Tress, Gene, and Gordo won’t say it, so I will!
This is another epic fail from the NCAA. I am going to try and put this in to the simplest of terms.
1. Tress got an email from an attorney saying that a couple of his players may be linked to an ongoing federal investigation and was asked not to say anything.
2. There was an investigation that went on in which most of the email was found to be false.
3. The players get suspended for 5 games for selling things they believed to be theirs.
4. The email is found and it is discovered that Tress had information concerning the investigation.
5. Tressel is suspended for not reporting something that he was asked not to report.
So if Tress doesn’t get this email, nothing happens. Was he witholding information? Technically yes, but he was told not to report it.
Some will say he should have suspended the players that were in the report. What happened to ‘innocent until proven guilty’? Once again, the investigation into the email found large sections of it to be false.
To protect his players from potentially false accusations, he decided not to say anything. What if false information got out that players were involved in drug trafficking? That type of leak could ruin the players image forever, even if they were found innocent at a later date.
To me, it would be different if he was told things were going on and decided to do nothing, but what he decided to say nothing about was an ongoing investigation. He knew that the situation was already being looked into. He wasn’t witholding information like a coach or player that says, “I had no idea they were giving those things to my parents or family” (just a random example). He also wasn’t trying to sweep the situation under the rug so that it would just go away.
Maybe a lawyer is what I need here, but when told by an attorney to keep information on a federal case confidential, is it legal to let people know that there is an investigation going on?
The other thing that I would like to get off my chest is this:
In the grand scheme of the NCAA and all the issues they can be spending their time on, they have now suspended 6 players and coaches 23 combined games and are $250,000 richer. For what exactly? 8k worth of merchandise and not reporting that a federal investigation was going on (when specifically told to keep the information confidential).
Can you imagine how many times coaches are told, “I saw your players out doing something illegal”? Underage drinking, smoking pot, receiving $100. If coaches reported everything, the NCAA wouldn’t be able to keep up with all of the self reports. I am not trying to say that all of this stuff is ok, and we should not be penalized, but these things need to be put into context.
Also, we are the ones that self-report these things on a consistent basis. The other schools that stonewall the NCAA don’t self-report all the little issues at all. Yet, we are the ones that seem to get hit with all the sanctions that just don’t seem to match the crimes.
This is a big F-U to Ohio State, and another reason why being the honest, “do what is right” university has given us another black eye without much to show for it.
It is amazing how quickly things come to light and rulings get passed down at OSU while other schools seemingly get off scott free for much more severe infractions.
Yep, you got your priorities straight on this one NCAA. NOT!
The talking heads on TV will go on and on about how this is just awful this is. Let them.
The bottom line seems to be this: when the NCAA comes a-knocking, stonewalling is the way to go. The NCAA is embarrassingly incapable of enforcing their rules, no matter how severe the violation, without cooperation from the institution involved.
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