around the fact there might not be a post-season ban, is nothing like a Lack of Institutional Control as was received by SMU and USC.

The NCAA will also reveal if Tressel will receive a show-cause penalty Ala Bruce Pearl.

Ohio State has vacated the 2010 season, returned the earnings from the Sugar Bowl, imposed a 2-year probation and offered a reduction in scholarships over the next 3 years. The NCAA can choose to accept or add to the penalties. Regardless, this mess is almost over.

UPDATE: The NCAA will release findings at 2PM ET to media and is asking for a media embargo until 3PM ET. Uhhhh…k