Jim Tressel: How Much Worse Might It Get for Ohio State Football?
Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel announced last night that he would be suspended and fined as a result of his failure to report possible NCAA violations to the school.
Tressel had learned in April of last year about the federal investigation that would eventually lead to the suspension of QB Terrelle Pryor and four others, but said nothing until the school learned about the investigation independently in December.
Ohio State has tried to head off NCAA sanctions by penalizing Tressel themselves, but don’t count on the buck stopping there. Read on for some potential additional sanctions Buckeyes football might find itself facing.
Ohio State's Recommended Punishment
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The penalties Tressel announced last night were presented as the university’s recommendation for his punishment. For failing to report the violations committed by his players, Tressel would be suspended for the first two games of next season, fined $250,000, publicly reprimanded, and forced to issue a public apology and attend a compliance workshop.
If Ohio State is lucky, the NCAA might decide to accept those recommendations as being a sufficient penalty, but don’t count on that happening.
Breach of Contract
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Tressel’s case for a relatively light punishment suffers by him having committed such an obvious violation. It’s one thing not to understand every arcane clause of the NCAA rulebook; it’s quite another to commit a violation so egregious that it violates your contract with the school.
Considering that Tressel’s contract stipulates that he can be fired for precisely the infraction he’s committed, don’t expect the NCAA to treat his mistakes lightly.
Loss of Conference Games
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One of the most obvious additions the NCAA could make to Tressel’s punishment would be a modification of the proposed suspension.
As they did with Tennesee men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl, and more recently with UConn men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun, the NCAA could specify that Tressel’s suspension must be served during conference play.
Considering that the university’s recommendation would suspend Tressel during near-meaningless games against overmatched Akron and Toledo, it seems likely that the NCAA will toughen the penalty by sitting Tressel during Big Ten play.
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Probation for the Football Program
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The NCAA’s catch-all penalty for everything is to put a program on probation, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see the Buckeyes thus penalized.
In light of the ongoing investigation into both Tressel’s conduct and that of his players, probation would give the NCAA an easy way to add on future punishments as new developments come to light.
UConn men’s basketball just got three years of probation for Jim Calhoun’s assorted infractions, and we could well see a similar penalty for the Buckeyes.
Vacating the 2010 Season
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The fact that Tressel knew in April (i.e., before the season ever began) about possible NCAA violations by his players, the Buckeyes’ 2010 season might also be subject to penalty.
As Tressel used players he knew to be in danger of being ineligible, the NCAA could determine that all games in which those players participated must be vacated by Ohio State.
The lost games could include the entirety of Ohio State’s 12-1 campaign, and their shared Big Ten championship.
Repayment of Money
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A side note to the possible loss of the program's 2010 victories is the potential that the NCAA would make the university pay back its share of money earned by Ohio State’s Sugar Bowl appearance.
While the reported amount of money involved would only be around $300,000, the loss of revenue might be taken more seriously than the official loss of victories in games that have already been played.
Recruiting Restrictions
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Another avenue the NCAA might use for punishing the Ohio State program would be to limit its recruiting abilities. The number of coaches allowed to participate in recruiting, or the number of recruiting days, could be cut in accordance with the severity of punishment.
Tressel’s rules violations don’t directly concern recruiting, so the NCAA probably won’t go this direction.
Scholarship Reductions
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One of the simplest penalties for the NCAA to impose on OSU would be a loss of football scholarships over the next few seasons. It wouldn’t break the back of the Buckeye program, but it would send a message that the violations by Tressel and his players were being taken seriously.
This is probably the toughest penalty Ohio State will get from the NCAA.
Postseason Ban
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Moving further up the harshness scale, the NCAA could opt to ban the Buckeyes from postseason play for a year or more. This penalty would probably encompass both Tressel’s violations and those of the players.
It’s unlikely the NCAA will treat the Buckeyes this harshly unless more violations come out, but they might do so if they feel it would help smooth over the public-relations mess created by their initial handling of the Tattoo Five suspensions.
Loss of TV Appearances
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In a move the NCAA considered during its hearings on USC’s football program, the Buckeyes could also face a reduction in the number of games that could be televised. USC dodged this particular bullet, but it might serve as a way for the NCAA to hit OSU where it really hurts: the wallet.
At present, however, Ohio State’s violations probably aren’t severe enough to warrant this step.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
