Ferentz says Tressel situation ‘an unfortunate development’
By CLETE CAMPBELL
Dubuque Telegraph Herald
Peosta, Ia. — A litany of confirmed major NCAA rules violations and a new series of charges forced Ohio State coach Jim Tressel to resign Monday, and left Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz feeling for a good friend.
“Jim’s a good man,” Ferentz said Tuesday as the I-Club’s Spring Banquet Tour stopped at Thunder Hills Country Club in western Dubuque County. “It’s just an unfortunate development. I wish him all the best on a personal front.”
The Columbus Dispatch reported Monday Ohio State officials requested Tressel’s resignation following a Sports Illustrated report alleging NCAA rules violations by 28 OSU players dating back to 2002 under the embattled coach’s watch. Tressel and Ohio State were already facing an NCAA probe and coming sanctions for Tressel’s failure to disclose his knowledge to the NCAA that several of his players — including starting quarterback Terrell Pryor — received illegal benefits including cash and tattoos in exchange for autographs and championship rings.
(Rodney White/Register File Photo)
Ohio State will face the NCAA’s committee on infractions on Aug. 12 regarding the violations. The NCAA could strip the Buckeyes of wins, hit Ohio State with a bowl ban and impose severe recruiting limitations on the Big Ten powerhouse.
Meanwhile, the NCAA’s investigation into the scandal-plagued program shifted Tuesday to Pryor’s use of several expensive cars owned by Columbus car dealer Aaron Kniffin.
Ferentz was a rookie head coach at Maine in 1990 when he first met Tressel, who was building a powerhouse at Youngstown State which would win four NCAA Division I-AA (now known as the Football Championship Subdivision). The two coaches grew closer when Tressel left Youngstown State in 2001 for the Big Ten.
Tressel quickly reconstructed Ohio State into a Division I superpower. The Buckeyes went 106-22 under Tressel’s watch, winning a national title in 20002. Ohio State won or shared six Big Ten championships and appeared in eight BCS bowl games during Tressel’s tenure in Columbus.
Ferentz said Tressel’s lasting legacy at Ohio State won’t be known until all the dominoes in the NCAA’s investigation fall.
“That will be determined in time,” Ferentz said. “I don’t pretend to know all the details of what has materialized and what is going to materialize in the weeks to come. It’s just unfortunate because Jim’s a great person and just an unfortunate development.”
Iowa athletic director Gary Barta said a program’s best defense against becoming the next USC or Michigan — two premier, highly
successful programs recently hit major NCAA sanctions for violations — is following the letter of the NCAA’s detailed rule book to a T. Iowa self reported itself to the NCAA last fall when it allowed two basketball recruits to meet celebrity Hawkeye fans Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore at a September 2010 football game. The NCAA didn’t punish the school, classifying the infraction a minor rules violation.
“The (NCAA) rule book includes multiple levels of different areas (of prohibited activities) : telephone calls, letters, contacts, going on the road recruiting, etc.,” Barta said. “It would be difficult (for a coach) to keep track of everything for each person (involved in the program). What you have to do is hire people you believe you can trust, and know they’re not doing anything to intentionally doing anything to break the rules. If they do break the rules, it was a misinterpretation of (NCAA rules) or something that was inadvertent.
“What you need to do is hire people who are really good and what they do and who you can trust. That helps lesson the likelihood of something going wrong.”
Category: Iowa Hawkeyes Football
Jeez, Kirk, you might want to wait before telling the media that Jim Tressel is a good man and a great person. If the evidence shows he supported wealthy boosters paying recruits and then got caught, that is more than just an “unfortunate development”. Shut up already.
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You’re right, he should just pile on like everyone else – including all the “experts” who have never coached (or some even PLAYED) a sport in their lives. That’s the ticket!
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Yes, I am right, but I did not say anything about “piling on”. If you read carefully, I (rather crudely, I admit) advise discretion about praising Jim Tressel. A “great person” does not cheat. Enough said.
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There’s no need to be so rude. Perhaps you should take your own advice?
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While I don’t delight in the misfortune of anyone, I am proud to be a Hawkeye and not a Buckeye today. Here is an article I wrote that summarizes that feeling:
http://blackandgoldworld.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/why-iowa/
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Wondergrape,
I read your article and I have ben trying to explain Iowa to other people or years, and they still cannot understand why we don’t WANT to be front and center in everything media-related, and why we still think soemone like Gale Sayers, famous for saying very little, still represents football and sport in general better than a loud-mouthed blowhard like Chad Ochocinco or Terrell Owens. Iowans do it, not just talk about it.
I came to Iowa at age 16, left at 26 and I am proud to be an adopted Hawkeye to this day.
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