Ohio State Scandal (Part 3 of 5): Jim Tressel Should Be Banned for 5 Years

Former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel knows more about NCAA investigations then former USC coach Pete Carroll, which is not something to be proud of. 

Tressel announced his resignation on the morning of Monday, May 30 amidst allegations he withheld information about potential NCAA violations. Tressel exchanged e-mails with Chris Cicero, a former Buckeye walk-on, in April 2010 about five of his players selling memorabilia at a Columbus tattoo parlor. The players included star quarterback Terrelle Pryor, running back Dan “Boom” Herron, and wide receiver Devier Posey.

The NCAA opened an independent investigation on Pryor shortly after Tressel’s resignation. Tuesday night, Pryor announced he would not return to Ohio State for his senior season.

This most likely means Pryor, who was interviewed by NCAA investigators last week, knows the hammer is about to come down on him and the program and is getting out while he can. Shortly after Pryor’s decided not to return for his senior season, Outside the Lines also published a report that Pryor received close to $40,000 in profits from selling signed memorabilia to a Columbus photographer. 

Tressel and Ohio State officials will meet with the NCAA committee on infractions on August 12, but Pryor no longer has to cooperate with the investigation. The Buckeyes are likely to be hit with the most sanctions since 1987 when SMU became the first victim of the NCAA’s death penalty. 

When the NCAA inevitably swings its sledgehammer at Ohio State they shouldn’t forget to hit Tressel as well. The president of the NCAA, Mark Emmert, should ban Tressel from coaching another college football program for five years.

Many of you are probably thinking this is a strong punishment, but what you probably don’t know is that this is not the first time Tressel has had players receive improper benefits under his watch. In fact, Tressel’s NCAA troubles go all the way back to his time at the helm of Youngstown State University in the late 1980’s and '90s.  

Ray “The Colonel” Isaac, who was a dazzling duel-threat quarterback that delivered Tressel his first Division 1-AA (FCS) National Championship in 1991, was paid over $10,000 by a booster during his four years with the Penguins. In addition, Isaac had access to various cars during his career at Youngstown State and alleges Tressel knew about all of it.

The booster, Michael “Mickey” Monus, was also the chairman of the university’s board of trustees at the time and the CEO of PharMor, which was a discount drug store chain. Monus is now in prison for corporate fraud crimes.

After Tressel was hired as head coach at Youngstown he began to develop a friendship with Monus, who was frequently on the sidelines of many Penguin football games. This relationship eventually led to Tressel sending Isaac to Monus for a job at PharMor. 

“I got a call from Mr. Tressel,” Monus told a jury during a federal jury tampering trial. “I believe the call was that he wanted me to be introduced to Ray and to work out some kind of job for him.” 

This would be a violation of NCAA rules because players are not allowed to hold a job while in-season, but this potential violation would be miniscule compared to what happened next. Isaac told ESPN that he was given $150 by Monus when the two first met about a job at PharMor. “I found an avenue, a guy with a soft heart,” Issac said. 

So everyone was winning in this under-the-table deal Monus was happy because his beloved Penguins were winning on the field, Isaac was getting paid a living lavishly off of it, Tressel did not seem to know about any of it, and the NCAA was nowhere to be found. The Penguins won two more Division 1-AA National Championships 1993 and 1994. 

It was not until 1994 the NCAA caught a whiff of what was going on at Youngstown State.  The NCAA was given an anonymous tip that Isaac had been driving a car provided by PharMor. 

The NCAA responded to the allegations by sending a letter to Youngstown State. The university president, Leslie Cochran, along with athletic director Joe Malmisur began conducting an internal investigation of the football program.

This however turned out to be a completely useless course of action, which involved extremely little actual investigation. Malmisur never talked to Monus or Isaac about the allegations and neither did Tressel. “I didn't talk to nobody,” Isaac told ESPN. 

“The tipster was just a disgruntled employee,” Tressel told Malmisur. This explanation was apparently enough for Malmisur to tell the NCAA there was nothing illegitimate going on at the university. 

After the NCAA began digging deeper into the allegations in 1998 Youngstown State launched another internal investigation. This was all set in motion by Monus’ testimony in his jury tampering trial. 

During the new investigation, all of Isaac’s former teammates were interviewed except for one. They all told investigators they knew or had suspicions about Isaac’s car. Isaac told Sports Illustrated that Tressel was aware of the car. Isaac also said he asked Tressel to get him out of traffic tickets. 

“He’d slot out two hours to meet and say ‘Ray I need you to read this book and give me 500 words on why it’s important to be a good student-athlete,” Isaac said. On some of these occasions the ticket would just disappear, which would be a major violation of NCAA rules if Tressel assisted in the clearing of the traffic violation. The NCAA also discovered that 13 players had jobs in-season at PharMor.

Youngstown State admitted to lack of institutional control upon the completion of the NCAA’s investigation. Cochran looks back on the non-investigation in 1994 in disgust, “What bothered me was that the family knows,” Cochran told Sports Illustrated. “Inside the family everyone knows what’s going on.” 

Despite all of the allegations Tressel knew about Isaac’s benefits and set him up with Monus he was cleared in the matter. In 2001, Tressel was hired at The Ohio State University to replace John Cooper as head coach. 

Success quickly followed Tressel to Ohio State as well, but so did allegations that players were receiving perks while playing for him.

In spring 2003, former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett was suspended for the entire 2003 season. The NCAA found out Clarett was driving a “loaner” car from a local used-car lost. Clarett also received $500 in cash and allowed caterer Bobby Dellimuti to pay for thousands of dollars in cell phone bills. 

Clarett was interviewed by ESPN in November 2004 and told claimed Tressel arranged loaner cars for him. Clarett also alleged Dick Tressel, who was the director of football operations when Clarett was a freshman in 2002, found him lucrative landscaping jobs. 

Clarett told ESPN he did not even have to show up for the jobs. He also alleges (Jim) Tressel introduced him to boosters who gave him thousands of dollars.

During the NCAA’s investigation of Clarett, he says he withheld this information to protect Tressel and the program. “What would have become of Ohio State if I said everything?” Clarett told The Magazine. “Half the team would have been suspended.”

Some of Clarett’s former teammates back-up his allegations. Former Buckeye receiver told ESPN, “I don’t think he is lying.”

Marco Cooper, who played linebacker at Ohio State from 2000-2001, said he was set up with bogus jobs as well. Cooper told ESPN he would get paid $10-$12 an hour and always had 30 hours recorded. “I never worked 30 hours,” Cooper said. 

Cooper said he knew at least eight of his other teammates who got similar jobs, and that he was able to borrow cars from Columbus dealerships in exchange for signed memorabilia. Former Buckeye cornerback Curtis Crosby said he worked bogus jobs as well. 

Yet somehow Tressel claims he knew nothing about any of these incidents, but only because he did not want to know about them. 

Clarett was accused of academic fraud by the New York Times 13 days before the 2003 Big Ten media day, but when asked about the report Tressel said he had not read it. Tressel also said he had not read the report about Clarett’s loaner car that was broken into in April. 

Once again despite all of this evidence Tressel and Ohio State avoided punishment because the university claimed they were unaware of any violations taking place. Myke Clarett, Maruice’s father, told ESPN this is absurd. “C’mon, Tressel is acting like Sergeant Schultz,” he said. 

Around the same time Clarett came forward, other players who transferred out of Ohio State claimed barely any of their credits would transfer to their new institutions. Read more about that here. 

This was not the last time the NCAA came sniffing around the Buckeye program. In 2005, future Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith was suspended two games for accepting $500 from a booster in 2004. This was the second time this booster had allegedly given improper benefits to a star player. 

With all that being said there is no way the NCAA should let Tressel coach another college football program for five years. The only reason Tressel has had dirt on his hands until now is because he did not want to know about it.

Tressel wanted to win at all costs and eventually lost control of both programs he has coached, which is evident now with players like Ray Small boasting about selling championship rings and players like Pryor flaunting their illegitimate perks.

And do not try and convince me that there is now way Tressel could not have found out about any of this. He simply never lifted a finger to do so. If he really wanted to get to the bottom of any of these allegations he could have.

Wisconsin Badgers head coach Bret Bielema told ESPN on June 2, “If one of my kids gets a parking ticket, I know the next day,” Bielema said. “You see a car sitting in the parking lot, a kid getting out of it, you know what’s going on.” 

Perhaps the worst thing to come out of all of this is the denial and ridiculous belief among Buckeye alums that the media and players are solely responsible for Tressel’s forced resignation. 

“Tressel got the raw end of the deal,” Ohio State alum Barbara Smith said. “Isn’t it a shame what’s happening to Tressel? Isn’t it a shame what media is doing to Tressel? It’s the students. They are the ones who made the decision. They know what the rules are.”

Yes ma’am they do, but so does Tressel and he broke them when he sat on information about his stars breaking rules and has turned a blind eye to his players receiving benefits for close well over a decade. Sorry folks there is no possible way to defend Tressel in this instance.

Check out my new blog, Dirlam’s Dirty Dugout, which features this article, past articles, and video stories and follow it on Twitter for the latest updates about what will be posted. Finally, look for part four of this five part series of articles later this week that will focus on the recently published Sports Illustrated investigative article about the Buckeyes.