Before I begin, I think I need to preface this post. I'm from Ohio, I support Ohio State athletics. I'm not a very fervent follower of them, more of a casual fan, as I find my passion to be more in the professional level of sports, but I still pay attention on a fairly large scale. My allegiance to Ohio St. is more in geographics and the fact that many Ohio St. players come from the Cleveland area, where I'm from, than anything else. With all that said, this is not about to be me being a complete and total apologist for Jim Tressel. I refuse to do that. This is merely my opinion, my theory if you will... much speculation is involved to be honest.
Jim Tressel screwed up... in multiple ways. Tressel up until now had been viewed by many as a moral beacon of what college athletics should be. Yes, his program has had issues in the past, but he's always done the right thing. He's been accountable, he's been transparent, and he's been fair. That is, up until this tattoo fiasco with Terrelle Pryor and co. So what does this mean? Is Tressel really just a typical college football coach that schemes and cheats to get around NCAA regulations? Are his mentality and his practices really just as impure as everyone else? I think it would be fair to say coming into this whole situation that if there were anyone you would expect to run a clean program in major college athletics it would be Tressel. And I think at one point he did. Since though, he's lost his way. Honestly, this issue has probably been a couple years coming. At some point, Tressel caved. It became more about winning and the cash that winning creates. It became a lot less about what it once was about at Youngstown St and in the early OSU days. That is, helping to build capable young men while being as successful as possible on the field. Its very easy to fall off-kilter like this. Pressure built on Tressel after Troy Smith left to find the next big QB to run his team. He got desperate and tries to recruit Terrelle Pryor, never mind the fact Pryor doesn't fit into OSU's system. Nor is Pryor the mature hard worker that Kraig Krenzel, Smith, and even Todd Boeckmen were/became. But Pryor is really athletically talented and would put butts in the seats. Never mind the fact that the last time Tressel had a major firecracker of a player, he tried to leave school after his freshman year and was later arrested while in possession of an arsenal of weapons (Maurice Clarett anyone?). Regardless, this move will win OSU games and get them on ESPN all the time. I wouldn't be surprised if Tressel was pressured to do this, but ultimately he did it, not anyone else.
And that was the beginning of the snowball. Pryor admits that he was a whiny punk early in his career at OSU (in not so many words), but Tressel let him play and lead the team throughout his sophomore year, even if he really didn't have all that great of a year outside his Rose Bowl performance. Then coming into his junior year Pryor claimed to be a more mature person, because using Rose Bowl memorabilia to buy tattoos screams maturity. This combination of Tressel letting Pryor do what he wants while essentially being a jerk and they're being no repercussions for it enables the other players to follow suit as well. Ohio State football becomes just like any other college football program: smug, with a greater than thou attitude. They're overly-privileged young people for all the wrong reasons. Then, when Tressel finds out about the violations of his players, he knows he's invested too much and already put too much at risk to turn in his players and give it all in now. He's officially at the mercy of the NCAA and the media finding out. All he can do is hope for the best. And it worked for a while, but not ultimately. Tressel really was wrong in this, had he just turned in his players to college officials he would have at least been in the clear from being marred with this controversy. All that I am saying above is that I understand why he didn't. That however, certainly doesn't make it right.
What's the baseline?
I'd contend Tressel's first mistake was recruiting Terrelle Pryor, and honestly I would not be surprised if he actually regrets it right now. Pryor is a symbol of Tressel getting away from his core values, and ultimately it has bit him on the butt. I think Tressel really did start as a genuinely intentioned man, and I think he could be again, but he was clearly at fault for poor judgment from the day he went after Terrelle Pryor and even until today, as he has yet to apologize for his actions. I'd be embarrassed too.
(photo courtesy of oregonlive.com)
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