Ohio State Football: Jim Tressel Has Lived Up to His Reputation

If you enter the website firejimtressel.com you see only the words "Fire Jim Tressel? Are you NUTS?!?" in large print at the top of the screen. It also shows a link for drunken rants from idiots/site feedback. Football is a year round sport in Columbus, no offense to the Buckeye basketball team which is competing for a national championship.

Jim Tressel is talked about in the same hallowed tones that one might speak of Jesus, more than one person will swear they have seen him walk on water at least. Yet, now is the time for Ohio State to remove it's head football coach/local diety from his position before he can do any more damage than he already has.

Before it's too late.

Tressel arrived in Columbus prior to the 2001 season to a state of disarray. John Cooper and his pathetic 111-43-4 record, two Rose Bowl victories, and two national No. 2 rankings had just been fired. He was fired after a 24-7 Bowl game loss in which he'd kicked a starting wide receiver off the team for poor grades, held the team MVP out of the starting line-up for missing a practice, and generally held his players accountable for their behavior.

Ohio State made it clear, though, that an amazing overall record and holding star players accountable would not be tolerated. They needed a guy that would beat Michigan and compete for National Championships by any means necessary.

Enter Jim Tressel.

Tressel arrived in Columbus after 15 seasons coaching Youngstown State, winning four NCAA 1 AA championships during his time there. He was hired less than a year after the NCAA had sanctioned Youngstown State with a "lack of institutional control" making minor scholarship cuts because the statute of limitations on violations committed in '91, the year of their first national championship.

What violations you ask? Starting quarterback Ray Isaac was accepting money from a booster. A booster he was introduced to by Jim Tressel. During the investigation, Isaac would deny that Tressel had any knowledge that he was taking money. But in 2001, just three days after Tressel accepted the job at Ohio State, Maurice Clarett committed to the Buckeyes.

During the 2001 season, Clarett accepted multiple forms of cash benefits from cars to cash to having a large cell phone bill paid for him by a booster. Again, Tressel denied all knowledge of any wrong doing despite claims that he had, once again, directed Clarett to the boosters that had paid him, and once again Tressel suffered no punishment from the NCAA.

Now here we are again. Five Buckeye players, including Terrelle Pryor, have been suspended for the first five games next season for selling jerseys and other memorabilia. In the middle of it, again, is Jim Tressel.

Last April, before the season had even started, Tressel received emails involving two players and these questionable activities. In December, when the NCAA discovered the violations and suspended the players involved, Tressel denied knowing. As the months have gone on, we discover that he not only knew, but he hid it from school officials. Though he made sure to pass the information on to Terrelle Pryor's mentor, Ted Sarniak, the man who was Pryor's primary contact during his recruitment.

His numerous denials and tales of not breaking player confidentiality and his concern for his players futures rings hollow now as more and more of the story comes out.

But this is what Ohio State wanted. Their football program turns in profits of $10 to $20 million, they compete for the National Championship yearly, and they've beaten Michigan seven straight years. Life is great, just ask Auburn in the '90s.