NCAA Hits Buckeyes With Bowl Ban

What a generally shitty year for college football.

Thanks, srr.

The bowl money and practices are the only punishment for the Buckeyes. The rest is quite lenient on THE overemphasis clowns of Ohio State.

The only real question I have is does the Big Ten return their share of the Sugar Bowl payout or pocket it? Tacit approval of cheating is what “leaders and legends” do, right? Delaney?

ColoradoAg: I fear that the next step is a major gambling scandal in college football — with the money being made now by the BCS schools, and with players being told left and right on how they are being left out of the money grab, I would think gambling forces would be more than happy to step in and give out loot to “just don’t win by as much as the line.”

The NCAA shows once again that it treats the SEC & tOSU differently from the rest of the membership. They’re like favored children who will only get a slap on the wrists, while the rest will experience the belt.

Actually, this punishment seems to fit the crime. I never thought that athletes should be punished for selling their own shit. For once the person hardest hit by the NCAA is the person who deserved it—Tressel.

Jim Tressel has joined Scooter, tricky dick and the coverup club.

I can’t believe Ohio State got such severe punishment and that dirty, sleazy Richt only got a letter of admonishment!

http://espn.go.com/colleges/georgia/football/story/_/id/7372776/georgia-bulldogs-mark-richt-paid-staff-own-pocket-report-says

“ATHENS, Ga. — Believing members of his football staff weren’’t being compensated satisfactorily, Georgia coach Mark Richt unknowingly violated NCAA rules by paying them out of his own pocket.”

Seriously NCAA? Seriously?

I also understand that Ohio State has been restricted to celebrating victories over Michigan or Wisconsin in 2012 by burning either love seats or ottomans.

Why is the NCAA so focused on such a clean program like Ohio St. when Boise St. is clearly a rogue program run by thugs and miscreants? /sarcasm

Someone-please tell me me you’re joking.

Wrt the Richter story, can anyone explain why the NCAA cares if the headache gives money to his assistants?

Not sure what the rule says, but if the coach was paying an extra assistant out of his pocket, that would be an issue.

I know that’s not what happened, but if it is a blanket prohibition against HCs paying staff, there you go.

RIVAL, I can’t really figure that one out either, but my guess is that it is an off-shoot of the days when boosters paid coaches directly and the rule may say something to the effect of: “if anyone other than the school pays a coach…”

I doubt Will Muschamp read that story and mused, “If Mark Richt keeps that big fat wallet in his pocket, no way we lose to Georgia.”

The NCAA’s a “slippery slope” org. For example, if they let athletes sell their own stuff, then they can’t stop the next J. Clowney from selling his used jock strap to T. Boone for $985,000 after he signs with the Pokes. As for OSU, it wasn’t “their own stuff.” OSU conveniently had no real inventory system for their equipment room. A bunch of the stuff Pryor sold probably belonged to the university.

Which begs the question how they avoided LOIC. Just a complete joke. It doesn’t get more institutionalized than tOSU.

I think the Onion was ahead of you on the Tressel story:

http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/jim-tressel-named-coach-of-the-year-for-committing,26886/

I’m still pissed I lost last years Bowl pickem contest (in part) because tO$U beat Arky. No way they win that game with those 5 guys on the bench. But since the Sugar bowl president pleaded for post game suspensions that made it right. How many schools would get that kind of ruling?

So, kids who were sophomores and juniors in high school when the infractions were committed at Ohio State will miss a bowl in 2012 — perhaps after a 9-3 season. The NCAA sure knows how to to punish the guilty.

Ohio State, the institution, ought to be hit harder. Not the football program, the school. They employed Tressel and they were guilty, by omission and maybe by institutional coverup, of the wrongs.

Reminds me of OU and the car dealership — if ever the evidence was clear that there was a coverup, look into the details of that one. Had there not been a whistle-blower, the Sooners would never have suffered in any way. Not that the hand-slap they received was much of a penalty.

Punishing players and newly hired coaches isn’t going to end the wrongs. It has to go higher.

We all complain, rightly so, about punishing players who had nothing to do with it when the actual events occurred. How, though, does anyone suggest we penalize the school without it affecting these players? The offenders have all moved on, and in almost all cases, the coaches have been fired, so the NCAA has no jurisdiction over any of them.

It could fine the athletic program, but all that would do is take money from volleyball or some other non-revenue sport. That doesn’t really seem like the appropriate solution.

Rival - I think your sarcasm meter needs new batteries.

What’s an appropriate penalty?

It’d never fly, but I’d like to see a hockey-flavored penalty where guilty teams have a prescribed number of plays each game where their defense can only field 9 or 10 players.

Al of you fearmongers and NCAA bashers need to stand down. The NC2A are ever vigilant in protecting the (sh)amateurism and purity of the game. If you don’t believe me, read this “hot off the presses” from Yahoo Sports:

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Dwight-Jones-8217-8217-1st-annual-8217-bir?urn=ncaaf-wp11801

The HOOOORROR!!!!!!!

edsp,
That argument is tired. If the NCAA cant punish football programs for past actions then the entire system would be a farce. Now if you dont want to punish the current players for the bowl game, I have no problem with letting them transfer without penalty. The football program should suffer though.

I think punishing OSU is fine. Honestly, they played ineligible players for a full year. They should have all their wins vacated from that year and not been able to play a bowl game that year… especially since they were caught at the end of the year and Tressel lied to everyone about how they let him down.

Look, they got a bowl experience that they should not have had and did not deserve, and the NCAA already looked bad by changing it’s rules to benefit the Sugar Bowl. Giving back the money and pretending like they lost isn’t really a punishment because they got to experience the bowl game and get most of the benefits of winning the game (increased spotlight, extra donations, sugar bowl merch sales, competing at full strength in a prestigious game, etc).

I personally think that the only way to make up for getting an experience they didn’t deserve (and probably wouldn’t have gotten without the ineligible players) is by making them sit out the postseason a year.

The only way to punish schools like OSU is to make them get an institutional punishment. If your coach lies, one year postseason ban. If kids take money, then the school should have better ways to monitor them - one year post season ban. If you commit continuous recruiting violations, or break a rule in such a way that NCAA calls it a major violation - one year postseason ban.

I think one year postseason bans as automatic penalties for any major violation would do more to cleaning up the game than the usual slap on the wrists the NCAA hands out. Remember, this was an institutional failure, as arguably all NCAA major violations are.

tldr: They got what they deserved, and more schools should get the same punishment.

Didn’t Coach Gus get forced into retirement because he paid his son out of his own pocket?

Jones has been reinstated by the NCAA.

While I want sanctions against the guilty parties, I don’t mind the punishment also having side effects on the players. It’s generally part of the idea to make others think twice due to the consequences.

In the USC case, the NCAA allowed the younger classes an immediate release from their LOIs. I submit that anyone dumb enough to jump aboard a sinking ship once news of a scandal breaks (i.e. Ohio State’s class from last February or Miami current commits) is owed no such release. If anything, I’d be inclined to release the upperclassmen. The rub is that some of those guys may have been involved in the duplicitous behavior and simply managed to go undetected. Therefore, I believe all normal transfer rules should stay in effect. If the players want immediate playing time upon transfer, they are free to go to FCS schools.

The school, athletic programs, administrators, and coaches should then be hit in the wallets.

Take away bowls. The money and practices lost hurt the programs. Instead of reducing scholarships, you make the school take on additional scholarships and pay the full ride for four years for X amount of worthy students not associated with the athletic department. Who says kids are getting hurt? This addition of scholarships is combined with the bowl ban to make the schools pay more and receive less box office return and happens to put some extra young people through school to boot.

Huge personal fines for the coach, athletic director, the president, the chancellor, etc. They need some incentive not to cheat anymore.

Still not enough to make an impact? How about a payroll and benefit package freeze for the program? Repeat offender, huh? Let’s roll that out to the entire athletic department then.

The penalties were even more egregious? Well, then you tack on a TV ban.

Finally, the death penalty remains available as the last resort.

This is the kind of justice that needs to be metered out to the violators. Wrist slaps should be reserved for first time offenders or schools that have spotless records over a fair stretch (let’s say a decade) and then commit a minor infraction. Repeat offenders or a loss of institutional control means the school needs to be taught a lesson.

It sounds like Richt has a more generous spirit than his employer, but he can’t ignore the rules despite the intent. Warning sounds right to me. Sorry Mark.

They got what they deserved, and more schools should get the same punishment.

They actually got off pretty damn lightly, at least compared to what USC got.

I don’t see how anyone outside of Buckeye-land thinks that this was a harsh or even adequate punishment. Matt Hinton has a good comparison of the USC scandal versus the tOSU scandal.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Ohio-State-takes-a-hit-from-the-NCAA-but-dodges?urn=ncaaf-wp11775

While USC was hit for violations involving one player and one assistant coach who should’ve known what was going on,

The accusations against Ohio State involved at least nine players, the head coach and an Ohio State booster, none of whom denied the charges. (See below.) Not only did the starting quarterback and other Buckeye stars accept cash and prizes from multiple third parties: Coach Jim Tressel knew they had accepted cash and prizes from multiple third parties, and actively covered up the fact for an entire season while they won him another Big Ten championship. (Per the NCAA, Tressel “had at least four different opportunities to report the information, and his failure to do so led to allowing several football student-athletes to compete while ineligible.”) Once that game was up last December, Tressel proceeded to cover up the coverup while the same players went on to win the Sugar Bowl.

The response was hardly a slap on the wrist. But compared to the book the committee threw at USC for lesser offenses, it is… well, it’s a significantly smaller book: A one-year bowl ban as opposed to two, nine suspended scholarships as opposed to thirty. …

The Tressel as rogue rule-violator excuse is a joke. The head coach is the head of the program. If your HC is aiding and abetting rule violations by failing to report them and actively covering them up, how the hell do you avoid a lack of institutional control finding? Don’t worry guys, the program wasn’t corrupt, only the head coach.

Ummm, okay.

So you won’t be adding these books to your personal library?

Life Promises for Success : Promises from God on Achieving Your Best
http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Life-Promises-Success/Jim-Tressel/9781414337289

The Winners Manual: For the Game of Life
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/winners-manual-jim-tressel/1102239535

Higher Education in the Internet Age: Libraries Creating a Strategic Edge
http://www.amazon.com/Higher-Education-Internet-Age-Libraries/dp/0275981940/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324501654&sr=1-1

I assume this one doesn’t apply to “Little Sisters of the Poor” either. Don’t let anyone in Ft. Worth know it’s off limits.

“Bob in Houston said: December 21st, 2011 at 11:10 am

Jones has been reinstated by the NCAA."

Thanks, BIH. Sanity rules, at least momentarily.

Ohio State got off easy as they have shown an ongoing disregard for following the NCAA rules by claiming a lack of awareness of the events and/or understanding of the NCAA rules. All which is a crock of shit when one quickly reviews the events of the past 8 years in Columbus.

2003 - Maurice Clarett becomes the center of attention as charges are levied for academic fraud, his use of a loaner vehicle from a local dealership, falsification of report of theft, and then Buckeye AD Andy Geiger states that Clarett took $1,000’s worth of improper benefits and misled investigators. (Sound familiar.).

Upon his dismissal from THE Ohio State Clarett states in an interview with ESPN The Magazine that Tressell and his staff arranged the car, summer jobs that he was paid for work he did not due, and other benefits.

2004-2005 - Troy Smith is suspended for a bowl game and then the first game of 2005 for taking $500 from a booster. Interesting $500 gets you and yet selling things 35-40 times to the tune of several thousand dollars doesn’t have you or your teammates miss a bowl game.

2005 - Andy Geiger retires as AD. During his time we not only had Clarrett and Troy Smith, but head basketball coach Jim O’Brien is fired over providing illegal benefits to a recruit.

2010 - Pryor and I believe three other players have been found to have sold memorabilia. They are allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl after the Sugar Bowl Chairman makes a plea to the NCAA.

2011 - Pryor again is the focus of selling memorabilia and use of a car from a local dealership. Tressell not only misleads NCAA investigators, but fails to comply with the terms of his contract with THE Ohio State.

In 8 years time things have done nothing more than gone in a complete loop. SMU had the death penalty for basically continuing their cheating ways while on probation. I am not saying that should have happened to the Buckeyes, but when the NCAA has been to Columbus at least three times before the incidents involving Pryor and his teammates and two of the times involved the star player for the football team doesn’t it ring just a bit hollow that they University and its athletes were unaware of the guidelines for such activity nor the head coach knew how to react once he was notified of the events?

You have to love the Big 10 though. We hear about their prestige, commitment to education, and doing things right unlike the SEC. Off the top of my head we have multiple players going to the hospital after off-season conditioning drills in Iowa City and ongoing legal issues/suspensions for Hawkeye players, RichRod at UM, prior to Jerry Sandusky there were off the field issues in State College, and of course THE Ohio State. Yep, good think the Big 10 isn’t win at all cost like the SEC.

I can not see what is going to be gained by punishing Ohio State future players that had nothing to do with the players wrong doings . Also future players wanting to come to Ohio State to play football will go some where else to play . I guess this is one way to drag the football programs there down to mediocre. I think that is what they have been wanting for a long time . The big teams next year wont have to play one of the best , that will make them feel better . I was really looking forward to them comming to Florida and test the Gators. Thank you NCAA .

Awesome plan there, Ron: Let all the rule breakers cheat with abandon so they’ll be at their competitive best in upcoming contests.

See what you can do about extending this viewpoint into law enforcement. Wouldn’t want to impede criminals ability to hurt others, now would we?

Ron,

As I pointed out, what has taken place in Columbus are not the actions of a few renegade players or a single coach. The cheating has gone on at THE Ohio State for almost a decade and has been brought to the attention of the University multiple times and actually resulted in the “early retirement” of the then OSU athletic director.

With that being the case then it is imperative that the entity that engaged is the ongoing behavior should be punished and that would be the institution itself, THE Ohio State.