It is because if they didn’t know what was going on, then they should have known, and if they did know for doing nothing about it. The university has been disgraced under their noses on their watch and so their heads must, figuratively, roll.
It’ll never happen, but they should perhaps follow the example of the University of Chicago Maroons, a charter member of the Big 10, which thought football was overrunning the academic purpose of the university and so they decided to deemphasis football 70 years ago.
You have to wonder if a final straw for OSU was earlier this month when Maurice Clarett posted a glowing tribute to Tressel on his Facebook page (the same Maurice Clarett who had his own, um, ethical problems at OSU and served time for armed robbery).
Then, the day after the story about Clarett’s Facebook posting appeared, it was revealed that he had filed a lawsuit over his vehicle stop by a law enforcement task force in Ohio, during which $30,000 in cash was confiscated from his car (no word on what he was doing with all that dough - making a late night doughnut run?).
The only thing I’m surprised by is that it was SI and not Yahoo Sports. Y! Sports has been doing an incredible job the last 5 years of hard hitting stories.
There have actually been quite a few great moments in sports investigative journalism. Yahoo! was pretty instrumental in shedding light on the Reggie Bush fiasco, as much as the NCAA tried to keep it in the dark.
As for Gene Smith and Gordon Gee, I don’t know how much responsibility falls on them. They have a coach to run the football program. They have a compliance department to ensure that the rules are adhered to. Both Smith and Gee have a lot more responsibilities than just playing watchdog for the football team. That said, Gee’s statement that he hopes Tressel doesn’t fire him was real dumb.
From OSU’s perspective, it has to be Tressel’s fault. If it becomes Smith and Gee’s fault, then we’re getting into Death Penalty territory (which I don’t believe the NCAA will ever do again, but still).
Ultimately, these revelations don’t change anything for me. The solution isn’t to twist our notions of what’s moral and ethical to support a set of rules that plainly benefit the business interests of the NCAA. The solution is to accept what’s been obvious for years: that college football and basketball are developmental leagues for the NFL and the NBA, and to treat the players accordingly.
If the AD and President didn’t know what was happening, they have to be the stupidest University AD and President in the country. and they deserved to be fired for being incompetent.
I think college coaches and ADs learn to cultivate a learned ignorance of what goes on around them. Kinda like lawyers who work for career criminals, they take great pains NOT to know quite a bit.
One small, easy step the NCAA could take is to allow players to be drafted without losing their eligibility. It is allowed in hockey and baseball so it’s not a disastrous thing. There wouldn’t be so many one-and-outs in basketball. Players would have an option as to whether they wanted to stay in school. It would remove a lot of the excuses that they are almost forced to go to college.
This looks like it will get to the level of the dreaded “Lack of Institutional Control,” but not the even-more-dreaded Death Penalty territory. The SMU case was different for a number of reasons:
A) SMU’s administration and trustees were fully involved and directly informed
B) SMU had been penalized earlier for substantially-similar violations
C) SMU was on probation and effectively on notice to not let even a minor violation happen when all hell broke loose
If there ever was a program just begging for a complete participation ban, it was SMU football. Tressel may be a sorry example of willful ignorance and lying, but at least they weren’t on probation for previous violations when this mess broke.
It’s a little sad for me with my alma mater Nebraska joining the Big Ten.
I wonder if this will get the ball moving faster on the Cam Newton investigation? It took them 3 years to get Reggie Bush, but with all this OSU stuff, might they hurry that one along?
I hate to say it, but the Cam Newton thing is dead in the water. At least the NCAA sure hopes it is. Unless another investigative journalist uncovers something new, Cam, his dad and Auburn will get away clean.
What does this mean?
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The solution is to accept what’s been obvious for years: that college football and basketball are developmental leagues for the NFL and the NBA, and to treat the players accordingly.
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Do you propose paying college players? Because I don’t think that solves anything.
Perhaps because there was nothing ever there. The vultures were flinging every weapon available at this story. and nothing ever stuck. I am one of the biggest skeptics, ie when there is smoke, there is fire, but I think with all the hate and rage against the SEC by other regions, someone would have unearthed a smoking gun.
Um, didn’t Cam’s dad admit to seeking money for Cam’s commitment? Whether you believe Cam had no knowledge of that or not (I don’t), NCAA rules clearly apply to players AND parents. For all intents and purposes, you are your parents according to the rules. The NCAA chose to ignore that in Cam’s case.
I’m not sure which is funnier…the player showing up in his shiny new ride, or the fact that Ohio State says they have an affidavit from a used car salesman saying the deal was legit.
Acknowledged, Mr Newton asked money from Miss State. I don’t what NCAA rules specifically say…however…I don’t think asking one school (Miss St) for money/benefits should get another school (Auburn) in trouble. And how was Auburn supposed to know what allegedly happened between Miss St and the Newtons to rule Newton ineligible?
After getting snubbed by Miss State, it is not hard to think that Mr Newton (and possibly Cam) had an epiphany that they were not going to get any illegal benefits.
remember, last year at this time, nobody (except die hard SEC enthusiasts) had ever heard of Cam Newton. Yes he was a blue chipper high school recruit but he was basically damaged goods coming out of Florida.
Why do I say damaged goods? If Urban Meyer had any really big hopes for Cam Newton, do you think he would ever let him Newton go? And let him go to a rival SEC School? Meyer would have protected Newton like a mother bear protecting her cub.