Jim Tressel Out As Ohio State Head Coach

Without opining on the gravity of the transgressions, I think Coach Tressel will be missed. As a resident of Central Ohio, I can say that until all of this hit the fan, he was a universally admired citizen of this community and a source of pride for the region (if not the state). He was exactly what the program AND the community needed after Coach Cooper was fired in 2001.

I’m sorry his run has ended, especially like this.

He made mistakes for sure, but this all stems from the actions of some selfish kids and it cost Tressel his career.

I have mixed emotions. I think, personally, that Tressel was truly a genuine, respectful person that cared about anyone and everyone he met. Having been able to interact with him many times professionally, it was clear to me that his personality was what you see is what you get.

That said, while all this happening at Ohio State has been going on for decades with or without Tressel, and would happen at any major university, I think he shares in some blame from the standpoint he could have avoided much of this by being out proactively in December about his knowledge. If he’d just said then he knew about this and kept quiet because of an ongoing legal investigation, I’m not sure we’d be at this point in time.

Luke Fickell will take over, but I doubt it will be for more than a year. He is not qualified to be the head football coach at Ohio State.

which is supposed to be posted sometime today (no later than tomorrow) is evidently the reason the resignation now. Perhaps it contains more damning information that we aren’t privy to yet.

Gene Smith decided when this would take place. Because it is a holiday weekend, he believed it would minimize the impact and media coverage. Unfortunately, because it is a holiday weekend, only a handful of players were at the meeting where Tressel informed them of his resignation. The rest discovered the information through the media. What a horribly political move by Smith.

Ohio State player reactions, largely from Twitter. Stolen from Scout.com.

Stoneburner: Tress taught me life lessons and how to become a man. I will forever be grateful that I played for such a great man. He is irreplaceable.

Jon Thoma: Awful. He deserves so much more. I can’t stomach this right now. Love you Tress, and thank you for everything.

Carlos Hyde: 14-0 sounds good to me doin it for tress

Chimdi Chekwa: We just lost a great coach nd a great person. Its a sad day for a former player. Tress gave me more than an opportunity he gave me a roadmap

Adam Griffin: People hate to see winning. They hate success and that’s what tress was… Successful

Donald Washington: I would love to be suiting up for the #bucks with all the bs going on I gotta feeling the Buckeyes are gon beuntamed this fall

Teedy Greenstein from the Chicago Tribune tweeted:

I’m told that Tressel told his coaching colleagues during BT meetings in Chicago: "They (the NCAA) have my head on a platt

The 2012 recruiting class may be the most pathetic in Ohio State history.

Jon Gruden

That name isn’t a shock, of course. Gruden will be linked to many big-time coaching openings, in college and the pros. But over the past few months, and before Tressel was kicked out on his ass, Gruden told more than a few people he was antsy and desired a return to coaching. One assistant told me Gruden hasn’t been shy about it, either. Indeed, Gruden and Ohio State would be a perfect fit (though Urban Meyer might even be more perfect). Expect the usual Gruden denial to the Ohio State speculation but don’t believe it for a second. Repeat: don’t believe it. He’d listen and take it if offered. And Gruden coaching at Ohio State in 2012 would be perfect timing.

he is a team leader and he went through with such a stupid selfish act and led the other star players to do the same, in the end costing one ohio state one of its greatest coaches and Tressel his career. he should have been cut from the team

I saw this on Yahoo and literally shouted, “HOLY CRAP!”

Regardless of his violating silly NCAA rules, Coach Tressel was a great ambassador for OSU. He is one of us and understood Buckeye Nation! Sometimes great people do silly things. I will always appreciate what he did for my beloved Buckeye’s!

didn’t he take the first email right over to Gene Smith and let him deal with it?

It’ll be interesting to see the response when these players return.

I hate ESPN.

“Let’s look at the recent sports struggles in Ohio!” and they mention LeBron, the Indians losing 4/5, etc. Wow.

With the coming sanctions, there will have to be an extremely long leash for the new hire, otherwise nobody will take it just to be fired due to circumstances beyond his control.

I’m sick of wearing the rose colored glasses.

The system is a joke. The kids make the National Collegiate Athletic Association millions upon millions, but according to the rulebooks, deserving virtually nothing in return. Obviously, in this bury out heads in the sand culture of college football they created, violations (of rules that are questionable to begin with) are going to a trade off for success.

The real corruption is with the Association but none of the media outlets want to talk about that.

Question for everyone: Are you all completely shocked by this? Or did you see it coming? I’d say I’m in the middle of it.

They’re showing Ray Small on OTL. Idiot. He did say that Tressel and his teammates didn’t know about that.

The Michigan player tweets make me laugh. Dumb.

PDF of Jim Tressel’s resignation letter.

Warren Ball says he talked to Paul Haynes today and remains committed. Bri’onte Dunn wants to see who the next coach will be. Expect to lose him.

Jordan Diggs and many of the other out of state recruits are upset. It’s obvious they will not be Buckeyes unless a new, permanent coach is announced quickly.

Ok, here is where the Sports Illustrated situation stands.

- The article will be released this afternoon or tonight.

- Dohrmann is taking credit for Tressel’s resignation on Twitter.

- Dohrmann is a talented writer who has experience with investigative pieces.

- Dohrmann is also a self-aggrandizing knob who spends as much time promoting himself as writing.

-Gordon Gee has denied Dohrmann’s claim and says Tressel’s decision was independent of any media scrutiny.

and am approaching this situation with a glass half full attitude.
I think this was best. Listen, Ohio State needs to retain its label of integrity within the program. There’s a reason Woody was gone half a second after that Clemson game. We took Tressel’s beating Michigan every season for granted and that remains an uncompetitive rivalry now. With Hoke, hopefully some respectability returns to Ann Arbor. However, Tressel’s departure, in my opinion, will not strike as big a blow to the program’s ability to recruit/compete in the short run as many might believe. The vest was an iconic figure, of course, we all will forever recognize this (he was my generations Woody, I love him). But I do not have a fear of the next hire being the botch that say a Rodriguez was up north.
The Urban Meyer rumors, ok, I’m listening. But until that happens, rumors are nothing in this business where something doesn’t break until it really does break. In all honesty, I expect this team to still grab 8-9 wins in the regular season, this roster is THAT deep. I hate seeing Tress go out this way, but I think many within Buckeye Nation may feel this bittersweet as they view it as an opportunity to bring someone in who can give us that same level of dominance in inter-conference play, but now extend that to the postseason and not misuse players talents positionally.
I for one would like to nominate Jim Heacock, as long as he continues to exercise his defensive responsibilities.

Love JT. I like what he brought to OSU.

But when the chips fall, this had to be done, and it should have been done awhile back. He broke the rule of the asinine NCAA. Whether we agree with it, Tress knew the rules and chose not to obey them. No matter why he did it, he has to pay the price.

This is the first step of moving past this horrible off-season.

I wouldn’t allow the rest of the Tat5 to play, or anyone else who violated rules. Fire Tress and fire G. Smith. Throw yourself in front of the NCAA and hope for the best. From the sound of it, there are going to some players that may never wear S&G as well (stealing from the WHAC?).

Clean the house, take the punishment, then hire the best HC available to keep us at the top. I assume that will be Urban Meyer.

link.

The media continues to bring up past players getting into trouble while ignoring the fact that these players were disciplined. How many coaches would have kicked Clarette off the team? The players were punished! That’s not running a corrupt program! The media calls him unethical for not telling the ncaa about a stupid rule violation, big f’ng deal! His “crime” was that he lied to the ncaa. Again, big deal! How many people would run to their boss if a co-worker was 2 minutes late? It’s rediculous that not telling “daddy” a bs foul is considered sooo bad. And then, people come on here and say that he deserved his fate for “lying.” Again, give me a break!!!!!!!!!

Urban Meyer’s official statement.

“I am committed to ESPN and will not pursue any coaching opportunities this fall. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the people at ESPN this spring and remain very excited about my role with the network this fall.

Jim Tressel has been a respected friend and colleague for a long time. I wish Jim and his family the very best now and in the future."

Tressel and Meyer are closer than many think. This could be an issue if Ohio State wants him and he has attractive alternatives next season.

I wish you guys the best and look for another coach who can continue to keep the tradition of winning for TOSU just like Tressel. The situation was unfortunate, however it was time to move on from this ugly incident as a fan of college football!

I just hope Al Golden can be as consistent as Tressel (with a 84% winning record) was on the gridiron..All the best!

Ahem. No apologies necessary. But I wasn’t trolling when I posted on this from the beginning. Just my observations. Turned out not to be as wrong as some thought.

With that said, I think this entire situation spun out of control, and it’s terribly unfortunate it came to this end. But a program like OSU will endure and fans should look forward to what a new coach will bring to Columbus – they’ll find a good one too.

Bruce Feldman actually talks about how can’t maintain a perennial powerhouse without committing violations, how if the NCAA really wanted to fix this they’d have to undertake a complete overhaul, changes in the rulebook.