Ohio State Buckeyes Setting Themselves Up For The Hammer

After thinking there were no more loose strands to bind up, another strand of the vest is beginning to unravel. Earlier this year, the Ohio State Buckeyes committed several NCAA violations. In turn they played the "I wasn't informed" card and almost got away. That was until the rest of the sporting world found out about the lies that covered up the lies. The result was tOSU forcing Jim Tressel to resign after he self imposed some must-dos on a handful of players caught up in the selling of memorabilia. Now that Tressel has resigned, the high profile players flocked to the NFL. There would still be an investigation going on and eventually the NCAA would offer its once again preposterous joke of a ruling. New developments have sprung up and the red flag once again flies high.

This time tOSU has left Tressel with the option to retire moving his status from resigned to retired. This is something that was possibly done in an attempt to keep the image of Tressel intact. The University also squashed the fines that he was going to have to pay in the sum of $250,000, something that says they aren't serious about the first wave of punishments that were dealt out. It has been said that they are also giving him his last month of salary marked at $54,000, a slap in the face that speaks to how arrogant tOSU really is after everything that has gone on in the 2010 season. The University might as well have handed Tressel $300,000 after University President E. Gordon Gee vowed to make Tressel pay the fine in one final ditch effort to cover up another lie. Now we have Tressel who is getting off scott free and the players (yes, PLAYERS with an "S" - google Ray Small or here is the link "All Players Sold Memorabilia") who are also leaving without a punishment. But, in an attempt to appease the "court" so to speak, tOSU has placed some self-imposed sanctions on the football program. These sanctions include: the vacating of all 2010 wins including the Big 10 championship and Sugar Bowl victories, suspension of several players for part of the 2011 season, and a two-year probation of the football program.

There is no way this is going to be enough of a self imposed punishment for the NCAA to let them off. Usually this kind of behaviour warrants the loss of scholarships as well as sanctions against recruiting since these are the things that hurt the program the most. Instead we see tOSU trying to get off as easy as possible. Vacating wins is no big deal but to lose recruits could mean a downward slide of the program as a whole. Another option could be that tOSU is banned from post-season play for a few years. Championship trophies are a good gimmick to get kids in because of the shine they give to a program.

Ohio State University will go before the NCAA Infractions Committee on August 12th, and could have received little to no punishment. The decision fell on them as to what punishments they would place on themselves and this was a very clear sign that tOSU thinks they are better than the NCAA. So, on that date the Hammer will come down hard and heavy with no warning signs (tOSU blew by all of those months ago).