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

[Jeff Buchanan]

I haven't seen this question asked yet:

What will fickell do with the tat5? How can teammates rally around Pryor who is so dirty that it is unlikely he can lead?

I know what I'd do if I were Luke fickell. I'd dismiss all of them from the team. ASAP. Along with all the others who have allegedly sold stuff for tats, drugs or money or who have had sweet deals arranged for them for cars.

Moreover, if I were the President, I'd fire smith and the entire compliance department. If Dohrmann's stuff is accurate and it is found to be so by the NCAA, I cannot see anything on the horizon but the most onerous penalties coming down.

[Jeff Buchanan]

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.

Disagree.

The u has repeatedly said that the tat5 are the only ones involved. Its an isolated incident. But others were inovlved in selling stuff for stuff ... lots of them.

There are 28 players named, going back to 2003. This is a VERY BIG deal because it is simply inconceivable, as Dohrmann points out, that people who should have known about this stuff did not know.

[Jamie H]

I think it is inconceivable that Tressel didn't know. But Smith & Gee? Dunno about that.

I didn't read much that would indicate that recruits were picking OSU strictly because they knew they were going to be "hooked up", which is kind of what was being insinuated about the article.

All the article did was indicate that Tressel has probably been lying to his superiors at OSU for years, which is I guess what got him fired. i was just thinking that if the article got him fired, it must contain a bombshell, and I'm not sure this really did.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Frankly, if I'm the NCAA investigative arm in this and I go back and find that, as Dohrmann alleges, more players than the tat5 were selling memorabilia and gear for money, tats, weed and car deals and I also find that nobody in a position who should have known about this didn't know about what was going on or if they had an inkling but then didn't follow-up (maybe because tressel told them not to, they got strong armed .... feared for their jobs, etc), I'm going after osu.

If it is true that the osu board of regents, as it is told they were by reliable sources, were given a copy of the SI article in advance, and then told jt it would be better if he resigned ASAP .... AND HE DID .....it is likely that there is more known by university insiders about rule breaking going on during tressels 10 years at osu that verifies Dohrmann's claims.

osu is in high damage control mode. Its going to be an interesting next two weeks.

[Pasadena Blue]

I'm unimpressed by this article.
I think Smith/Gee canned the 'Vest hoping to just get the negative press and increased scrutiny to go away as well as the save their own asses.

Smith probably is complicit in all of this and probably convinced Tressel to fall on the sword, because if Smith is also implicated, this guarantees the dreaded Loss of Institutional Control ... and Tressel doesn't want the hammer to drop on his former employer.

O-state doesn't need to pay Tressel anything, but they probably will to keep him shut up.

[Jeff Buchanan]

For those that think the Dormann piece is nothing new, while its true it is more or less that more people were doing what the tat5 were doing and they were doing it since 2003, you have to read the article carefully. Take a look at the allegation that tressel fixed a raffle so that the best recruiting prospects won the best prizes.

To me, the most important point Dohrmann makes indirectly is that there is no way, NONE, that people who should have known did not know; they knew, they looked the other way, they did not report. The problem was institution wide. How is it that the equipment manager wasn't accounting for the stuff players were giving away? How is it that equipment was autographed before it was traded? People who should have reported violations flat out didn't. Why?

From Rivals:

usclawblue has a fantastic connection to the NCAA's current line of thinking on violations, and I tend to trust his insight that Emmert isn't going to tread lightly. I suspect we see vacated seasons. Pryor suspended indefinitely (may miss his entire senior season until it can all be cleared up with the cars?), a show-cause order on Tressel, 3-4 years probation, loss of bowl eligibility for at least two years, and a loss of scholarships (though I think not very many...no more than 10 over a 4 year period). I don't think the NCAA will tread lightly because they fired Tressel, rather they'll ask how he could operate that program with impunity for so long.

[Pasadena Blue]

I'd be impressed if more than one season is vacated....they would have to demonstrate that Tress new of things before this year.

While we all (probably even DSL) agree that he did know, even the SI piece can't prove that he did know.

Without that, only the '10 season gets vacated. Despite that it doesn't matter ... we all know Bonds knowingly took steroids, the fact that he doesn't admit it, doesn't stop us from "asterisk-ing" his achievements.

Same thing with Tress .... his record against M a sham .... the countdown clock at various Buck websites regarding "M's last win" .... now all officially a joke .... this is the best part!

every time one of these mouth breathers posts "9-1", we can all chuckle.

[Pasadena Blue]

comparing Tressel to Woody is an unbelievable insult to Hayes.

I agree with whoever said Hayes was a crazy coot, but it isn't out of line to say he was arguably the best coach in MODERN Big10 history. I would have considered Bo, but his bowl record is abominable.

As much as I revere Yost (my avatar) and Crisler ... it was a different era.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I'd be impressed if more than one season is vacated....they would have to demonstrate that Tress new of things before this year.

He knew. There is no way that all of the 28 names that are out there are not going to say something in the coming months about that. If there are drugs involved and players implicated in using them, buying/selling them, that will come out as a result of the Fed's investigation of Rife ..... and I would not be surprised if it already has and osu is in possession of information linking players with Rife and with drug use, possession and sale. Players and former players are sweating. Someone will come forward. People on tressel's staff, if those in control of osu aren't complete idiots, are going to either lose their jobs or provide information. osu cannot afford to play this any differently if they have any hope of salvaging their reputation ..... already terribly tarnished.

gee has to get tough. He has to ferret out those that were complicit in what was going on and we will find out how long this went on and who was involved in good time. If he chooses to stonewall trying to protect reputations, the press will hound him and the school and the NCAA will not let him .... this is way to big for the NCAA to roll over.

USC is going to be small potatoes; osu will be the poster program for the NCAA to demonstrate its willingness to clean up CFB. The dirt is out there.

[geo weidl]

I agree with you Jeff, this is not just an ncaa issue, this may become a fed issue as well. Though the article points out things that we have known the last few weeks, its the names and who these people are that are going to make the difference in the end. If anybody thinks that these characters have saint jim's back are going to be sadly dissappointed. Looking forward to tomorrow.

[Pasadena Blue]

I am not disagreeing that he knew all along (i.e. since MoC time... and back to YSU), I am just not convinced the NCAA will get the PROOF they need.

[Jamie H]

The thing is, the worst violation we knew about before today was Tressel lying to the NCAA. The worst violation we know about now is.....Tressel lying to the NCAA. Sure, the article indicates that he's a really BIG liar, but we already knew that. Now we know why he didn't make any moves to deal with the issue either, as it had been going on for 8 years and I guess he figured it would never be a big deal.

I still think you're going to have to come up with something bigger than kids selling stuff for tatoos/weed to bring serious charges against OSU. The equipment thing is interesting. How were people getting stuff that was signed by Tressel himself? That would move Tressel from simply looking the other way about this stuff to actively participating in it, and that could be significant. But still, that is mostly about Tressel and not the University.

As I said earlier, I mostly just wanted the slimeball gone, and he's gone, so I don't really care what else happens to OSU from this point on. But I have to say that for an article that seemed to force Tressel to resign, I expected at least one bombshell relevation.

I guess knowing that stuff like Tatgate was just SOP around OSU for the last 8 years is interesting given their recent proclamations that it was an isolated incident.

[*JD*]

Woody was crazy, but he was no cheater.

Are you really so sure about that?

[Jamie H]

The rules were different back then. You could do a lot of stuff with boosters that is not allowed now.

[geo weidl]

Does anyone else think that braxton miller may leave, if given the opportunity?