Katy Hanratty
Professor Lutz
English 151
October 31, 2011
Ohio State Football: History, Tradition…Scandal
History of Ohio State Football
Ohio State football. What do most people think when they hear about Ohio State football: history, tradition, and legacy, to name a few. There is a long history of winning and tradition at Ohio State. "Since 1890, the Buckeyes have claimed 7 National Championships and have had nine undefeated seasons" (History of Ohio State Football). “Ohio State has won 35 Big Ten Championships, which is the second most in the Big Ten and the third most conference titles of any conference” (Howell). In 2010, “Ohio State became the first team in Big Ten history to win at least 10 games in six consecutive seasons en route to a 12-1 record, a sixth consecutive Big Ten championship, a seven straight win over rival Michigan and its second straight BCS bowl victory with a 31-26 win over Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl" (Wikipedia). The players have become role models and almost like celebrities to young Ohio State football fans. The players are expected to uphold the traditions and standards of not only The Ohio State University, but also the Ohio State football program. As of late, when people think of Ohio State football not only do they think winning and tradition, but they also may be thinking scandal.
The Scandal
By now any football fan on the planet has probably heard about the scandal going on at Ohio State involving their football team. To provide a breakdown: on December 23, 2010, Ohio State suspended five of its players, Terrelle Pryor, Dan Herron, DeVier Posey, Mike Adams and Solomon Thomas for NCAA violations. This news came as a shock to Ohio State fans around the country. The players were found guilty of the following: (Bender)
• Selling jerseys
• Big Ten championship rings
• Pants
• Shoes
• Autographs
• Other memorabilia
• Accepting extra money from working during the offseason
• Receiving cash benefits from an event that occurred in Cleveland.
The first question that came in my mind is why would the players do this. They let down the whole city of Columbus and Buckeye fans around the world. You would think that they would know there would be consequences to their actions. With an investigation going on during the season, luckily these players were still able to play in the Sugar Bowl and lead us to a 31-26 victory over Arkansas. Each of these five players all made huge game changing plays for Ohio State to get the win. The win was the fifth BCS title for coach Jim Tressel. After all the excitement of the BCS win for the Buckeyes, devastating news appeared on Yahoo Sports.
The Article
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| Ohio State Football Coach Jim Tressel |
In March of 2011, the article reported that coach Jim Tressel knew what his players had done. Right here is when we see the biggest problem. How are we able to trust our coach, who has been lying to NCAA officials? There was proof of e-mails from Jim Tressel proving he knew that his players had sold their valuable memorabilia for money and tattoos. Jim Tressel is said to have known what his players had done several months before Ohio State school officials even knew about the situation, so why would he go so far to protect his players knowing that there would be serious consequences? Tressel was informed of what his players were doing from a lawyer named Christopher Cicero, who happened to be a former walk on football player at Ohio State. "When the NCAA found out about coach Tressel’s actions, they decided to suspend him for the first two games of the 2011 season. Along with the suspension, Jim Tressel was fined for $250,000 (Bender)." Coach Tressel claimed to have kept his knowledge a secret because he wanted to keep his information kept confidential for the safety of his players and the investigation.
The NCAA decided to sustain the suspension to the five suspensions for the 2011 season. "Coach Tressel then asked to have his two game suspension lifted to a five game suspension to equal the suspensions of his players" (Bender). In late March, it was proven that Tressel forwarded the e-mails to a businessman named Ted Sarniak, who just so happened to be a mentor to Terrelle Pryor. In mid April, Ohio State was notified by the NCAA about Tressel’s actions. "In early May, it was reported that Ohio State’s director of compliance was researching a minimum of 50 car sales to Ohio State athletes and their families to see if they complied with NCAA regulations" (Smith). In late May, a former Buckeye football player came forward. Ray Smalls played for the Buckeyes from 2006-2010. Smalls was suspended by Tressel several times and said that he sold his Big Ten Championship ring and other valued memorabilia while playing for the Buckeyes. Smalls also said that he got special deals on cars. This article put a sword through any Ohio State fan's heart. It was bad enough hearing about what are players had done, but then we had to hear that our beloved coach lied to NCAA officials.
Terrelle Pryor
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| Former Buckeye Terrelle Pryor |
I believe the biggest reason Ohio State is in the predicament there in is largely in part because of Terrelle Pryor. Pryor initiated a lot of this scandal. He is the one who decided to steal from the Ohio State weight room, he is the one who got his teammates to follow him and he is the one now being investigated for the cars he decided to drive to school. Pryor clearly doesn't care about Ohio State or the Buckeye football team. While Pryor is off to the NFL, he is leaving his teammates to have to deal with this mess. What about all of the Buckeye players not involved in any of this scandal? How do you think they feel? Those players went from being on an amazing football team who had a shot at becoming National Champions (for the 2011 season), to having to deal with a new coach, their star quarterback leaving for the NFL and four of their key players having to sit out a couple games for NCAA violations. Pryor didn't think about his team, the fans or the school, he was thinking only about himself.
Terrelle Pryor was able to get out of his suspension at Ohio State, but now he has to deal with the NFL suspension. The NFL decided to suspend Pryor for the first five games of his NFL career for "receiving illegal benefits as a collegiate player" (Klemko). Now Pryor wants to get out of his suspension from the NFL. Pryor has issued an appeal to try and get his suspension reduced to zero games. Pryor's ban for this first five games isn't only costing him time to prove himself, but also costing him money. "Pryor's likely first-year salary of $375,000 would be reduced by $110,000 after his ban" (Klemko). This just proves to me that Terrelle Pryor is always making mistakes and never wants to deal with the consequences of his actions.
The Timeline
The timeline to this scandal follows as:
- On May 30, 2011 coach Jim Tressel, who was just one year short of his 10-year anniversary of being the Ohio State football coach, resigned. To follow such devastating news, that same night, allegations arose about how players were receiving benefits under coach Jim Tressel.
- On June 7, in not so surprising news, Terrelle Pryor announced his decision to forgo his senior season and head to the NFL.
- On July 8, 2011, devastating news came to all Buckeye football fans. “Ohio State reacted to the NCAA by relinquishing all 12 wins from the 2010 season, which includes the Buckeyes Sugar Bowl win against Arkansas” (Associated Press). Ohio State decided to "inflict it’s own punishment on the football program by imposing a two-year probation, with no scholarship losses or bowl bans" (Mandel).
- On August 12th, Ohio State met with the NCAA to discuss all the infractions against Ohio State. "Ohio State announced that they would have to give back the profit they got from the Sugar Bowl win, which was about $338,000 "(Smith). By doing what these players did, they have cost the school money and possibly a tarnished reputation. Not to mention, “Not only could the NCAA committee tack on a bowl ban, it could also limit the Buckeyes’ number of recruits, among other possibilities” (Associated Press).
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| The five players that received suspensions for NCAA violations |
This leaves me to think, what was coach Jim Tressel supposed to do? “The investigations into the players’ actions and those of Tressel have cost Ohio State’s athletic department about $800,000 so far. Ohio State paid $270,000 to a New York PR firm to help it manage publicly stemming from the scandal, plus another $162,000 to a Kansas firm specializing in NCAA compliance consulting” (Associated Press). Tressel had already cost the University money, reputation and a football season. He was protecting his players and has taken a lot of heat, especially for Terrelle Pryor. Tressel had no other choice but to resign as the head coach. And because Tressel decided to stick out his neck out so far for Pryor, it is highly likely that Jim Tressel will never coach football again.
Anger Towards the Players
Some people may look at this scandal and say that it was the players’ fault that Ohio State is in such a predicament. If these players had gone to a different tattoo parlor, Ohio State wouldn’t be where they are now. The owner of the tattoo parlor that the players went to was already being investigated. When these investigators went in to search the house of the tattoo parlor owner, they found the Ohio State jerseys, pants, rings and other memorabilia that no person should have except the Ohio State football players.
Some people may look at the situation and say that the players took advantage of their status. The Ohio State football players are almost like celebrities down in Columbus because we look up to them so much. There are several people who can look at this situation and think why would these players do this, they just let down a countless number of Buckeye fans all over the world. It was the players who sold their personal memorabilia. It is the players’ fault that Ohio State is in this mess. It is the players’ fault that Jim Tressel resigned. Many people say that it was Terrelle Pryor’s fault that all this happened. In my opinion, I agree. Terrelle Pryor was the leading man involved in all of the selling of memoriblia and his teammates just followed him. Pryor was the one who took valuable items out of the Ohio State locker room and sold them to this tattoo parlor. It was Terrelle Pryor who took advantage of his quarterback fame. It is hard to say that the other four players, Dan Herron, DeVier Posey, Mike Adams and Solomon Thomas, were not to blame, but at the same time Terrelle Pryor was the leading man in the scandals.
However, looking at the situation, I can see why some of the players did what they did. For example, Dan Herron grew up extremely poor in one of the poorest cities in Ohio, Warren. He had to play football in order to afford an education. Some can look at what he did as being disgraceful and completely against being a Buckeye. But looking at the other side of the story, maybe Herron did what he did to get some money to try and support himself and his family. I can’t say for sure that this is a fact, but bottom line what these players’ did was wrong.
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| The Big Ten Championship ring the players sold for tattoos |
Should Tressel be the One to Blame
One of the many things that have come to mind while doing research for this blog was that Tressel shouldn’t be the only one to blame. Jim Tressel had been the head coach of Ohio State for nine years. During his tenure, he has one a National Championship, countless Big Ten titles and has crushed rival Michigan year after year. He appeared to be a good coach and an all around nice guy. I do believe what he did was wrong, keeping the information from the NCAA and Ohio State. Jim Tressel was looking out for his players as he kept this information to himself. What makes me angry about this whole situation is that Tressel did most of this lying to cover up for his quarterback Terrelle Pryor. He covered up texts that he had with Pryor, and he knew what Pryor was doing and didn’t say a word about it. Why would he does this knowing that there would be consequences?
| The Sports Illustrated Issue that covered the scandal |
I have to look at the big picture and Tressel is a very good coach, and there have been a slew of player problems that he has had to deal with during his time at OSU, and I am sure that there are several instances in which he really didn’t know what was going on. But why would he go so far as to protect someone like Terrelle Pryor? Pryor clearly doesn’t care about Ohio State or any of the valuables he received from winning. If there was any one person to blame in this whole scandal it is Terrelle Pryor. They all made their choices and now they have to deal with the consequences.
For instance, instead of dealing with his suspension and staying in school, Terrelle Pryor decided to go pro and declare himself eligible for the 2011 NFL draft. By doing this Pryor lost out on millions of dollars, instead if he would of stayed for his senior season he could have declared for the 2012 NFL draft and would have been a potential first round draft pick, instead of a third round choice. Another instance of this is DeVier Posey. "Posey was given over $700 for work over the summer that he had not done" (Associated Press). Posey was already suspended for the first five games of the season and because of this recent news he was suspended for another five games which comes to a ten game suspension, leaving him with only two games to play in for his senior season. Posey simply could have dismissed his senior season and declared for the draft with Pryor. By deciding to stay in school, he lost out on millions of dollars because now his draft stock will be low, by hardly getting to play his senior season. Tressel was protecting his players and has taken a lot of heat, especially for Terrelle Pryor. Tressel had no other choice but to resign as the head coach.
Rebuilding
Will Ohio State football rebound? Of course they will. Every team at some point goes through a rebuilding period. However, in order for the Buckeyes to do this, I think they need to start paying attention to the players and there actions a little bit more. Who was monitoring the weight room when Terrelle Pryor took some of the equipment? We need a coach who will be straight up with the team and not protect them when they violate NCAA rules. If we had a coach who was honest, Ohio State would never be in this predicament. Eventually, Ohio State will rebound from this. They are thousands of supporters from all over the world that will allow the Buckeye’s to become the great football team we used to know.
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