March 18, 2011

Ohio State's Tressel Increases Own Suspension to Five Games: OSU head football coach Jim Tressel, originally suspended two games for not reporting player misconduct to the NCAA, has asked the university to add three more games to his suspension. The university has honored Tressel's request, meaning the Buckeyes will be without their head coach and starting quarterback for the Big Ten opener against Michigan State, who split the conference title with OSU last season. Even with the extended suspension, the NCAA might not be done with the OSU football program.

posted by The_Black_Hand to football at 10:50 AM - 11 comments

Aww, he's such an upstanding and honest person!

posted by feloniousmonk at 10:57 AM on March 18, 2011

Long weekend!

posted by yerfatma at 11:10 AM on March 18, 2011

You'll notice, he held off on extending his own suspension until the NCAA shot down the players' appeals...

posted by The_Black_Hand at 11:27 AM on March 18, 2011

Who would expect any less from Mr. Goodie Two Shoes Sweater Vest?

posted by jm_mosier at 11:48 AM on March 18, 2011

There's a fair amount of negative reaction to this. Sporting News is flailing hard on it. Here's one piece.

posted by beaverboard at 12:07 PM on March 18, 2011

I wonder if he'll pull a Bobby Valentine and show up on the sidelines in a pair of noseglasses?

posted by jm_mosier at 12:15 PM on March 18, 2011

95% of D-I coaches would have been fired for this. Jim is one of the untouchables.

posted by Debo270 at 12:19 PM on March 18, 2011

I don't for one minute believe that Cam Newton didn't have an inkling of what his Dad was doing and he gets off scot-free. On the other hand, we have players selling their own personal property and they and their coach get suspended. What's wrong with this picture? Adrian Peterson recently called the NFL 'slavery'. I think that term should be used on the NCAA, because they get rich and the players get squat.

posted by Shotput at 01:06 PM on March 18, 2011

Unfortunately, what you believe was apparently never taken under consideration during the NCAA investigation of Cam Newton. Even if he did know what his father was up to, do you really expect him to testify to it? Would you roll over on your dad, if you were stuck in a similar situation?

Also, just curious, how is an Ohio State football jersey a student's "personal property?" I don't know you at all, but at first glance, it looks like you might be a Buckeye fan sipping an ice-cold pitcher of sour grape-tinis.

posted by The_Black_Hand at 01:31 PM on March 18, 2011

Whether Tressel gets fired (not going to happen) is ultimately the university's decision. In terms of what the NCAA can/will do, I think the 5 game suspension could potentially be longer as the coach's crime is worse than the players'. What the NCAA should probably also do is ban the Buckeyes from post-season play for at least one year as a result of Tressel's dishonesty that was in direct furtherance of getting his players to be able to play in the Sugar Bowl. Requiring Ohio State to vacate their Sugar Bowl victory and/or all of their games from last season, while draconian, may also be warranted, but I suspect the NCAA will not have the stones to do it.

posted by holden at 03:00 PM on March 18, 2011

What does a game suspension mean? Just that he can't coach them during the game. What about practice, game preparation, etc.?

posted by graymatters at 08:43 PM on March 18, 2011

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