What Next?

A simple question with many competing answers.There are so many facets of this situation that need examination, so many layers that need to be peeled away and diagnosed, that it almost feels overwhelming to attempt any sort of written piece discussing anything to do with what just took place. A sense of plummeting, like a skydiver with a torn parachute, defines this situation. It began poorly enough with six players' suspensions and just kept getting worse, tainting a fine 2010 football season and derailing a successful athletics program.

There will be more, much more, written about this situation for a very long time. This is not a story that will disappear in a day, month, or season. It will remain an irreversible part of Ohio State history forever, and it deserves the attention it will receive over the next year. After the jump, I offer my first analysis of the new NCAA investigation, but before that, a word on our less-than-distinguished leader.

An Incompetent Captain Pilots This Ship

In the thread discussing the Sports Illustrated article, I said that Gene Smith needs to be fired immediately. I was too hasty with that proclamation. Ohio State needs an athletic director to guide the program through the NCAA investigation and hearing. After the NCAA announces its ruling and this book sees its final page, Gene Smith then needs to be fired immediately.

From the initial press conference, when Smith, Tressel, and President E. Gordon Gee stumbled through their speeches and failed to establish a sturdy position, to the continued drip of new information surrounding the program, Smith has done nothing but reveal himself as an amateur posturing as a professional. He failed to coordinate and bolster the administration's defense, he failed to control the message, allowing the media to mold the narrative into a tabloid editor's exotic fantasy, and then he engaged in the ultimate act of cowardice, sharing the news of Tressel's resignation through a press clipping and Youtube video.  Saving Smith the distinction of being named worst athletic director during a crisis are the lunatic rantings of that loon at USC, Mike Garrett.

An athletic director's job can be difficult or easy, depending on the success of their coaches. Jim Tressel and Thad Matta have combined to make Gene Smith's job the easiest of any athletic director at any major program since Smith's hiring in 2005. Smith was allowed to frolic and play in his athletic fiefdom, firing and hiring coaches in sports that receive little attention, collecting a large and steady paycheck, and ultimately building his legacy as an able athletic director at a thriving institution. 

When crisis did strike and Jim Tressel placed Smith and the program in a perilous position, Smith behaved as if he were still at Eastern Michigan. His management of the situation was poor enough to warrant termination, but that speaks nothing to his potential knowledge of the violations. With an ever-widening scope in the investigation-- or is it investigations now?--  it has become increasingly hard to believe that Tressel acted as a rogue agent determined to maintain the eligibility of his athletes, bureaucracy be damned. At best, Gene Smith is incapable of running a major athletic department; at worst, he is culpable in the downfall of a golden age in Ohio State athletics.

Whatever your conclusion, the result is the same. Gene Smith is not suited to the job of Ohio State Athletic Director.

Terrelle Pryor & George Dohrmann

Ohio State and the NCAA are again investigating Terrelle Pryor and possible improper benefits. The Columbus Dispatch confirmed that the investigation is centered around Pryor's car purchases, with Pryor rumored to have leased eight or more cars in his time at Ohio State.  There are also indications that the investigation extends to his housing arrangements and other day-to-day activities. Nothing definitive can be said about the Pryor investigation until the NCAA either issues another "notice of allegations" or announces a completion to their evidence-gathering. It is just more rumor and innuendo until then.

It may never come to that point, however, if Pryor enters the NFL Supplementary Draft and refuses to cooperate with NCAA investigators. Reggie Bush avoided questioning by the NCAA with his entrance into the NFL Draft, eventually being charged with violations due to a broken deal with a vindicative NFL agent. Even if violations exist around Pryor, they will be difficult for the NCAA to prove without cooperation from those who administered the improper benefits. Lacking subpoena power, the NCAA struggles to convince civilians to aid them in their investigations.

By far, the Pryor situation holds the most danger for Ohio State. George Dohrmann's article, while incendiary, lacks documentation that the NCAA has previously relied on to prove wrongdoing. Dez Bryant was suspended after Deion Sanders informed the NCAA that he did indeed visit his house, and USC was hit after an audio recording implicated Todd McNair.

Dohrmann's anonymous, criminal sources and ex-players aren't testifying in an NCAA courtroom. It's quick and easy to speak your mind to a Sports Illustrated reporter who comes to your door, but it is much different traveling to an NCAA hearing and condemning an entire institution for nothing in return. Rob Rose and Ray Small may be stupid, but they are not stupid enough to testify against Ohio State with real consequences resting on their words.

The anonymous "Ellis" would not even allow his real name to be used in the story, yet he is going to repeat those statements in an NCAA courtroom, under intense questioning from Ohio State's lawyers and NCAA investigators, and all he gets in return is a surrendering of the anonymity he fought to protect? Right.

What can the NCAA prove? I have no clear answers here. However, if Ohio State is to be punished like USC, the NCAA must do a better job than George Dohrmann.