I know we’re just a couple hours to the Buckeyes’ Sweet Sixteen battle against the University of Kentucky but I wanted to take a moment to discuss the spiraling-out-of-control story of the Jim Tressel and Tat-5 Scandal.
As I’m sure all of you know, early this morning the Dispatch reported that Jim Tressel had forwarded on the emails he received back in April on to a Pennsylvania businessman and Terrelle Pryor acquaintance Ted Sarniak.
When Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel learned last spring that some of his current players were in trouble, he shared the information with someone he thought could help his star quarterback even though he said he didn’t tell his bosses.
The businessman in question was described as a mentor to Terrelle Pryor and was Pryor’s contact during his recruitment. I’m not sure the full depth of that relationship is known beyond that.
The sports world exploded with another round of trashing Jim Tressel, making these “new” allegations gasoline to the blaze that is the destruction of Jim Tressel. You could literally hear the sounds of glee and joy from the Stewart Mandels and Dennis Dodds of their world as they banged out as much vitriol and black hate they could muster from the Ivory Punditry Towers in the Sky. I only took one slight glance before I had to look away.
Now that I’ve had a little time to mull this over and have some good chats with my MotSaG cohorts SYR and the sportsMonkey I feel like I can put some words done about my take on the situation. (Please note I’ve been mostly on a media black-out on all things Scandal related, but I saw the chatter on Twitter and I know how fans of other teams are treating this. It’s Christmas for every Buckeye hater out there. And believe me, they are Legion. I haven’t even been to my favorite Buckeye sites to see their take. I’ve taken solace in my own thoughts.) This is purely my opinion and my take on the facts of the matter. It will be clear that I fall firmly in the “Tressel Apologist” camp.
First off, let’s address the misconception that this is new “news.” Everyone thinks this is the first time the NCAA is learning about this and that this will cause the Hammer of Subjective Justice to come down harder than before on Jim Tressel and the Ohio State football Program. Nothing could be further from reality. Anyone with a half-functioning brain and a minimal grip on reality would realize that one of the first questions the NCAA would ask Jim Tressel, as soon as they were engaged in this investigation, would be “did you forward these emails to anyone?”
We have to assume there was no misdirection, no subterfuge on the part of either Tressel or Gene Smith. If they were serious about getting this all out in the open, that kind of information would have been readily made known to all parties involved.
In the Self-Report, with regard to any further dissemination of this information, it’s is specifically and carefully worded to show that he didn’t forward these emails to anyone within the Football Program, the Athletic department or the “Institution” as a whole. That is all and nothing else. It says nowhere, one way or the other, that these emails were or were not forwarded to any third parties. So to claim that the NCAA was “lied” to in the OSU Self-Report is simply as misunderstanding of the facts and wrong.
The next accusation against Tressel was his wording of his press conference speech. He said that due to the “confidential” nature of emails he did not think it was prudent to inform anyone of this information. He claimed that the nature of the investigation and his desire to not interfere guided his actions. Stated as such, it is necessary to TAKE HIM AT HIS WORD. So those pundits who are jumping all over this assertion are claiming, “How could Tressel claim confidentiality if he had sent these emails to this Pennsylvania businessman?! Where’s the confidentiality in that?!” They were outraged. Outraged! Tressel owed these mouth-breathers something and they demanded it in full.
But let’s step back for a minute and think of it this way: This Ted Sarniak guy, he obviously has a relationship with Pryor. I don’t know the extent of the relationship, but let’s assume it is on a level deeper than just “acquaintances.” Describing him as a mentor would lead an able-minded fellow to make that assumption. What if it’s on the level on a father-figure? This person factored heavily in Pryor’s recruitment and would therefore be familiar with Tressel and Tressel would be privy to the nature of their relationship. So Tressel, faced with information that could be potentially dangerous to Pryor’s well being, decided that this person, this confidant of Pryor, should be alerted to the situation. This communication would be private and confidential and we have to assume that Tressel made that known. He let Sarniak know, in confidence, that Pryor could be in some deep stuff. So he did not, in fact, breach any confidential barriers with regard to this information. He felt that someone close to Pryor needed to be made aware of it.
Now, if this Ted Sarniak guy turns out to be something more, some form of booster or someone that isn’t on the up-and-up, this looks even worse. The house of cards will definitely tumble and things will get bad, very bad, before they get better.
In the end, I am still defending Jim Tressel. I think I am in the minority here, even among Buckeye fans. But recognize I know that the things he did were wrong and his mismanaged the situation. He had information he should have acted on. He didn’t and he should be punished accordingly. But the way the media is handling this news is unacceptable and some have taken it to the level of a smear job. These people know better. They also know what gets traffic to their websites and what causes the reaction in the public. A dressing down of a former figure formerly held in high esteem seems to be something this guys live for. Lost in all of this was the mostly harmless and victimless act of a few kids selling property they thought was theirs to sell. Simple pecadillos that have grown into an ugly situation for everyone involved. No one walks away from this situation unscathed.
In the end, The Ohio State University and the Football Program in specific are bigger than one man, better than one scandal. We will move on from this scandal, this debacle, and hopefully be stronger and better for it.
There’s no reason to be ashamed to be a Buckeye.
Good thoughts, elK… thanks.
Me, I’m also done with the jury of perception. When the NCAA rules, we’ll know. Until they do, we don’t.
I’m all in for Tressel. I’ll have to take his word for it when he says it was a mistake. It’s what trust is all about.
Hear, hear! Living in NC and surrounded by SEC/ACC people(ugh!)it’s nice to see others standing with Tressel. Really tired of the haters…they are just jealous me thinks!