Should Jim Tressel Step Down?

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elbuckeye28

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Mar 9, 2011 7:55 PM
thedynasty1998;705276 wrote:That's not the issue. Why are people not able to comprehend what is going on here?

Tressel knowingly played players who were ineligible and he lied directly the the NCAA during an investigation.

I have not seen any shred of evidence that said that Tressel lied during the investigation. In fact, Schlabach's horribly biased story against Tressel said:
The report says Tressel admitted "he had received a tip about general rumors pertaining to a certain [number] of his players, [but] that information had not been specific, and it pertained to their off-field choices."
Although Tressel could have been more detailed, to say he flat out lied is just not true.
Mar 9, 2011 7:55pm
sherm03's avatar

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Mar 9, 2011 8:02 PM
elbuckeye28;705572 wrote:I have not seen any shred of evidence that said that Tressel lied during the investigation. In fact, Schlabach's horribly biased story against Tressel said:

Although Tressel could have been more detailed, to say he flat out lied is just not true.

I believe when people say he outright lied, they are referring to (and I don't remember where I read it because I've been reading so many articles over the last few days) the fact that Tressel signed a document in September saying that he has reported any possible violations to the administration/compliance office. He lied by signing that document because he did not, in fact, report this possible violation.
Mar 9, 2011 8:02pm
sherm03's avatar

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Mar 9, 2011 8:05 PM
lhslep134;705468 wrote:No, but thanks for letting us into your mindset Coach Tressel.

Here's a little glimpse into Coach Tressel's mindset:
Tressel admitted, however, during a Feb. 8 interview that he knew that there would be consequences for his failure to notify compliance officials about the e-mails. He also said it was "inevitable" that the players named in the e-mail had committed NCAA violations and would be ruled ineligible.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2011/03/09/0309-details-of-tressels-mishandling-emails.html?sid=101

So yes lhs. He knew damn well that they would be ruled ineligible.
Mar 9, 2011 8:05pm
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elbuckeye28

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Mar 9, 2011 8:07 PM
sherm03;705591 wrote:I believe when people say he outright lied, they are referring to (and I don't remember where I read it because I've been reading so many articles over the last few days) the fact that Tressel signed a document in September saying that he has reported any possible violations to the administration/compliance office. He lied by signing that document because he did not, in fact, report this possible violation.
That I can see at least, but it still does not necessarily equate to a lie, although if the NCAA think so, that's all that matters.

What I was referring to is thedynasty's post about Tressel lying during the investigation. That seems to be false yet people are using it to compare him to Bruce Pearl and his situation.
Mar 9, 2011 8:07pm
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nwofbfan

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Mar 9, 2011 8:13 PM
Does anyone else think Tress might be "falling on the sword" on this one?
Mar 9, 2011 8:13pm
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Mar 9, 2011 8:20 PM
elbuckeye28;705599 wrote:That I can see at least, but it still does not necessarily equate to a lie, although if the NCAA think so, that's all that matters.

What I was referring to is thedynasty's post about Tressel lying during the investigation. That seems to be false yet people are using it to compare him to Bruce Pearl and his situation.
I would say better wording would be "withholding the truth" during the investigation. He did not fess up to the emails until January. So when he was questioned by OSU officials on December 16th, he did not give that information up. And why would he? The violations were found out. Cover your own ass so you don't hurt the program more.
nwofbfan;705606 wrote:Does anyone else think Tress might be "falling on the sword" on this one?

It's a possibility...but I don't think so in this case.
Mar 9, 2011 8:20pm
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elbuckeye28

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Mar 9, 2011 8:22 PM
sherm03;705615 wrote:I would say better wording would be "withholding the truth" during the investigation. He did not fess up to the emails until January. So when he was questioned by OSU officials on December 16th, he did not give that information up. And why would he? The violations were found out. Cover your own ass so you don't hurt the program more.

This is what doesn't make sense though. If he was covering up the situation, why wouldn't he delete the emails?
Mar 9, 2011 8:22pm
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Mar 9, 2011 8:25 PM
elbuckeye28;705617 wrote:This is what doesn't make sense though. If he was covering up the situation, why wouldn't he delete the emails?

Great question. I honestly don't know why you would keep those.
Mar 9, 2011 8:25pm
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elbuckeye28

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Mar 9, 2011 8:31 PM
sherm03;705620 wrote:Great question. I honestly don't know why you would keep those.

That is my problem with the whole cover up aspect of the story. I mean Tressel is obviously a highly intelligent individual. If he was going to take all this time to cover up this massive story and fool the university, NCAA, and everyone else, why would he keep the one damaging piece of evidence out in the open?
Mar 9, 2011 8:31pm
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karen lotz

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Mar 9, 2011 8:39 PM
sherm03;705615 wrote:I would say better wording would be "withholding the truth" during the investigation. He did not fess up to the emails until January. So when he was questioned by OSU officials on December 16th, he did not give that information up. And why would he? The violations were found out. Cover your own ass so you don't hurt the program more.


Exactly, he was asked if he knew anything and he said that he had received a tip but it wasn't clear. Even though it gave specific names of players and who they were involved with, and then had the memorabilia listed that was sold. That isn't clear? He also didn't say at that time that he had the emails. Again, he never offered up that he received emails, they were found by OSU officials during an investigation into something else. You can call that not lying or withholding the truth or whatever makes you feel better, but he still was not upfront with the NCAA like he, Smith, and Gee would like you to believe.
Mar 9, 2011 8:39pm
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elbuckeye28

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Mar 9, 2011 8:45 PM
karen lotz;705635 wrote:Exactly, he was asked if he knew anything and he said that he had received a tip but it wasn't clear. Even though it gave specific names of players and who they were involved with, and then had the memorabilia listed that was sold. That isn't clear? He also didn't say at that time that he had the emails. Again, he never offered up that he received emails, they were found by OSU officials during an investigation into something else. You can call that not lying or withholding the truth or whatever makes you feel better, but he still was not upfront with the NCAA like he, Smith, and Gee would like you to believe.

No disagreement but the emails were not exactly consistent with the truth. Besides, like I said in the other thread, if he knew that these emails were there and new the seriousness, why wouldn't he delete them, instead of leaving them out there for someone to find? Is it possible that he forgot about the details of the emails and forgot they were there.
Mar 9, 2011 8:45pm
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nwofbfan

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Mar 9, 2011 8:47 PM
elbuckeye28;705617 wrote:This is what doesn't make sense though. If he was covering up the situation, why wouldn't he delete the emails?

Maybe because they sit on OSU's server and nothing can ever be completely deleted without destroying the hard drive.
Mar 9, 2011 8:47pm
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elbuckeye28

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Mar 9, 2011 8:48 PM
nwofbfan;705652 wrote:Maybe because they sit on OSU's server and nothing can ever be deleted without destroying the hard drive.

True, but they would have to actually know to look for them. They wouldn't just accidentally stumble upon them.
Mar 9, 2011 8:48pm
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karen lotz

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Mar 9, 2011 8:55 PM
elbuckeye28;705645 wrote:No disagreement but the emails were not exactly consistent with the truth. Besides, like I said in the other thread, if he knew that these emails were there and new the seriousness, why wouldn't he delete them, instead of leaving them out there for someone to find? Is it possible that he forgot about the details of the emails and forgot they were there.


No idea why he would keep them. You would think either way he would delete them. If he didn't believe the validity of them or if he thought it was incriminating, there wouldn't be any reason to keep them. Unless maybe he did actually forward them to someone else.
Mar 9, 2011 8:55pm
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nwofbfan

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Mar 9, 2011 8:56 PM
I'm just throwing it out there like the media is spewing all kinds of "what ifs".
Mar 9, 2011 8:56pm
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nwofbfan

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Mar 9, 2011 8:59 PM
I was responding to this, sorry I'm new at this: True, but they would have to actually know to look for them. They wouldn't just accidentally stumble upon them.

Really? In this poopstorm?
Mar 9, 2011 8:59pm
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dwccrew

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Mar 9, 2011 9:02 PM
karen lotz;705461 wrote:He knew damn well that they would be ruled ineligible if he forwarded the information to compliance. Would you agree with that? He wasn't protecting the players, he was protecting his team and its #2 preseason ranking.
Whether he did or didn't really doesn't matter. He is in trouble for withholding information, not what his assumptions upon the NCAA's possible ruling would have been.
firestonefan;705465 wrote:If Tressel is fired then every OSU player involved should be banned from any NCAA participation. The players did this and the coach is taking the blame.

Wrong. What the players did is not why Tressel is being punished. Tressel is being punished because he withheld information about the players indiscretions. He has only himself to blame. He wouldn't be in trouble had he passed along the information about the players. So his troubles are his own fault.
Mar 9, 2011 9:02pm
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elbuckeye28

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Mar 9, 2011 9:15 PM
nwofbfan;705679 wrote: Really? In this poopstorm?

Yeah. Remember, they stumbled upon them as they were gathering information for the appeal. If they were deleted, they would never have come across them in the first place, and we would have this situation.
Mar 9, 2011 9:15pm
sherm03's avatar

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Mar 9, 2011 9:17 PM
nwofbfan;705606 wrote:Does anyone else think Tress might be "falling on the sword" on this one?

The more I think about it...the more this seems like a very real possibility. I can see everything going down like this:
April Tressel gets the first email and sends it up to Smith. Smith says he'll look into it and sits on it thinking it's just some crazy whacko making them chase their tales. Two weeks later, the guy has even more detailed information. Tressel inquires about it with Smith, and finds that nothing has been done or is told that it's being taken care of. Fast forward to September, Tressel signs the paper saying that he has done his due diligence and reported all possible violations (because in his mind, sending the info to Smith would constitute that). December, the shit storm hits. Smith pulls him aside and confesses that he did not do anything with the emails, and tells Tressel not to mention them. January comes along, and they stumble upon the emails during a separate investigation. Now they have to do something with them. They begin their "two month investigation" where they basically figure out the best way to deal with these findings. Meanwhile, Yahoo forces their hand and makes them scramble to come to a decision. The choice is made to let Tressel take the fall, and get suspended for a few games so that the program as a whole (which would be punished if Smith was at fault) does not take the hit.

It would explain Tressel's half-assed excuse and swiss cheese filled reasoning. It would also explain why Tressel was cut off when he tried to answer the question about forwarding the email to anyone during the presser.

I have a feeling we're never going to know exactly what happened. But that scenario seems just about as plausible as any other at this point.
Mar 9, 2011 9:17pm
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OQB

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Mar 9, 2011 9:35 PM
ok first off, you guys throwing Tressel under the buss are just pathetic....

Although we all know who OSU's next coach is going to be (Urban Meyer).....this is Tressel's team and program, and it is his until he wants to step down. The NCAA has more issues than we can even realize, and a lot of big names have been punished the past 5 years. I think they will give him a few more games suspension, and make him give back his Sugar Bowl bonus, which is probably close to the $250,000 he was already fined. The man has a lot more respect nationally than Carroll, Chizik, Saban etc...Heck why wasn't Mississippi St. punished for even setting up a pay to play option for Newton...that is worse in my eyes than what Tressel did.

This whole situation is ridiculous, and just solidifies why I do not like the NCAA.
Mar 9, 2011 9:35pm
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centralbucksfan

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Mar 9, 2011 10:02 PM
karen lotz;705669 wrote:No idea why he would keep them. You would think either way he would delete them. If he didn't believe the validity of them or if he thought it was incriminating, there wouldn't be any reason to keep them. Unless maybe he did actually forward them to someone else.

Not making excuses, but I work for people who NEVER delete emails because they are just lazy in doing so. As I have thought about this, Dynasty makes comments about him not saying anything and intentionally playing players he knew were ineligible. Thats not necessarily true. Again, Tressel got this information second hand, hearsay. I wonder how often coaches, at any level, get second hand info, or hearsay info? At that point, they may look into, ask for proof or whatever. Maybe they know or think there is nothing to what they hear. They can't really do anything, nor should they until they know for a fact.
I have no idea what Tressel was thinking. I am speculating and just throwing out idea's as everyone else.
On top of this, as we find out who the lawyer was, he doesn't have the greatest credibility either. Maybe Tressel was just playing along with him. There is obviously more to this story, we may never know what the hell was going on.
Mar 9, 2011 10:02pm
sherm03's avatar

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Mar 9, 2011 10:08 PM
It's very possible that Tressel just archives all of his emails at various intervals. My email inbox at work fills up within a month and I just dump everything into the archive so I don't lose anything important. In doing so, I also probably keep a bunch of crap that I don't need.

I'm sure Tressel's inbox fills up even faster, and he may do the same thing. Possibly he archived the message and didn't think twice about it.

All I know is that something is fishy here. Whether he was covering for someone, or flat out lying...we'll never know. But I'll be very interested to see what the NCAA hands down to Tressel. Because one thing I know for sure...they are not going to be happy with just 2 games and a fine.
Mar 9, 2011 10:08pm
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OQB

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Mar 9, 2011 10:09 PM
I get tons of emails everyday.....I'm sure he gets hundreds of emails daily, Does he even look at his email or does he have a secretary that does that stuff for him? It might of had some stupid title and he just deleted it.


We will never know what really went on.
Mar 9, 2011 10:09pm
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karen lotz

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Mar 9, 2011 10:09 PM
centralbucksfan;705780 wrote:There is obviously more to this story, we may never know what the hell was going on.


I agree 100% with that. Too many holes in the story and the whole thing is just weird. I doubt even after the NCAA finishes up the ensuing investigation, there will still be things that don't add up completely. Its still waaaaaaay too early for anyone to know what the outcome will be.
Mar 9, 2011 10:09pm
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karen lotz

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Mar 9, 2011 10:10 PM
OQB;705793 wrote:I get tons of emails everyday.....I'm sure he gets hundreds of emails daily, Does he even look at his email or does he have a secretary that does that stuff for him? It might of had some stupid title and he just deleted it.


We will never know what really went on.


Uh the only problem with that theory is that Tressel replied to all of the emails he received from the lawyer.
Mar 9, 2011 10:10pm