Surprise! Tressel Has Always Been Dirty

The SI rumored article is out.  I hope we now can  stop hearing all over ESPN radio and other places that Jim is a guy with high integrity and just made one bad decision to "protect" his players.  This is a man that hasn't played by the rules since he was at Youngstown State.  This man did what ever it took to win, which included taking a blind eye to everything wrong outside the program and setting up "special" deals for his players with boosters.  I just heard OSU's President/part time comedian Gordon Gee say that Jim and the Ohio State program continues to have reputation of high integrity.  Think again Carrot Top!

The article details a number of infractions over an 8 year period.  Including:

• Tressels NCAA problems at YSU - that have already been reported and are very similar to the problems currently at OSU.
• Not 6 players trading gear for Tattoo's at least 28 players
• Players driving cars they couldn't afford
• Players would hang out at 2 different tattoo parlors where they would: drink, play video games and smoke weed. 
• Some players traded signed gear for marijuana
• Tressel was setting up phony raffles as an OSU assistant so that top recruits would win
• SI informed OSU about the article on Friday, which clearly lead to his firing resignation today.

The story basically portrays a man that tricked us all by having a "senatorial" image but was clearly playing outside the rules to win football games.   Bolded below is my favorite line from the piece.  The section refers to when Jim was an assistant under Earl Bruce at OSU in the mid -80's.

One of Tressel's duties then was to organize and run the Buckeyes' summer camp. Most of the young players who attended it would never play college football, but a few were top prospects whom Ohio State was recruiting. At the end of camp, attendees bought tickets to a raffle with prizes such as cleats and a jersey. According to his fellow assistant, Tressel rigged the raffle so that the elite prospects won -- a potential violation of NCAA rules. Says the former colleague, who asked not to be identified because he still has ties to the Ohio State community, "In the morning he would read the Bible with another coach. Then, in the afternoon, he would go out and cheat kids who had probably saved up money from mowing lawns to buy those raffle tickets. That's Jim Tressel."

That's Jim Treseel, former Ohio State Football coach.  What a memorial day to remember.