Posted by Adam Jacobi

One would assume that Jim Tressel's days of coaching college football are pretty well over; he's the man at the center of an NCAA investigation at Ohio State, and he'll probably have a substantial show-cause penalty attached to his NCAA status after the Committee on Infractions metes out its punishment. For a 58-year-old coach, the prospect of not being allowed to coach college football for multiple years (with the show-cause penalty acting as a de facto ban) is tantamount to forced retirement -- or at the very least a significant and permanent step down in the level of jobs available. 

Ah, but there's that other league out there, the NFL, one that doesn't concern itself with trivialities like eligibility requirements or the permissibility of gifts, and which certainly wouldn't turn down a coach with a history of NCAA trouble. That, then, is probably why Tressel -- alongside old rival Lloyd Carr, the former Michigan head coach -- attended a Cleveland Browns practice on Tuesday.

Tressel and Carr merely observed the practice instead of interacting with the players, with Tressel telling reporters he was attending as a fan (he and Carr were invited guests of the Browns, to be precise) but the coaching itch is hardly gone. When asked by a reporter if he wanted to coach again, Tressel responded, “I hope so. I’m taking it one day at a time.”

While it would be interesting to see Tressel's transition from college football to the pro game, history says Tressel's chances as a head coach aren't particularly promising. Tressel's success at Ohio State stemmed from his ability to maintain an on-field talent superiority in nearly every game the Buckeyes played, and then Tressel's ability to exert said superiority as well as possible. That may sound like a backhanded compliment, but it's not; recruiting is almost inarguably the biggest predictor of success in college football, especially over larger and larger samples of time, and both Tressel's recruiting rankings and coaching record bear that fact out.

In the NFL, however, the head coach has significantly less control over the quality of player he's given relative to his opponents, if for no other reaosn than the parity that free agency and salary caps build into the labor system. Further, with Tressel 16 months away from his 60th birthday, the time demand of being an NFL head coach will only become even more of an unsustainable burden relative to his more youthful counterparts.

All of which is to say, it is exceedingly unlikely that Tressel will come close to replicating his OSU-era levels of success in the NFL. If the man still wants to coach, though, he ought to coach, sweater vest and all.

Posted by Tom Fornelli

While Ohio State has had to make a number of sacrifices thanks to the whole tattoo fiasco, sacrifices that have included head coach Jim Tressel and quarterback Terrelle Pryor, and vacating the 2010 season, it seems the school feels it's not done making amends for the mistakes it has made. The Sugar Bowl win over Arkansas that we're all supposed to pretend never actually happened? Well, Ohio State is going to give back the money it got from that too.



Well that's a pretty noble move by Ohio State, if I do say so myself. If you're going to pretend you never won the game, then you shouldn't keep the money you got from "not" appearing in the game. It only makes sense. 

The total amount that Ohio State will be refunding is $338,811, which may seem a bit low to you at first. What is important to remember, though, is that since Ohio State was the second Big Ten team to qualify for a BCS Bowl game last season, its payout from the BCS was significantly lower than what the Big Ten received for Wisconsin's Rose Bowl appearance. Then once you divide that number by the eleven schools in the Big Ten conference, Ohio State's actual payout is reduced quite a bit.

Posted by Adam Jacobi

The specter of NCAA scrutiny is, apparently, still hanging over Ohio State. As the school prepares to meet with the NCAA Committee on Infractions on Friday, a report has surfaced that the NCAA is still investigating OSU, and has let the school know thusly.

According to ESPN, the NCAA has sent Ohio State another letter, this one informing the school that its investigation is still ongoing. This would make sense, as most of the accusations against Terrelle Pryor have come after the NCAA's original notice of allegations, which focused almost exclusively on the actions of since-departed head coach Jim Tressel. 

For as much as this reported letter is, it's also important to emphasize what it isn't: another notice of allegations. As Ohio State announced, there have been no new allegations brought against the school, and ESPN's report doesn't make clear what's in the actual letter sent from the NCAA to OSU. So from a material standpoint, Ohio State is in no worse shape right now than it was before it received the letter.

Still, it's reasonable to believe that the NCAA's investigation is still continuing, and that it won't be time to exhale in Columbus even after Friday's COI meeting. For a school that's already spent $800,000 and counting on this probe, that's hardly welcome news.

Posted by Adam Jacobi

For the Ohio State Buckeyes, their freshmen were causing a stir at the team's first news conference of the season sporting some snazzy black and red "JT" wristbands -- ostensibly in support of ousted head coach Jim Tressel, unless they too want to know why Justin Timberlake hasn't been making music recently. Probably more the Tressel thing though.

At any rate, the school (predictably) found out about the wristbands, and within a flash, said wristbands were no more:

Ohio State issued a recall on “JT” wristbands Wednesday night, hours after several freshmen football players wore them to a news conference as a show of support for former coach Jim Tressel.

“They were pulled back out of concern, just being cautious,” team spokesman Jerry Emig said yesterday, adding that their use had not been run past the compliance department before their distribution.  

In other words, the athletic department wasn't concerned with the appearance of its football players supporting a recently fired coach who had probably just committed the worst NCAA violations in program history -- it was just concerned with potential compliance issues in case someone interpreted the players' actions as promoting the wristbands. Fine set of priorities the NCAA has fostered these days, isn't it?

Also, as Graham Watson correctly notes over at Y!, nobody showed up wearing a TP bracelet, nor has anyone apparently gone through the trouble of making one. Surely there must be a reason why Tressel's getting the "tragic hero" treatment while Terrelle Pryor's being left out in the cold once again, right?

[Photo via Fred Squillante, Columbus Dispatch] 

Posted by Tom Fornelli

With the surprising news that North Carolina fired head coach Butch Davis on Wednesday, we can now all start wondering who will be taking his place in Chapel Hill. Of course, seeing as how the season is only a few weeks away from starting, it's unlikely that North Carolina will have a full-time replacement in place before then, so the school will likely slap the interim tag on an assistant for now. It could be assistant head coach Sam Pittman, offensive coordinator John Shoop or defensive coordinator Everett Withers.

But where will the school's eyes turn for the future? Let's take a look at some possible candidates.

Coaches Who Will Be Mentioned By Fans But Will Not Be North Carolina's Next Head Coach

Jim Tressel - The former Ohio State head coach currently has nothing else to do, but if you honestly think that a school that just fired a head coach amidst an NCAA investigation is going to hire somebody who was just fired by another school for his role in an NCAA investigation, well, you probably weren't able to read this sentence anyway.

Urban Meyer - There won't be a head coaching job available for the next nine months at a BCS program in which Meyer's name isn't tossed out as a replacement. The problem here is that Meyer really does seem content with his television gig, and if he does return, Ohio State seems to be the apple of his eye.

Mike Leach - I know I want Mike Leach to be a head coach again because he makes the sport that much fun and is a very good coach, but as long as he has that lawsuit against Texas Tech, no school is going to touch him.

Realistic Possibilities

Randy Shannon - Shannon is taking the year off to work in television, but he wants to get back into coaching. He has experience in the ACC and is very familiar with recruiting in the state of Florida thanks to his time at Miami. Of course, Butch Davis used to be a head coach at Miami too, and that didn't work out very well.

Terry Bowden - Bowden not only comes from a pretty good family blood line, but he has plenty of head coaching experience as well. He's at North Alabama this season, but North Alabama doesn't exactly strike me as the kind of place a coach plans on making his final stop. He's a name that could come up in Chapel Hill.

Tommy Bowden - Terry's brother has the same bloodline and also has head coaching experience in the ACC where he was at Clemson from 1999 to 2008. He also has six years of experience as an assistant in the conference at Florida State and Duke.

Bud Foster - Foster has been Virginia Tech's defensive coordinator since 1995, and has put together not only some of the best defenses in the ACC, but in the entire country during that time. He's expressed interest in head coaching jobs at West Virginia (2007) and Clemson (2008) but hasn't come up in the last few years. Could he get the itch to run his own program again this winter?

Gus Malzahn - Malzahn's star may never shine brighter than it did at Auburn in 2010, but if he's able to put together another strong offense in 2011 without Cam Newton, his name will once again be mentioned for a lot of job openings.

Rich Rodriguez - He's had his own run-ins with the NCAA before, but nothing on the level of what's happening at UNC. Plus, the man still knows how to put together a fantastic offense. As long as he doesn't bring Greg Robinson with him, it could work.

Just For The LOLs

John Blake - I hear Butch Davis trusted him quite a bit.

Randy Edsall - He's always said that Maryland was his "dream job" but that North Carolina is his "fantasy job."

Posted by Adam Jacobi

Any lingering uncertainty there may have been to Terrelle Pryor's status with Ohio State -- and there was some, as far as the NFL was concerned -- has been put to rest, as Ohio State has dropped the hammer on its former quarterback.

Here's the latest news on Pryor from the Ohio State RapidReports feed:

The QB's attorney, Larry James, received a letter from AD Gene Smith on Tuesday stating Pryor would have been ineligible for the 2011 season and that he’s barred from having any contact with the program for five years.

This is good news for Pryor (seriously!). As of yesterday, Pryor still technically had eligibility remaining with Ohio State, and his situation didn't fit the NFL's definition of the "extenuating circumstances" that would allow a player to be taken in the supplemental draft. That, clearly, has changed now.

Of course, the down side is the punishment itself; Pryor is now a pariah of sorts, and being disallowed from contact with his old program for five years pretty much stinks for him. At the same time, there's still a lingering, often nasty resentment among Buckeye fans of Pryor for his role in Jim Tressel's departure, so Pryor might feel more welcome somewhere else for the next few years anyway.

 

Posted by Tom Fornelli

While just about all football fans are sitting around waiting for the NFL to end its lockout -- the one that is real close to ending now -- former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor may be paying closer attention to the situation than the average fan.

Pryor, who left Ohio State in June, is hoping to enter the NFL through the league's supplemental draft, but it turns out that he may not be able to. At least, not this year.

The NFL hasn't announced a date yet for the supplemental draft thanks to the lockout, and it's possible that there may not even be one in 2011. Making matters worse for Pryor, it could turn out that even if there is a supplemental draft, Pryor may not be eligible for it.

“If there are no players eligible for a supplemental draft, there is no supplemental draft,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told FOXSports.com. “It is for players whose circumstances have changed in an unforeseen way after the regular (college) draft. It is not a mechanism for simply bypassing the regular (draft).” 

Aiello specified those "unforeseen" events to be a player who was kicked off their college team, was declared academically ineligible or graduated and decided to leave school. Pryor is none of those three things as he decided to leave Ohio State on his own after Jim Tressel was forced to resign as coach.

Which means that it's entirely possible Pryor won't be eligible for the supplemental draft if there is one, and he's going to take an entire year off from football before he can pursue a NFL career. Which isn't a good situation to be in for a quarterback whose ability to play quarterback in the NFL is already a question mark to many scouts.

Posted by Bryan Fischer

Mark Emmert, you have lost our confidence in your ability to do the job.

The next time you speak, we won't be able to take you seriously thanks to news that Ohio State would not face additional charges of failure to monitor or lack of institutional control in the school's infraction case.

'It's all about what the NCAA can prove, not what we've read' is the company line. Well, you had a chance to prove things but you said you weren't going to try.

CBSSports.com took a thorough look at cheating in college football, spending nine days chronicling just how rampant the rule breaking has been over the years. The purpose was the examine the subject with an eye towards where the sport was headed in the near future.

Senior writer Dennis Dodd ended the series saying Ohio State would be a landmark case going forward.

"This is what NCAA president Mark Emmert has been advocating, a way to make the cheaters and liars think twice about cheating and lying," Dodd wrote.

The president failed, however, to send that message Friday. Emmert has called for tougher enforcement numerous times since taking office and here, in front of a primetime audience, was his Howard Beale moment.

He could have sent a message that he was mad as hell and wasn't going to take it anymore. Instead, he lost what little confidence we had in "fixing" college athletics.

Dennis Thomas, the chairman of the Committee on Infractions, said on a conference call earlier this month that the committee "was not in the business of sending messages."

Sorry to say it, but the NCAA's enforcement staff and the Committee on Infractions are in the business of sending messages.

They sent one loud and clear: It's ok to cheat. Blame it on the coach if you get caught. No need to monitor emails either.

But you better check on that house 100 miles away.

Emmert has talked about openness and a better understanding. The organization invited several members of the national media to Indianapolis for what they called the "Enforcement Experience."

The aim of it, as Vice President for Enforcement Julie Roe Lach explained to compliance officers from across the country, was for a good number of positive pieces and to remind everybody that the NCAA and the Committee on Infractions are separate.

Last I checked though, the enforcement staff reports to the president. If Emmert wanted to push for a message, a simple walk down the hall could have resulted in serious charges against Ohio State.

According to interview transcripts, Jim Tressel mentioned an email tip to school compliance officers but failed to mention what was actually in the emails. The compliance office - or anyone else for that matter - failed to follow up on this. Yet the NCAA enforcement staff said the school "followed up on tips it received."

The school said they only found out about the emails in January "due to an unrelated legal matter." Ask Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany though and he'll tell you it was due to a FOIA request.

Appears no one, not even one of the most powerful people in the country, could get an accurate answer from the Buckeyes.

At one point in an interview, Tressel told the NCAA that Ohio State told him to get rid of documents so they wouldn't become public record.

The folks at Enron are very impressed.

If the committee can nail USC based on a two minute, thirty-two second phone call, they surely could nail Ohio State with all that.

Ohio State was lauded by many as having a large and well respected compliance office. Yet both the NCAA and Ohio State agreed in December that their education efforts were inadequate. That was the basis for allowing the so-called "Buckeye Five" to play in the Sugar Bowl.

So Ohio State didn't do a good job at rules education in December but by July, according to the case summary, the institution "provided education to football student-athletes and staff regarding extra benefits and preferential treatment."

That statement was contradicted by the enforcement staff five paragraphs later by the way.

"The institution took monitoring efforts designed to identify the sale or distribution of institutionally issued athletics awards, apparel apparel and equipment," but somehow didn't know Terrele Pryor was taking "whatever" he wanted out of the equipment room.

And let's not forget the school's treatment of their beloved "Senator."

"This is an individual that I have tremendous respect for," University president E. Gordon Gee said of Tressel on March 8. "He's had great success in working with young people and we applaud that. But I think equally importantly, he's had great success in building the character and reputation for this university, which I'm entirely grateful for. He's done so by example."

A few months later in the Buckeyes' self-report: "The institution is embarrassed by the actions of Tressel."

At least the flip-flopping when they're backed into a corner is consistent.

There's still one more chance for the organization to say enough is enough. The committee could add a failure to monitor charge or lack of institutional control charge following Ohio State's August 12th meeting with them. The committee did it with Indiana in the Kelvin Sampson case but has rarely done so. It can also choose to punish the school harshly despite the two serious charges, as it did with Alabama several years ago in the Albert Means case. They can also cite the enforcement staff for doing a bad job, which they have also done on occasion.

"I fully expect that every NCAA member institution be held to the same high standards," Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said after USC's appeal was denied.

But based on everything that's happened so far with Ohio State, does anyone expect them to? Athletic director Gene Smith was the recent chairman of the NCAA Men's Basketball committee. Gee was Emmert's boss years ago at Colorado.

And even if the committee did hold them to those same high standards set in the USC case?

"I'll be shocked and disappointed and on the offensive, Smith told The Columbus Dispatch. "If I don't agree, we'll do everything we can to battle it and go through the appeals process."

Don't worry Gene, you've already won. Sorry Mark, you didn't.

After all, actions, Mr. Emmert, speak louder than words.