M-Borg vs. THE Flavortown U Thread, Orig. by Buckeye Paul, absconded w/by talent.

[WingsFan]

Now that Tressel is history. Just see this fun fact - Coop and Tressel's combined record vs Michigan

11-11-1

[Mike]

For now!

[WingsFan]

Another fun fact 4,573 days since OSU beat UM without cheating :-)

[Mike]

I was wondering what the number was. I wasn't about to go adding it up. So that dates to their win in 1998?

[chemiclord]

I have to say, I'm not sure how well OSU can try and avoid the "lack of institutional control" charge considering what happened a few years back with the Buckeyes' basketball team.

[WingsFan]

Yes 11- 21-1998 Lots of fun today - The Hilter reaction parody is already out, STEPHEN J. NESBITT of the Michigan Daily is on ESPN right now for the 'Michigan Football' reaction!

[Mike]

I've been readingn comments at the Columbus Dispatch and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised at the level of contrition shown by buckeye fans today. Most of them seem like level-headed, fully functioning, members of society - which, frankly, shocked the hell out of me. A good 90% of the posts on the Pryor article focus their ire on Tressel, Terrelle, Smith, and Gee. You know... where it should be.

[Mike]

It's up!!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/magazine/05/30/jim.tressel/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t11_a5

[Tony G]

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/05/30/tressel-encouraged-to-resign-for-good-of-the-program/related

[geo weidl]

OSU doesn't have to pay Tressel anything

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The resignation of football coach Jim Tressel on Monday means Ohio State does not have to pay him another penny of his estimated $3.5 million annual salary.

According to the contract, which runs through the 2014 season, Tressel "shall not be entitled to receive any further compensation or benefits under this agreement" if he resigns.


Ohio State spokesman Jim Lynch said Monday that he was unaware of whether a buyout or severance package was part of Tressel's resignation, which was negotiated on Sunday night.

Even though not contractually compelled to, Ohio State could still offer Tressel money to leave the job.

Athletic director Gene Smith did not immediately respond when asked about the terms of the resignation.

An addendum to the contract does provide for Tressel to resign and to continue to be employed by Ohio State.

The paragraph, added to the contract in 2010, permits Tressel, if he resigns for any reason, to become an associate athletic director at a salary of $150,000 per year. Section 5.3f does stipulate that Ohio State can void that portion of the agreement.

saint jim may have not left yet.

[Tony G]

Tressel was forced out three days after Sports Illustrated alerted Ohio State officials that the wrongdoing by Tressel's players was far more widespread than had been reported. SI learned that the memorabilia-for-tattoos violations actually stretched back to 2002, Tressel's second season at Ohio State, and involved at least 28 players -- 22 more than the university has acknowledged. Those numbers include, beyond the six suspended players, an additional nine current players as well as nine former players whose alleged wrongdoing might fall within the NCAA's four-year statute of limitations on violations. One former Buckeye, defensive end Robert Rose, whose career ended in 2009, told SI that he had swapped memorabilia for tattoos and that "at least 20 others" on the team had done so as well. SI's investigation also uncovered allegations that Ohio State players had traded memorabilia for marijuana and that Tressel had potentially broken NCAA rules when he was a Buckeyes assistant coach in the mid-1980s.......


......The Clarett and Baker scandals were further evidence that Tressel was, at best, woefully ignorant of questionable behavior by his players and not aggressive enough in preventing it. At worst, he was a conduit for improper benefits, as Clarett alleged. The latter interpretation is suggested by a story that has long circulated among college coaches and was confirmed to SI by a former colleague of Tressel's from Earle Bruce's staff at Ohio State in the mid-1980s. One of Tressel's duties then was to organize and run the Buckeyes' summer camp. Most of the young players who attended it would never play college football, but a few were top prospects whom Ohio State was recruiting. At the end of camp, attendees bought tickets to a raffle with prizes such as cleats and a jersey. According to his fellow assistant, Tressel rigged the raffle so that the elite prospects won -- a potential violation of NCAA rules. Says the former colleague, who asked not to be identified because he still has ties to the Ohio State community, "In the morning he would read the Bible with another coach. Then, in the afternoon, he would go out and cheat kids who had probably saved up money from mowing lawns to buy those raffle tickets. That's Jim Tressel."......


.....

Ohio State has conceded that six current players committed an NCAA violation by trading memorabilia for tattoos or cash at Fine Line Ink: Pryor, tackle Mike Adams, running back Dan Herron, wide receiver DeVier Posey, defensive end Solomon Thomas and linebacker Jordan Whiting. Ellis, who spent time in and around the tattoo parlor for nearly 20 months, says that in addition to those six, he witnessed nine other active players swap memorabilia or give autographs for tattoos or money. Those players were defensive back C.J. Barnett, linebacker Dorian Bell, running back Jaamal Berry, running back Bo DeLande, defensive back Zach Domicone, linebacker Storm Klein, linebacker Etienne Sabino, defensive tackle John Simon and defensive end Nathan Williams. Ohio State declined to make any of its current players available to respond to SI.
Ellis claims that two players whose eligibility expired at the close of the 2010 season -- safety Jermale Hines and cornerback Devon Torrence -- also conducted at least one transaction with Rife involving memorabilia or autographs before the season ended. When asked by SI to respond, Hines, who was picked by the Rams in the fifth round of April's NFL draft, said, "I did nothing illegal." Torrence's agent, Jim Ivler, said his client "is adamant that the allegations are false. ... He can tell you where he got all his tattoos and it was not [at Fine Line Ink]."
From the 2008 team, Ellis alleges that cornerback Donald Washington traded memorabilia for tattoos. Washington now plays for the Chiefs; his agent, Neil Cornrich, did not return SI's calls requesting comment.

Ex-OSU defensive end Thaddeus Gibson has tattoos down both arms and is one of the players accused of receiving improper benefits.
Matthew Emmonds/US Presswire

Among those whose Ohio State careers ended after the 2009 season, Rose, Small, defensive end Thaddeus Gibson, running back Jermil Martin, wide receiver Lamaar Thomas and defensive lineman Doug Worthington made trades or sold memorabilia before their eligibility expired, according to Ellis. Gibson, now with the 49ers, and Worthington, now with the Buccaneers, declined comment through their agent. Repeated attempts to locate Martin, including calls, Internet searches and Facebook messages to past friends and coaches, were unsuccessful. Thomas, who now plays for the University of New Mexico, said in a statement from that school's athletic office, "I'm aware of the investigation at Ohio State. I have not been implicated for a reason -- because I've done nothing wrong." When asked about Buckeyes selling their players-only merchandise, Small admitted to The Lantern that he had done so and said that "everybody was doing it."
Rose has no regrets. "I knew how much money that the school was making," he says. "I always heard about how Ohio State had the biggest Nike budget. I was struggling, my mom was struggling. ... It was just something that I had to do. I was in a hard spot. ... [Other] guys were doing it for the same reasons. The university doesn't really help. Technically we knew it was wrong, but a lot of those guys are from the inner city and we didn't have much, and we had to go on the best we could. I couldn't call home to ask my mom to help me out."
Ohio State's conclusion that only six players broke the rules is based in part on a list of the items the Department of Justice seized in raids of Fine Line Ink and Rife's home on May 1, 2010. But that list, which mentioned 42 football-related items that Rife bought, received or acquired in trades from players, covered only a small fraction of what he got from the Buckeyes, Ellis says. "Eddie had storage units all over town," he says, "and he also sold some stuff off to people." (Through Palmer, his lawyer, Rife declined to comment on his involvement with Ohio State players.) Ellis estimates that Pryor alone brought in more than 20 items, *including game-worn shoulder pads, multiple helmets, Nike cleats, jerseys, game pants and more. One day Ellis asked Pryor how he was able to take so much gear from the university's equipment room. Ellis says the quarter*back responded, "I get whatever I want."
The Department of Justice alerted Ohio State to a transaction in which an unnamed player gave Rife a watch and four tickets to the 2010 Rose Bowl in exchange for a Chevy Tahoe. That player, Ellis says, was Martin: "Jermil came in to the shop and said, 'Are we doing this deal on this truck?' They went outside, and Eddie signed the title over and Jermil shook his hand and off he went." Martin did not give Rife anything at that moment, Ellis says, but a short time later Rife said in a telephone call to Ellis that he was in Pasadena and that Martin had gotten him tickets.
Martin was particularly close to Rife, Ellis says; about a year earlier Rife had given Martin a different car, a 2004 Jaguar sedan. "Eddie tossed him the keys, and off Jermil drove," Ellis says. (Through Palmer, Rife declined to comment.)
Ellis showed SI pictures of players -- Pryor, Gibson, Herron and Solomon Thomas -- being tattooed or showing off their artwork. Rife appears in one photo with a player. Ellis also produced a photo of 11 plastic bags filled with what appears to be marijuana; he says the photo was taken at Fine Line Ink. The letter the DOJ sent to Ohio State in December stated, "There is no allegation that any of these players were involved in or had knowledge of Mr. Rife's drug trafficking activities." Ellis says that is true but that he did witness four other Buckeyes trade memorabilia for weed. Three of those transactions involved a small amount of the drug, he says, but in one instance a player departed with what Ellis was told was a pound. (Rife's lawyer denies that his client provided marijuana to any players.)
Like Dudley'z years earlier, Fine Line Ink became the players' hangout. They gathered on the second floor, turned on the PlayStation and stayed for hours. Rife may have been about a decade older than most of the players, but, says Ellis, "Eddie was cool. He was funny and fun to be around. The players liked him." Rife regularly accompanied players to bars near campus; he took some to an MMA fight at the LC Pavilion; in May 2009 three players joined Rife at Cruisefest Nationals, an auto show. According to Ellis, Rife set up a mobile tattoo station and then shouted at potential customers, "Come and meet the Buckeyes."
How open a secret was it that scores of Buckeyes were hanging out at Fine Line? Ellis says players went in and out of the tattoo parlor so often that kids carrying paper and pen would bang on the door and front window and shout, "Are the Buckeyes here?" Employees had to shoo them away.
From fall 2002 through last year, first at Dudley'z and then at Fine Line Ink, at least 28 Ohio State players are either known or alleged to have traded or sold memorabilia in violation of NCAA rules. It is a staggering number, a level of wrongdoing that would seem hard to miss for a coach and an entire athletic department -- one that includes an NCAA compliance staff of at least six people. Yet the university trusted the coach, and the coach says he knew nothing before April 2010, when the Columbus lawyer tipped him off in an e-mail.
He was ignorant of it all.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz1Nt87Cisd

[Jamie H]

I don't really see a smoking gun for the program in there. It looks like the biggest offense is that Tressel turned a blind eye to the shenanigans just like he did at YSU. I didn't read anything that would implicate the AD.

Actually, I thought the most damning line of the whole piece was the former assistant who worked with Tressel back in the 80's:

"In the morning he would read the Bible with another coach. Then, in the afternoon, he would go out and cheat kids who had probably saved up money from mowing lawns to buy those raffle tickets. That's Jim Tressel."

It basically just sounds like Tressel is a hypocrite who wants to win at all costs and doesn't care or even want to know if rules are being followed.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I don't know if I'd use the word "disappointed" in this case but the long-awaited article failed to impress me. All is really said is that more players than the Tat 5 traded memorabilia. But we already knew that. And it talked about Tressel at Ytown. Again, we already knew that. I was expecting something big to be in there about cars but this was all tattoo parlor stuff. And it was stuff that the best compliance dept in the country would have a hard time stopping.

[Jamie H]

I will 100% agree that the article was clearly overhyped. Yeah, it exposed that stuff has been going on since 2003 and made it pretty clear that Tressel is a master at always looking the other way, but it didn't really break any new ground. Maybe the memorabilia for drugs stuff, but kids smoking pot just doesn't get me riled up to the indignant level.

If this article is what got him fired, I am kind of surprised.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Dohrmann's piece ...... very well writen. Lots of new stuff. Multiple players alleged to have traded memorbilia and equipment for Tats going back to 2004. 28 is the current number alleged.

Loss of institutional control if NCAA investigates and confirms. Dohrmann's stuff is very well researched and vetted.

http://www.analyzenow.com/