No personal offense intended but ... (always say that we we get so close to making one, don't we?)
Bias revealed: I am in the U 0f Oregon sports hall of fame (not as Parter Starr Byrd) so I could have a dog in this fight, but I don't.
Saying a coach, who has done what he did, at both Youngstown and THE OSU, is honest at heart is like saying the drug cartels are OK because they build schools and hospitals.
He is is a cheating scumbag. He is the current centerpiece for what is wrong with coaching in all the major college sports. He is also evidence that OSU (certainly not exclusively) wants to win more than it wants to hire a clean coach.
See his history at Younstown.
Those who follow college sports could provide a list of coaches like Tressel who have left more than one sports program in shambles as they moved on in their 'career paths'. Unfortunately, this will probably not be his last coaching job.
Until coaches (to put the responsibilty where it belongs) are suspened/banned, AD's (to make them think before ignoring certain blemishes on resumes) are fired/banned
and programs are heavily sacntioned (not to punish current players but to put the pressure on fan alumnae) This sort of thing will continue.
Monetery compensation for players, beyond the value of a scholarship, is another discussion but, even if resolved to the players benefit, will not eliminate the cheating. Coaches like tressel will find a new way to gain an edge by cheating.
What has to happen is absolute intolerance for the violators, not excusing them in light of the 'good' they have done for the team and then sending them off to sign another multi-million dollar contract somewhere else.
I believe if you read my post carefully, you will note that I said:
And it's a shame that a man like Jim Tressel, who I sincerely believe is an honest man at heart, bought into that philosophy so whole-heartedly.
Now then, as a Tennessee alumni who only supports OSU for one game a year (sorry, Haggis--tended bar in Ohio for too long and don't really like the idea of my husband refusing to talk to me for two weeks every year at Thanksgiving) I really don't have a dog in this fight. I, too, live twenty miles away from the Shoe, and I frequently call the OSU team the "Suckeyes." Just because I can.
But here's the thing--I've met Coach Tressel several times, both when he was at Youngstown State and at Ohio State. He's a nice guy, good to his family and friends, pleasant to meet and associate with. Is he some kind of jumped-lothario of cheating in football?
No, he's not.
Neither is Chip Kelly at the University of Oregon, which is being investigated at the moment by the NCAA for paying over $25k to a recruitment service and (among others) Lache Seatrunk's decision to go to Oregon. Neither is Chris Peterson at Boise State (one of the Duck's favorite teams, I sure) for their recruitment violations. And of course, not reporting players who sold their own personal possessions in exchange for tattoos is FAR MORE SERIOUS than potential recruitment violations--like paying for top tier recruits, right? I mean, Tressel's violation was one of omission, not one that involved actually paying for players.
Although to be fair, we'd have to ask Auburn and Cam Newton's dad about that, or USC and Reggie Bush's family, wouldn't we?
Win at all costs is a pervasive problem throughout the NCAA, particularly at big schools like OSU (Ohio, Oregon, or Oklahoma State) or Tennessee or even with the apparently-completely-above-board Oregon Ducks. If you want to clean collegiate athletics up entirely, then let's strip everything down to the brass tacks. Remove the athletic programs from the schools entirely, making the teams semi-professional organizations. Pay the athletes for their work from the billions of dollars universities make from exploiting them for promotional purposes. Let them stay nominally affiliated with the universities, but cut out all the bullshit about giving these kids an education or not having a playoff because they'd miss too much school and call it what it really is--a four year audition for the NFL.
That way, no one will get pissed off if Ohio State players trade rings for tats or University of Oregon coaches trade money for players. Everyone's happy then.
Except Michigan. They're still reeling from Rich Rod. And USC. They lost their victories, their coach, and their Heisman Trophy winner and got Lane Kiffin in exchange. And Florida, whose coach quit to spend more time with his family, promptly moved to Ohio, and who'll spend the remainder of his year-long contract with ESPN developing a whole new playbook for the 2012-13 Ohio State Buckeyes.
