Jim Tressel Suspension: Why Tressel's Suspension May Just Be the Beginning

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith announced Tuesday night that Jim Tressel will be suspended the first two games of the 2011 season for overlooking the knowledge of Terrelle Pryor and others being suspended for trading personal memorabilia for tattoos.

The initial reports from Yahoo Sports in a Monday night article came from Ohio State self-reporting more information about the case that saw Pryor and others get hammered with a five-game suspension to start the upcoming season.

According to Tressel in his press conference, he withheld information sent to him in an email in April by an attorney citing several of his players trading memorabilia for tattoos at a Columbus tattoo shop.

The self-report Ohio State filed stated that Tressel found out about the information in April but was not very sure about what course of action to take.

However, the NCAA regulations state that he must report any information of failed compliance immediately to the school, to the Big Ten conference and to the NCAA.

Because of the inability to forward that information to proper authorities, Tressel will miss the first two games of the 2011 season and have to pay a $250,000 fine as recommended in OSU's self-report to the NCAA.

While it is possible the NCAA might add more sanctions, the university will take this very seriously, especially in the following seasons to make sure this type of thing doesn't happen again in the near future.

But looking forward, there could be much more to this situation in the days to come, as he meets with the NCAA to discuss the matter.

It's very likely the school might get more sanctions, such as forfeiting wins or a loss in scholarships.

And even with the suspensions coming up from both Tressel and the five Buckeyes in question, there is almost no chance OSU will go 0-2 against Akron and Toledo, who combined to play in just three bowl games since the 2005 season.

Tressel's defense has been he wasn't sure how to handle this information, but that might not necessarily help him in the meetings with compliance officers.

This is easily the darkest offseason Ohio State has had since John Cooper was head coach.

And depending on the opinions of the NCAA who has seen all of this evidence come to the forefront in the past few days, it may very likely get much darker in Columbus.

It's almost unlikely that Tressel will be fired unless the NCAA demands it, but his team will have their work cut out for them in 2011 as they go for an seventh straight Big Ten championship.

What is a shame for Buckeye fans is that a season that some had penciled in as a year that could be a shot at another national championship is circling the drain as spring practices have yet to kick off.

And it may very likely get much, much worse before it gets better.

For more updates on the Jim Tressel suspension situation and other college football news, follow me on Twitter @bielik_tim. This article can also be found on The BCS Blitz.