Jim Tressel and Terelle Pryor are long gone. Four more Buckeyes will miss the first five games of the 2011 season. Ohio State will begin their schedule with a head coach (Luke Fickell) who owns exactly zero wins and a quintet of quarterbacks that have started exactly zero games. Of the five, only Joe Bauserman and Kenny Guiton have completed a pass and it would seem that they will simply be paving the way for incoming freshman Braxton Miller.The Bucks must now also content with recovering from a winless 0-13 season. The school responsed today to the NCAA investigation by voluntarily vacating the twelve wins that they complied over the 2010 campaign, including the 2011 Sugar Bowl victory over Arkansas and their 7th straight defeat of Michigan. That really sucks on paper, but in the end, who really cares? OSU also dropped two years of "probation" on themselves. I have no idea what that means.
The hope is that the combination of the self-imposed sanctions, the departures of the key players and the recent revelation that Tressel will attend the August 12th hearing before the NCAA infractions committee will preclude the governing body from levying further penalties that might include a reduction in scholarships and/or a post-season ban.
In my eyes, this entire situation has been blown totally out of proportion. All of the culprits have been punished. What good can possibly come from handcuffing players and coaches who had nothing to no with tattoos or memorabilia? I recognize that the intent is to discourage future occurrence. Still, the NCAA seems to be attempting to dictate the behavior of boosters and fans rather than student-athletes and coaches. Those guys are always going to ask, always going to offer. If another player considers selling or trading his baubles, he will have to recognize the possibility that he could several games as a result or even be forced to skip out on what would promise to be their best season. If the next set still does not get it, then punish them too. While there might be circumstances that warrant limitations on an entire program (see SMU death penalty), five guys swapping signatures for tats is not one of them.
Coaches are an entirely different story. Something needs to be done to ensure that penalties attach to the coach instead of the institution so that the John Caliparis and Lane Kiffins of the world cannot just hop from school to school leaving a wake of shattered dreams and overburdened programs. While I think that we can all agree that Tressel's now "retirement" was necessary, as it would be for any coach or administrator involved in such illicit activity, further punitive actions should be directed at the perpetrators not the organization.
Here's to hoping that the 2011 season counts.
Go Bucks.
Cheers.
