How Much Trouble Is OSU and Tressel in Now?!

• LJ

  

  password;705430 wrote:She is not a prosecutor.

  
  Ok?
• se-alum

  

  The lawyer was a former Buckeye football player, Chris Cicero.
  
  http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2011/03/09/tressel-attorney-ncaa-violations.html
• elbuckeye28

  se-alum;705515 wrote:The lawyer was a former Buckeye football player, Chris Cicero.
  
  http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2011/03/09/tressel-attorney-ncaa-violations.html

  
  When I saw your post that he was a former player I thought that it was even more bad news. Then I read the article. Obviously he is not a very reliable source, and has lied and fabricated stories for his own personal gain. Not exactly a person with a track record to make one think that the allegations were true, especially if the players, who I'm sure Tressel trusted, contradicted the story.
• password

  

  elbuckeye28;705563 wrote:When I saw your post that he was a former player I thought that it was even more bad news. Then I read the article. Obviously he is not a very reliable source, and has lied and fabricated stories for his own personal gain. Not exactly a person with a track record to make one think that the allegations were true, especially if the players, who I'm sure Tressel trusted, contradicted the story.

  
  Are you trying to say that none of this ever happened and it was all a lie, if that is proven to be true then everyone will owe Tressel and OSU an apology and the suspensions will be dropped.Keep your fingers crossed.
• sherm03

  

  elbuckeye28;705563 wrote:When I saw your post that he was a former player I thought that it was even more bad news. Then I read the article. Obviously he is not a very reliable source, and has lied and fabricated stories for his own personal gain. Not exactly a person with a track record to make one think that the allegations were true, especially if the players, who I'm sure Tressel trusted, contradicted the story.

  
  I agree that this guy is a shady character. But what did he stand to gain by sharing the info with Tressel?
• elbuckeye28

  password;705576 wrote:Are you trying to say that none of this ever happened and it was all a lie, if that is proven to be true then everyone will owe Tressel and OSU an apology and the suspensions will be dropped.Keep your fingers crossed.

  
  Seriously?
• elbuckeye28

  sherm03;705584 wrote:I agree that this guy is a shady character. But what did he stand to gain by sharing the info with Tressel?

  
  I don't know what he had to gain, and there is a good chance he had nothing to gain at all. I'm just saying that it is easier to understand Tressel's passive approach to the emails coming from an untrustworthy individual. While I don't know if this happened or not, if he approached the players in question and they contradicting his story, it is easy to understand why Tressel would not pursue this any further.
• sherm03

  

  elbuckeye28;705596 wrote:I don't know what he had to gain, and there is a good chance he had nothing to gain at all. I'm just saying that it is easier to understand Tressel's passive approach to the emails coming from an untrustworthy individual. While I don't know if this happened or not, if he approached the players in question and they contradicting his story, it is easy to understand why Tressel would not pursue this any further.

  
  The problem with that, though, is that it's not Tressel's job to do his own investigating. If a coach just went to his players every time something was reported and then dropped it when they denied the allegations, nothing would ever be done. He should have questioned the guys. When they said nothing happened, he should have said..."OK good. I have to turn this over to the compliance officer. But I'm glad to hear that there is nothing to this." He then lets the compliance officer know and he is no longer liable. Leave it up to the compliance officer to decide if the source is trustworthy or not and if the allegations are worth anything.
  
  I don't buy the fact that because this guy had a sordid professional past it gives Tressel a free pass for overlooking this.
• elbuckeye28

  sherm03;705609 wrote:The problem with that, though, is that it's not Tressel's job to do his own investigating. If a coach just went to his players every time something was reported and then dropped it when they denied the allegations, nothing would ever be done. He should have questioned the guys. When they said nothing happened, he should have said..."OK good. I have to turn this over to the compliance officer. But I'm glad to hear that there is nothing to this." He then lets the compliance officer know and he is no longer liable. Leave it up to the compliance officer to decide if the source is trustworthy or not and if the allegations are worth anything.
  
  I don't buy the fact that because this guy had a sordid professional past it gives Tressel a free pass for overlooking this.

  The thing is, I bet every coach gets hundreds, if not thousands, of emails each year telling them that violations are being committed. If they responded to everyone, the compliance staff would have to be 10 times the size it is. Obviously some of these allegations are more plausible than others, but if a person is widely known to be a shady individual, then the it becomes less likely.
• sherm03

  

  elbuckeye28;705622 wrote:The thing is, I bet every coach gets hundreds, if not thousands, of emails each year telling them that violations are being committed. If they responded to everyone, the compliance staff would have to be 10 times the size it is. Obviously some of these allegations are more plausible than others, but if a person is widely known to be a shady individual, then the it becomes less likely.

  I can agree with that. However, if the coach thinks that there is nothing to the story, why respond to the individual's accusations at all. Simply do not respond. If Tressel did not think there was anything to the story, he wouldn't have responded to every single one of the attorney's emails. I really believe that Tressel knows this guy and believed the story from the beginning. Otherwise, he would not respond to all the following emails after the first one.
• elbuckeye28

  sherm03;705631 wrote:I can agree with that. However, if the coach thinks that there is nothing to the story, why respond to the individual's accusations at all. Simply do not respond. If Tressel did not think there was anything to the story, he wouldn't have responded to every single one of the attorney's emails. I really believe that Tressel knows this guy and believed the story from the beginning. Otherwise, he would not respond to all the following emails after the first one.

  He could have also believed that there was some plausibility to his story, and was more worried about his players being involved with the federal investigation. I obviously don't know, but for a coach that is about to put his players, universities, and own reputation on the line, he does seem rather passive and disinterested in the emails. I would think( although you never know), if he believed serious infractions were occurring, whether he was planning to report them or not, he would show some more urgency in gaining some information on the matter.
• dwccrew

  

  Midstate01;704801 wrote:Yea let's hate fucking 18-21 year old kids. Gtfo. Some of the ppl on here amaze me. Tress was wrong. Very wrong. But I'd still want my kid playing for him. And I still want him being the coach for my team. We found out tress isn't the second coming of Jesus last night. He made mistakes and will pay for them. People around the country already hate OSU. This doesn't change anything. Tress will come back with an edge we've never gotten to see. I'm looking forward to it. I can't wait to get to our house in japan Sunday and hang my buckeye flag. We still bleed scarlet and grey and support the players and the coaches.
  
  Go bucks.

  We always hear this same old line. I'm so tired of it. This entire situation will not make Tressel come back with an edge, if anything, it will take the wind out of his sails. He looked like a broken man yesterday.
  

  mrtinkertrain;704833 wrote:I'm not sure who Jason Lloyd is but that was brutal and 110% factual. I hate to burst some OSU fan's bubble's but 2 games and 250K isnt going to make this one go away.
  
  The NCAA loves Tressel and the money he generates but even they have to maintain some form respectability.

  
  IMO the NCAA lost all credibility and respectability when they allowed Cam Newton to remain eligible.
• Cleveland Buck

  

  This attorney played for the Buckeyes when Tressel was an assistant in the early 80s, so I highly doubt Tressel blew him off as unreliable. I would love to know why he withheld the information.
  
  Someone said he was trying to protect his top 2 ranking. I doubt that, the Buckeyes are in the top 2 at some point just about every year.
  
  I don't think he is dumb enough to think he could just never say anything and it would never be found seeing as how they were going to comb through everything for the appeal of the suspensions and Ohio State reports to the NCAA every time someone takes a shit in an on campus toilet.
  
  Maybe Tressel was looking into it after the first email, but was waiting to get more detailed information that just that he heard "Pryor and other players" received tattoos in exchange for memorabilia. When he got more information it came with a request for confidentiality. That's still pretty shaky, and still doesn't explain why he didn't come clean later.
• sherm03

  

  I put a theory on the other thread about the possibility of Tressel covering for Smith or someone else higher up to keep the University from getting hit with anything. I don't feel like typing it again here, but check the other thread asking if Tressel should step down if you're interested in it.
• centralbucksfan

  elbuckeye28;705622 wrote:The thing is, I bet every coach gets hundreds, if not thousands, of emails each year telling them that violations are being committed. If they responded to everyone, the compliance staff would have to be 10 times the size it is. Obviously some of these allegations are more plausible than others, but if a person is widely known to be a shady individual, then the it becomes less likely.

  
  I mentioned this earlier. I highly doubt that Gene Smith wants all his coaches running to him with every "hearsay" thing a coach hears. He doesn't have time for that, nor does the compliance office have the staffing to investigate every single thing that they get. Smith hired the coaches, by doing so, he trusts they will follow the rules and do their due dilligence before coming to him or whomever else. Again, not making excuses for Tressel. He screwed up, and screwed up big time. But I believe there is more to this story than we have yet to see..good or bad. Or we may never know.
  And remember, email or in person, it was hearsay from another source. As a coach, you have to look at those who come to you and ask, "show me the proof, show me something with substance". I am sure they hear things weekly from "someone".
  Now the issue is, when this all broke in December...why then didn't he come out and say he knew? Thats the million dollar question...why?
• Cleveland Buck

  

  sherm03;705745 wrote:I put a theory on the other thread about the possibility of Tressel covering for Smith or someone else higher up to keep the University from getting hit with anything. I don't feel like typing it again here, but check the other thread asking if Tressel should step down if you're interested in it.

  
  I'm sure I read it, and it's possible he is taking a bullet for the university, but that doesn't make much sense either, unless he is protecting the compliance guy from getting fired or something, but why would he do that? Why would the university try to hide this? It's not like Auburn trying to hide SMU like dealings. These are idiots kids who made a few hundred bucks selling their own shit. It's not like the program comes down if the NCAA finds out about it. They would be suspended for a few games and that's the end of it. A top 5 ranking is no big deal for Ohio State. I doubt they would risk all of this mess to hide it. I think this is Tressel's fuck up, I just don't know why.
• ironman02

  Tressel definitely screwed this up. I suppose it's possible that he's telling the truth, to an extent, but he really should've shared the information with Gene Smith, Gordon Gee, or some type of legal advisor. Speaking of that, did anyone notice Tressel's reaction when he was asked if he forwarded the e-mails to anyone? I thought for sure that he started to shake his head answering "yes", but then Gene Smith stopped him. That does make you wonder if he's actually attempting to take all the punishment, in an effort to make sure that the entire football program isn't nailed with extensive sanctions.
  
  Whatever the case may be, the players never should have put the university in this position, and Tressel shouldn't have withheld information. Terrible mistakes by all of those involved. I honestly don't really buy Tressel's excuse, unless there's more to the story that will tie things together at a later date. It appears to me that he intentionally withheld the information in an attempt to avoid suspensions for many of his star players. Maybe I'm wrong, but unfortunately, that's how it looks.
  
  I know he has done a lot for OSU and has had great success during his tenure, but I'm actually surprised that he wasn't asked to step down. Again, maybe OSU is hoping that he can take the blame and the program as a whole won't be dealt with severely. I have a lot of respect for Tressel, and while I still support him as OSU's football coach, I have definitely lost some of that respect. Pretty disappointing.
• centralbucksfan

  ironman02;705810 wrote:I know he has done a lot for OSU and has had great success during his tenure, but I'm actually surprised that he wasn't asked to step down. Again, maybe OSU is hoping that he can take the blame and the program as a whole won't be dealt with severely. I have a lot of respect for Tressel, and while I still support him as OSU's football coach, I have definitely lost some of that respect. Pretty disappointing.

  
  Maybe he wasn't asked to step down, because there is in fact more to the story than what we know. And by that, Smith and Gee didn't feel he deserved to lose his job. They are both sticking their neck out for him by supporting him. I am sure they know the entire situation and are just speculating as we are. And both men are about as respected as they come in their respective positions.
• ironman02

  centralbucksfan;705816 wrote:Maybe he wasn't asked to step down, because there is in fact more to the story than what we know. And by that, Smith and Gee didn't feel he deserved to lose his job. They are both sticking their neck out for him by supporting him. I am sure they know the entire situation and are just speculating as we are. And both men are about as respected as they come in their respective positions.

  Yeah, you're right. That's why I said I don't buy Tressel's excuse unless there's more to the story. For his sake, I hope there is.
• karen lotz

  

  ironman02;705810 wrote:Speaking of that, did anyone notice Tressel's reaction when he was asked if he forwarded the e-mails to anyone? I thought for sure that he started to shake his head answering "yes", but then Gene Smith stopped him. That does make you wonder if he's actually attempting to take all the punishment, in an effort to make sure that the entire football program isn't nailed with extensive sanctions.

  
  
  Don't know if I posted it on this thread or the other one...
  
  [video=youtube;SzFA-P_cz9w][/video]
• ironman02

  Yeah, exactly. I don't know if that nod is to say "I understand your question and now I'm going to answer it" or "Yes, I did forward the e-mails".
  
  Gene Smith sure didn't waste any time getting in there and cutting him off.
  
  Obviously this whole situation doesn't seem to make much sense, but Tressel's nod makes me even more skeptical. I guess we'll just have to wait until the entire process is finished and see what the whole truth really is.
• Cleveland Buck

  

  So he did forward the emails. To whom?
• Cleveland Buck

  

  ironman02;705833 wrote:Yeah, exactly. I don't know if that nod is to say "I understand your question and now I'm going to answer it" or "Yes, I did forward the e-mails".

  You can hear him say "uh huh" under his breath before he gets cut off by Smith.
• ironman02

  Cleveland Buck;705834 wrote:So he did forward the emails. To whom?

  They're saying he didn't, but I'm starting to believe that he did.
  
  It's better for the program, as a whole, to say that he didn't.
• karen lotz

  

  Cleveland Buck;705834 wrote:So he did forward the emails. To whom?

  Who knows, but they way Smith cut him off it would be easy to think that they were forwarded to Smith or someone in the compliance department if he did forward them.