Coaches Hot Seat Talks To One Of Our Longtime Friends In Ohio About the “Buckeye Five – Jim Tressel” Situation – “Will Jim Tressel Coach Another Game at Ohio State?” – “Well……”
About 30 years ago two of us here at Coaches Hot Seat landed in an airplane at the Columbus, Ohio airport while traveling their to play in a national junior golf tournament and at the air terminal a young boy of our same age was there to meet us along with his parents which had agreed to host us that week.
We had a great week in Columbus, Ohio playing in the golf tournament and being introduced to what seemed like a foreign culture to us which at the center was something as strong as the fine people of Ohio: Ohio State Football.
30 years later that young boy that met us at the airport is still one of our best friends and over the years as he went on to the Ohio State University and to a very successful business career we have had a great time traveling to Ohio for everything from OSU football games to Memorial golf tournaments and most of the time after the perfunctory questions and concerns about family, country and the world our conversations together always came around to the game of college football.
Yes, there are probably bigger fans of Ohio State football than our friend in Columbus, but there are certainly none that love the Ohio State University and Ohio State football more and that fact is why we gave our friend a week or so to take-in the most recent “Buckeye Five – Jim Tressel Gate” development before we got his view on things.
Here is how that conversation went over this past weekend:
Ohio friend: “I was wondering when you were going to call!”
CHS: “Oh, is there something going on in Columbus?”
Ohio friend: “Yes, Jack Nicklaus just held a press conference and admitted that his entire life was a fraud and that he had lied to everyone on a basic principle, but pay it no mind because lying is not that big of a deal and all of us Ohioans should just go back to minding our own business.”
CHS: “Now that would be a story!”
Ohio friend: “Yes, that would be a very big story, but I know Jack Nicklaus to well to know he would never do something like that and I don’t have a clue in the world who Jim Tressel is anymore.”
CHS: “So you think this is bad for Tressel?”
Ohio friend: “No, something bad for Jim would be if he lost his watch. This is a disaster for Jim Tressel and Ohio State and for the life of me I cannot figure out who the Hell these folks running OSU think they are and where they got the power to sacrifice the integrity of the university for the sake of a football coach.”
CHS: “But Jim Tressel is their coach.”
Ohio friend: “You got that right. Their coach. Letting those Ohio State players play in the Sugar Bowl was bad enough, but Jim Tressel allowing those same players play in the 2010 regular season when he had to know they would have been ineligible to play if what Tressel had learned about them had been reported to OSU and the NCAA just defies all logic and belief and everything I thought I knew about Jim.”
CHS: “From here it looks like Ohio State believes that a head coach in the OSU athletic department can lie to his bosses, lie to the NCAA, while also allowing his bosses lie to the NCAA and that coach can still go on in his position with what was a 2-game suspension (now 5 or even more?). How can that be?”
Ohio friend: “That is the most perplexing thing about this entire thing with these players, Jim and Ohio State. How can Ohio State possibly believe that it is OK for Jim Tressel to continue to coach the Ohio State football team? That just defies all understand and if Jim can remain as the Ohio State head football coach after what has been reported in the press and to the NCAA then integrity, ethics and honesty no longer mean anything at OSU. The next student that gets caught cheating on a test can simply turn to his professor and say: “Jim Tressel lied so why can’t I about how I take this test.”
CHS: “That is a Damn good point.”
Ohio friend: “Now, if the reports in the press and what has been reported to the NCAA is not the full story…..”
CHS: “What do you mean by that?”
Ohio friend: “Well, if Jim immediately told someone else in the Ohio State athletic department about the email he got about the players selling merchandise and there was no action by either of them to address the issue then that could be an interesting thing to follow….”
CHS: “Who else could he have told or forwarded those emails to?”
Ohio friend: “What about Gene Smith? Did you see the way Gene cut Jim off in the most recent press conference when someone asked if Jim had forwarded the emails to anyone else?”
CHS: “Yes, we noticed that.”
Ohio friend: “What if Jim forwarded the emails to Gene or another Ohio State athletic department employee and neither did anything and now a decision has been made for everyone to stand together because if there was more than one person involved in covering up the potential ineligibility of these players then that is lack of institutional control and that would mean a scholarship hit similar to what Alabama took a few years back and a big hit to the Ohio State University brand.”
CHS: “Are these people at Ohio State really so stupid to turn what should have been a 2 or 3 game suspension to start the 2010 football season for the players involved in selling merchandise to a full-on cover-up that could lead to a lack of institutional control charge from the NCAA?”
Ohio friend: “Well, the current explanation that Jim did not tell anyone about the emails about the OSU players selling merchandise because of confidentiality makes no sense at all and strikes me as a deliberate lie to cover something else up. Another thing to give some thought to is who Ohio State played in the second game of the season last year.”
CHS: “Miami.”
Ohio friend: “Miami. Any suspension of the OSU players, star players by the way, for selling merchandise that Jim found out about in April would have certainly included the Miami game and that may just be why Jim didn’t say a word about it or he told someone else and maybe why they decided to keep it quiet on purpose.”
CHS: “Damn.”
Ohio friend: “Damn is right. No, outrageous is the word I would use and this entire thing smells very bad. What was really interesting is that when I was watching the most recent press conference with Gee, Smith and Jim I got the impression that there was a big lie being told to cover something else up that is not yet known to the public.”
CHS: “If that’s true Jim Tressel coaching another game is only a minor issue because that means that OSU has opened itself up to a huge penalty from the NCAA.”
Ohio friend: “And if you believe the story being told by OSU, and I am not sure I do right now, this all goes back to a head football coach at Ohio State not being honest and forthright about an issue that should have caused loud, ringing bells in his head and led to a big response from the entire athletic department. None of that happened and now the honesty of Tressel has been rightfully questioned and the bottom-line is that if one cannot trust someone to tell the truth then that person just cannot be allowed to continue in a leadership position. At least that is the way I have always run my company and that was a principle that was taught in homes across Ohio when I was growing up in and in our home today.”
CHS: “Does Jim Tressel coach another football game at Ohio State?”
Ohio friend: “If he does then the integrity of the university will have been incredibly undermined and anyone that would support such a move to allow Jim to remain on must also be subject for anything they might say in the future because they have allowed someone that lied to them and to the sanctioning body for OSU athletics to remain in his job. I just cannot imagine Jim Tressel coaching another game at Ohio State.
CHS: “Damn.”
Ohio friend: “If you think I am worked up you should talk to “X” (his wife. She is just livid at Jim, but she is even more pissed of at Gordon because of his stupid statements at that press conference.”
CHS: “What do you make of Gee’s comments at the press conference?”
Ohio friend: “Most of it was Gordon being Gordon which half the time is him taking his foot out of him mouth, but it is hard for me to imagine that Gordon would participate in a cover-up of what Jim and the athletic department did or didn’t do, so if there is one going on Gordon is not in on it.”
CHS: “That makes sense. Gordo is a big Candy Ass but I don’t think the guy would lie about something or participate in a cover-up.”
Ohio friend: (Laughing) “Well, to participate in a cover-up one has to have common sense and there is precious little of that in Ivory Tower.”
CHS: (Laughing) “So you are saying that Gordon wouldn’t have done well working for Haldeman in the Nixon White House?”
Ohio friend: “I am saying Haldeman would have eaten Gordon alive!”
CHS: “So where does all this end up?”
Ohio friend: “Well, based on what I have read in your guys blog the NCAA suspended that Oklahoma State player for 10 plus games for lying so unless the NCAA thinks Jim is better than that player and they have one standard for players and another weaker one for coaches then that means Jim sits out the 2011 season which I think ends his coaching career at OSU as well.”
CHS: “Damn.”
Ohio friend: “Damn is right and if OSU is smart they are planning right now for no Jim Tressel in the 2011 season and for a new head football coach in 2012.”
