Ohio State Football: If Jim Tressel Doesn't Regret Buckeye Scandal, He Should

Former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel sat down with the Cleveland Plain Dealer over Memorial Day weekend, and if there was any worry as to whether Tressel was still himself, fret no longer. The Senator is still The Senator, and while he wasn't defiant in any way, contrition wasn't exactly the order of the day, either.

Here's how Tressel characterized the scandal that saw him resign under duress before taking a show-cause penalty from the NCAA:

"

"It was going to end one day, in one way or another, and that wasn't the way we wanted to end it," Tressel said.

"Wow, a lot happens in a year, a lot that you don't know is going to happen. But I don't feel scarred or disappointed or mad. I just don't feel that way. The people at Ohio State have always been great to me, and things end up the way they do, and you go on to the next play or the next day, and that's always been the way I look at things."

"

The Plain Dealer editors took it a step further and said Tressel had no regrets, but those are their words and not his. In the entire article, neither Tressel nor author Doug Lesmires specifically uses the word "regret." But the "eh, well, what can you do" sentiment is there either way.

And you know what? That's too bad.

It would have been really nice to see Tressel admit the full scope of how badly he screwed up. It would have been nice to see Tressel treat the scandal as something he had control over—because he did—and not just a thing that happened and had negative consequences. We don't need to see tears and self-flagellation, but it would have been nice to see the guy care about how much trouble he got the school in.

But the sad truth is he doesn't have to care, because he knows he's still beloved. The Buckeyes fans chose their bogeymen, and they chose the media and Terrelle Pryor. Even for how his coaching career ended, Tressel is not a disgraced coach. He's just a former coach.

A disgraced coach could never get away with saying this, for example:

"

"I wouldn't call it a goodbye," Tressel said. "I would say, 'Hey, we'll see you soon.' Whenever it is, who knows? 

"But keep cheering for those Buckeyes. I'm sure we'll have time when we have the chance to reconnect in some form. In the meantime, you've got to make sure the Buckeyes are ready. Who knows what the next 10 or 15 years of college football is going to be like? So keep loving them and keep flying that flag, and we hope one day that we get a chance to reconnect, and in the meantime we know we're still busy and we've got one another to root for."

"

To be clear: That's a good, nice, positive sentiment. But then again, so was Richard Nixon flashing a couple peace signs right before he was whisked away from the White House via helicopter, never to be President again.