The NCAA looks like it is ready to bring the hammer down on Ohio State football head coach Jim Tressel.
↵After it was revealed that Tressel lied to keep ineligible players on the field, the NCAA issued a 13-page lashing of the Buckeyes' coach. The outlook is not good, to say the least.
↵↵↵In a 13-page indictment of Tressel's behavior, the NCAA alleged that Tressel had "permitted football student-athletes to participate in intercollegiate athletics while ineligible." It also said he "failed to deport himself ... (with) honesty and integrity" and said he was lying when he filled out a compliance form in September which said he had no knowledge of any NCAA violations by any of his players.
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Those are pretty harsh words about a guy who wrote a book about being a "winner." Tressel reportedly knew about the violations as early as April but the school didn't announce them until December. They suspended the five players in question--which included quarterback Terrelle Pryor and running back Dan Herron--for the first five games of the 2011 season. They were not suspended for the Sugar Bowl, which Ohio State won over Arkansas to end a dubious losing streak against SEC teams.
↵This is not the first time Tressel has had run-ins with the NCAA. While at Youngstown State it was revealed that quarterback Ray Isaac received improper benefits under Tressel's watch. The problems followed him to Ohio State when Maurice Clarett and Troy Smith were found to have done the same.
↵The result could end up with Ohio State vacating the entire 2010 season. That includes the school's sixth-straight Big Ten championship, the Sugar Bowl win and a seventh-straight win over Michigan. Even worse for the school, the NCAA warned that it may be treated as a repeat offender because of violations committed by Smith. It could eventually lead to Tressel's firing, although that seems far-fetched at this point, especially after what OSU president E. Gordon Gee said about the situation in March.