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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2011 > March > 12 > Entry
Editorial: The ball Tressel dropped was a big one
If you’re Ohio State University, you know you have problems when the punk rock group, “Dead Schembechlers,” is tweeting things like, “As long as I keep my fingers in my ears and loudly sing, ‘LA LA LA LA LA LA LA,’ I’m not bothered by the latest Tressel news.”
These OSU diehards, who perform in attire aimed at allowing them to be mistaken for Woody Hayes, don’t have to be told how many times Coach Jim Tressel has beaten Michigan. (That would be nine of 10.)
There’s no getting around that Mr. Tressel really, really, really messed up.
A former player and now lawyer e-mailed the coach in April of last year that he understood that some OSU players were selling memorabilia to a tattoo parlor owner who was under investigation by the feds. The lawyer worried that the players were hanging out with someone possibly involved in drugs and that they were also possibly violating NCAA rules by selling signed jerseys, rings and whatnot.
Two weeks later, Mr. Tressel got a follow-up e-mail, with the lawyer reiterating his concerns and asking the coach to keep the details he was providing confidential.
Of course, what Mr. Tressel should have done after the very first e-mail — regardless of the later plea for confidentiality — was sprint to the university’s lawyers. The matter was bigger than deciding whether to punt or go for a first down. The Senator should have shaken off his cool-as-ice demeanor and recognized he wasn’t entitled to make this call.
In short order, the significance of his failure got weightier.
In the fall, Mr. Tressel had to sign a required annual statement saying he didn’t know about any possible NCAA violations, which was a lie.
Not quite three months later, Ohio State was told by the feds that they had OSU memorabilia that had been seized from a tattoo parlor. Ohio State then began its own investigation of how the parlor owner had gotten possession of the mementos, ultimately self-reporting that six players had violated NCAA rules.
That resulted in five players — including star quarterback Terrelle Pryor — being suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season, though the NCAA then made the controversial decision to let them play in the Sugar Bowl.
Apparently only as OSU was preparing its appeal of the players’ suspensions did OSU discover in January of this year that Mr. Tressel had been warned nine months earlier that the players were hanging in the wrong places. Now the situation is that the grown-up, the coach, will get a two-game suspension (and a $250K fine), while his players are looking at a five-game suspension. Seems awfully lenient considering the lie and his serious acts of omission.
When he gave his public apology, Mr. Tressel made things all the worse because he said that the reason he didn’t go to university lawyers at the outset was because he was scared about jeopardizing a federal investigation and he was worried about his players’ safety.
Wasn’t the latter all the more reason to not keep the secret? While much of the sports world is gleefully piling on Mr. Tressel, Ohio State President Gordon Gee is defending him with every inch of his small, spry self. He said Mr. Tressel made a mistake, but that what matters is the totality of his record as a person and a coach — and that the good overwhelmingly outweighs the bad.
Jim Tressel is a lucky man that he has a record of decency off the field — and winning on the field. If there were anything the least bit ordinary about either parts of his career, he’d be out of work.
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