Analysis
By PETE THAMEL
Published: May 30, 2011
If there is a sure sign that an athletic department is in trouble and a football program is begging for N.C.A.A. mercy, it is the prepared video statement.
Chris Carlson/Associated Press
The signature sweater vest of Jim Tressel won't be seen on an Ohio State sideline anymore. He resigned Monday.
So there was Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith on Monday, avoiding questions about Jim Tressel?s resignation while telling a camera all the college athletic clich�s of education, graduation and finding out the truth.
Tressel finally ran out of space Monday when he resigned under pressure. Cornered by a documented trail of deceit and a flurry of negative publicity, Tressel took the step that had come to appear inevitable as the accusations and the pressure mounted.
As Ohio State football, one of the most powerful brands in college sports, prepares for what appears to be an uncertain season, the big question will be whether the N.C.A.A.?s unpredictable enforcement arm assures that more difficult seasons could follow. Tressel?s resignation appeared to be the Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee?s acknowledgment that the university was in an untenable position with its star coach.
In a statement Monday, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said that Tressel?s resignation ?is an indication that serious mistakes have serious consequences.?
One week after the N.C.A.A. maintained harsh penalties in the Southern California football infractions case, Ohio State?s football program will slide into focus as the latest test of whether the N.C.A.A. is serious about punishing and disciplining its most prosperous programs.
Fittingly, the former Trojans athletic director Mike Garrett made the no-accountability video release infamous in college sports. He consistently used it as a way to duck the news media while the N.C.A.A. went through its lengthy investigation of the Trojans program.
The Ohio State and the Southern California cases are drastically different in nature, but they intersect in a place where big-time college athletics appear to be spiraling out of control. Tressel?s resignation is the headline in a year that has had major investigations of the national champions of football (Auburn) and of men?s basketball (Connecticut).
Ohio State?s day in N.C.A.A. court is supposed to come Aug. 12, but it is likely to be later than that. If there has been one consistent thing about N.C.A.A. infractions cases over the years, it?s the glacial pace in which they are investigated and decided. And the continual trickle of new information about Buckeye misdeeds will probably force the N.C.A.A. to delay its timeline.
After Tressel and Ohio State get their day in front of the N.C.A.A., it will become clearer whether the recent calls from the new N.C.A.A. president, Mark Emmert, for stiffer penalties for cheats are a reality or just white noise in the face of another scandal.
What?s known in the Tressel case is that he misled the university and the N.C.A.A. about his knowledge of his players receiving improper gifts, essentially allowing star players who should have been ineligible for at least a portion of last season to take the field. And what?s known about Ohio State is that the university seemingly did everything possible to save its coach, first suspending him for only two games and then slowly nudging him down the plank as the allegations and negative publicity loomed larger.
The Buckeyes? athletic department and university administrators acted only when the laugh track for their penalties became too loud. Who can forget Gee, when asked if he would consider firing Tressel, saying, ?I hope he doesn?t fire me??
Two issues will figure prominently in how culpable the N.C.A.A. finds Ohio State. The first is how the university explains reports that dozens of players received deals on cars from a local dealership. If Ohio State consistently turned a blind eye to something that was an obvious extra benefit for its players, it could result in serious repercussions.
The university, especially Gee and Smith, will also have to explain why it initially decided to suspend Tressel for just two games when his lying and cover-up appeared worthy of his being fired from the start. In an era when lying to the N.C.A.A., as in the cases of Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant and the Tennessee men?s basketball coach Bruce Pearl, has become a mortal sin, Buckeyes administrators will have to justify why they thought Tressel should have missed only games against Akron and Toledo. That?s a punishment essentially comparable to having an N.F.L. coach miss preseason games.
The assistant Luke Fickell, a former Buckeye, will be the interim coach this season, with the soundtrack of his season revolving around whether Urban Meyer, Jon Gruden, Gary Patterson or Bo Pelini will become the permanent coach in December. Ohio State, even with probation all but inevitable, will always sit alongside Florida and Texas as one of the country?s three marquee jobs.
But a huge factor in who Ohio State will be able to lure will be just how hampered the program is by the N.C.A.A. Ohio State is staring at significant N.C.A.A. sanctions, the severity of which will define its program and N.C.A.A. enforcement in the months to come.
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