Mailbag: Thoughts on OSU sanctions?

This is how poorly they make Ohio State T-shirts.  Look at this
one - it's practically falling apart!  How embarrassing.

Why didn't the NCAA drop the hammer on OSU?  They knowingly cheated and the whole program was involved, yet it seems like they got off with a slap on the wrist.

I have to admit that I've been struggling with the answer to this since the punishment was publicized a couple days ago.  Ohio State's head coach was involved in a scandal that included not one, but several of his players.  He sat on the information and allowed those players to continue to play.  That's a big deal in "amateur" athletics.  Or at least it should be.

The real problem I have with this is that Ohio State doesn't seem to have received fair punishment compared to other programs that have recently been in trouble.  USC got a two-year bowl ban for the Reggie Bush scandal that involved an assistant coach; they also lost 30 scholarships.  Michigan got two years of probation and 130 lost practice hours for having practiced 65 hours too long, the old two-eyes-for-one-eye approach.

Ohio State knowingly  allowed Terrelle Pryor and others to play in last year's Sugar Bowl against Arkansas, a game the Buckeyes won.  If there's a two-for-one mentality, Ohio State ought to be banned from bowl games for both the 2012 and 2013 seasons.  The Buckeyes wouldn't have won that game against Ryan Mallett's Arkansas Razorbacks without Pryor, and though the game has been vacated, that doesn't erase recruits' and fans' memories of watching them win that game.  Instead, the Buckeyes will only miss a bowl game in 2012.  When I was growing up and got in trouble for not doing my chores, my parents didn't say, "Bad boy! Your punishment is that you have to do the chores now."  What would that have taught me?  Instead, I not only had to do my chores, but I had to go pull weeds in the garden or I wouldn't be able to play video games for a little while.

Ohio State also should have been punished with more than the loss of nine scholarships.  In addition to more players being involved at OSU than USC, the Buckeyes' head coach was involved, instead of just an assistant.  I don't care that Jim Tressel is no longer with the program (more on that later).  At the time of the infractions, he was the head coach.  Ohio State president Gordon Gee and athletic director Gene Smith are responsible for hiring and controlling their subordinates, including Tressel.  Just because Tressel stepped down doesn't mean that the institution should be rewarded because the offender decided to leave.  It would be one thing if Gee and Smith fired Tressel, but they allowed him to resign.

As for Tressel, I think the NCAA meted out a fair penalty.  He was given a show cause sanction for five years, meaning that if any other NCAA program hires him, they might face sanctions themselves.  It essentially means that he won't be able to get a college job until the 2016 regular season.  Tressel turned 59 on December 5th, so if he were to return for 2016, he would be pushing 64.  In addition to the penalty that the school might face, Tressel would be suspended for the first five games of any season between now and then, and he would be banned from coaching in a conference championship or bowl game.  I suspect the chances of him getting a major college coaching job again are pretty slim, but he has been hired by the Indianapolis Colts as a consultant and I can see him maintaining a front office job in the NFL.

Overall, I'm glad that the NCAA handed down a punishment, but it seems a little light.  If I were in charge of deciding the sanctions, I probably would have given OSU three years of probation, 20 lost scholarships over three years, a two-year bowl ban, and a five-year show cause penalty for Tressel.

But maybe I'm biased.