Dispatch OSU football beat writer Tim May fielded readers' questions about recent developments within the Buckeyes' football program during an hourlong chat.
Here's the transcript of the Q&A:
[Rob_(moderator)] Hi, Tim. Should be a fun hour. Ready for some questions?
[Tim May] Yes. But I want to remind people I am not sitting in a witness chair, I am sitting at my desk in my man cave.
[Stilson] Tim, how do you explain the poor performances during Monday's press conference? Tressel opens by babbling about Iraq and hospitals. Gee's poor joke about working for Tress. Smith's comment about the penalty "sweet spot" as if he's playing a game. No one offered a serious, succinct description of the mistake...which I think is explainable...apologized, and asked to move on.
[Tim May] I'm not sure there is a succinct explanation for "the mistake," for one thing. As for the "sweet spot" comment, as an expert on such things told me yesterday, that's what any school seeks when it offers a self-imposed penalty in its report to the NCAA. The funny thing was, the expert used the same phrase before I reminded him that Smith had used it. Guess those kinds of folks all hang out, and such experts are getting a lot of work these days on major college campuses around the country. Back to succinct, though, I once had a boss named John McNeely who was listening to me explain why I was late or something and he put his hand up and said, "Just say you screwed up. Nobody wants to hear the rest of it."
[sloopylo] What's your take on Tressel nodding yes when asked if he forwarded the emails, then Smith cutting him off before he could go on. Why would OSU not want that information revealed? Could it be someone didn't follow up ?
[Tim May] Smith indicated it was part of the investigation, which isn't closed until the NCAA signs off on it. I don't want to speculate on that at the moment.
[BrutusnTN] I would like to know what the generalize buzz is around Columbus, being in TN I only see it from the outside mostly, but still get some feel from checking in here with the Dispatch. I personally think he needs to go, how can we trust anything else he says? He had many chances to come forward but chose not to.
[Tim May] I must have been asked that 15 times on various radio or TV shows I appeared on yesterday, and my general answer was this: The reaction ranges from stunned to agreeing with the punishment that was prescribed to yours. But no one can be in denial, unless they can't read.
[Buckeye Willie] Is The Dispatch standing by the story on the e-mail writer? Heard he has issued a comment saying it's not him?
[Tim May] That came from a couple of our other reporters, but funny, I heard he issued an email explaining himself, but saying he was NOT the source for the Yahoo Sports story on Monday.
[mikey] Could more serious NCAA sanctions push JT to retire, or will be be too determined not to go out "like that"?
[Tim May] No one wants to go out like that, so there's that answer. As for the former, OSU president Gordon Gee said he had a three-hour meeting with Tressel before this came down, and that he is satisfied there is no other "smoking gun" out there. The question is whether the NCAA accepts the OSU report or opts to second investigators to Columbus to look for more. They did that in 2003 during the Maurice Clarett fallout, and all Ohio State was hit with was the Troy Smith taking money from a booster case, which the school had already self-reported.
[george.156@osu.edu] I can believe Tressel was dirty/unethical etc. I can't believe he was that dumb. If you're covering something up you use a personal e-mail account or a prepaid cell phone. It just doesn't add up. What are the odds this is the beginning of the story and not the end?
[Tim May] As for your first point, whatever, man. As for the second, you are right, he is not dumb. That's why it tends to make you believe his explanation of why he didn't send the emails up the chain of command, that he was taking the confidentiality part seriously. In hindsight he said he knows that was a major mistake, one for which he is paying deal both financially ($250,000 fine) and in reputation. As or odds, I don't gamble for a very good reason.
[DaveinSC] As a Michigan man, I know that if this had happened in Ann Arbor to Rich Rod, we would have been fired IMMEDIATELY. However RR was not a winning coach, he didn't have a championship to lean on. How much do you think WINNING plays a role in forgiveness?
[Tim May] It's huge in everything. If Jim Tressel wasn't winning, he would have been gone years ago, so that point is moot. As Gee pointed out, Tressel has done a lot more for the university community than just win games and championships. He has helped raise millions for the OSU Medical Center and the recent main library renovation. Even the proceeds from his two books are going to charitable causes, not to him. The team's GPA is stout, and the graudation rate has been on the rise for years. That's not defending him, that's just stating facts.
[james] What I can't get past, at the conference Tress said he did nothing because of the "confidentiality" issue. While that seemed bogus, it was at least plausible. But when it later was revealed that 2 weeks had passed before the confidentiality request was made, doesn't that make Tressel a liar, DURING the press conference?
[Tim May] All I can tell you is he is being cited for violation of NCAA bylaw 10.1, which compels all involved with college athletics to pass along news of a violation or possible violation when they read it, hear it or see it, and then when asked about it, to tell the truth. He and the school have already agreed he violated that bylaw.
[Rob_(moderator)] Via e-mail: Who is going to be the the interim coach? I want and assume it will be Fickell, any idea when tOSU might reveal this
[Tim May] Luke Fickell sounds about right to me, though Jim Heacock has been a head coach before and so has Tressel's brother Dick Tressel, the running backs coach. They will probably put that off for a while since the Akron game is still about six months away.
[CanuckBuck] I have a hard time believing that Tressel did not alert anyone in the athletic department about the emails he received. Is it possible that Tressel is taking the heat for this publicly, because a finding that the athletic department did not act on this would trigger a worse penalty (e.g., "lack of institutional control")?
[Tim May] I'm not going to speculate on anything like that, since Tressel has already admitted the mistake was his alone.
[DirtySweaterVest] Tim, are you concerned that this is just the tip of the iceberg? That once the NCAA comes in and starts looking into this issue they'll find more dirty laundry from years past?
[Tim May] Seriously, I have no emotion when it comes to something like that. As I pointed out earlier in this chat, the NCAA was at OSU before looking into the football program in early part of the last decade, and you saw the results.
[BuckeyeBrian] I think people need to hold off passing judgement until all of the facts are made public. The press conference was very general in nature with redacted emails, and who knows, maybe others that were not presented. Once the NCAA completes their investigation and levies sanctions, then I think people can make a fair judgement of their own. How do you feel about this?
[Tim May] I feel this is a free country with freedom of speech, and that you have just exercised your right as an American citizen. I agree, too, that the next step is to see whether the NCAA signs off on the report, and keep in mind, insiders told me that NCAA personnel conducted the interviews with Tressel last month, so they had the chance to ask and look at things back then. I think OSU believes that helps it immensely in the strength of its self-report.
[chachibuckeye] I can't see Boosters supporting an extension after '14 especially after he decided to start the Tatt5 in New Orleans..do you? John Gruden is a name that excites people and of course Urban will be well rested by then
[Tim May] Hey, I was stunned, too, that the "Tatt5" as you call them were allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl, but I also know that having to miss the first five games of one's senior season is an abolutely stout penalty. As for coach future speculation, that's premature. But I would be concerned about jumping on the Urban Meyer bandwagon, since the pressure, etc., got to him after six years at Florida. As for Gruden, are you the guy who was telling everyone he was on a plane flying in from Oakland way back in 2001?
[Dee-Liem] You have a vast history of covering college athletics. In your time, has there been another period with this much trouble in the NCAA, or is it just due to there being more media coverage, more social media outlets and the sport(s) being more popular?
[Tim May] Well, there was the federal investigation of a few agents back in 1986-88 that caught a lot of players in the net nationally, including Cris Carter and Vince Workman at Ohio State. There have been all manner of things through the years. But as I quipped to somebody yesterday, you'd think the NCAA would be running out of investigators, etc., at this point. To answer your questions, I think the reasons are all of the above which you stated, with the added dose of even more pressure to win than ever before. My personal opinion is the NCAA needs to figure out a way to relax some of its amateur rules, but hey, that's a whole other chat.
[newguy] Can we expect a rapid response from the NCAA,or will they let JT twist in the wind?
[Tim May] One never knows about such things. As for Tressel twisting in the wind, hey, he already knows he's paying a huge penalty. The question is whether the NCAA committee on infraction thinks it ought to be even bigger (as in games, monetary).
[irishcsred] Tim, what are the chances OSU has to vacate wins from the 2010 season?
[Tim May] The sense I get from insiders is that probably won't happen, and primarily because the fellows who might have been implicated let's say in summer of last year already are being penalized substantially for almost the first half of the 2011 season. Now their coach is going to join them for at least two games. OSU didn't just pull the penalties on Tressel out of thin air.
[aldbuckeye] Do you feel, as writers around the country do, that the game supensions of the players (5) versus the two games for Coach T is not equitable? I believe the NCAA will even up this mess and Coach will be out more than just two games.
[Tim May] If the players hadn't done what they did in the first place, Tressel never would have gotten the emails in the second place.
[carmel] Does the NCAA view violations in isolation, or are the likely to review Tressel in total, going back to YSU and also consider the OSU history?
[Tim May] They do a little of all of that, which is normal, because as much as they are looking at what just occurred, they also try to detect whether there is a pattern of behavior. That's just common sense.
[buckeye in dayton] Do you think the Tressel issue will have an impact on the appeal to reduce the number of games the players will be suspended?
[Tim May] Ohio State wants to say it will not, that it is a separate issue. I have to believe that it will. I mean, they found this while they were gathering info for the appeal.
[supremely disappointed] Tim, what is your opinion regarding how this scandal undermines Tressel's effectiveness as a head coach? Can the football program expect to put this behind him as long as he is the head coach?
[Tim May] Jim Tressel is a great head coach. Several of his players already have tweeted their undying allegiance, et al. But only the future will answer your question.
[catholicbuckeye] Colin Cowherd is saying that Tressel's job is in serious jeopardy. Have you heard anything along those lines?
[Tim May] No. I mean, go back and replay Gordon Gee's answer when I asked him that question on Monday night.
[Rob_(moderator)] Thanks, everyone. We'll do another one of these in the future when there's more to talk about. A transcript of the chat is available at BuckeyeXtra.com and Dispatch.com. That's a wrap.
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