Update – For the full press conference video, please visit OhioStateBuckeyes.com’s report on the conference.
Jim Tressel, Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith and Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee sat down this evening to discuss the news released in a Yahoo Sports report. That press conference was aired over the internet at for everyone capable of sitting down and stomaching what was said. For those who missed/skipped the presser, here’s a run down of what happened.
It has become clear that what Yahoo Sports discovered was not the violations themselves, but the University self-investigation of the violations committed by Jim Tressel. It turns out that in April of 2010, Jim Tressel received emails regarding information on a Federal Drug Trafficking case. Those emails implied there were potential NCAA violations regarding 2 unnamed student athletes at Ohio State. Tressel, however, either did not notice the implication, or refused to face the implication.
The press release does not make the connection clear between the two cases. Despite that, it is clear that the cases were linked in the sense that the emails Tressel received involved the Tat-gate situation. It is also clear that the Yahoo report was a leak of the investigation that required the school to come clean before they were ready.
The NCAA was reportedly notified of the situation on February 3rd and sent special investigators to the University on February 8th. It is obvious that the University did everything they needed to by NCAA bylaws to solve this problem as quickly as possible.
The press release states a set of self-punishments:
As part of its self-report, the university has self-imposed the following sanctions: a public reprimand and apology; a two-game suspension; attendance at a compliance seminar; and a $250,000 fine.
Of course, the whole investigation itself has not be concluded, so we won’t know the full resolution of this situation for at least several weeks yet. However, this is the report that the University is sending to the NCAA following their investigation.
As of now, the Yahoo news story has functionally concluded in about the best way it could have. Rather than this being a new thing for the University to face, it is something that they’ve already been dealing with for a while now. While it’s a small comfort in the end, it’s substantially better many imagined it could have been.
Stay tuned to the Buckeye Battle Cry for more as the story unfolds.
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