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Source claims Jim Tressel had prior knowledge of Tattoo-Gate

Submitted by on March 8, 20113 Comments

Ouch. Everyone’s favorite investigative organization largely responsible for the USC and soon to be Oregon NCAA investigations has now set it’s sights on the 6-time B1G Champion Buckeyes, officially declaring open season in Columbus.

The entire mess stems from a violation last December for which the NCAA handed a five-game suspension to the Buckeye Five for selling championship rings, Ohio State memorabilia and autographs were given mostly to Edward Rife, owner of Fine Line Ink Tattoos in Columbus in exchange for cash and tattoos. The severity of the punishment however, was largely based on the premise that Ohio State investigated and self-reported possible rule violations to the NCAA immediately after being informed by the local US Attorney’s office on December 7, 2010. The NCAA Student-Athlete Reinstatement Staff concluded its own investigation 16 days later, surprising fast, on December 23rd, 2010, suspending offensive starters QB Terrelle Pryor, RB Dan “Boom” Herron, WR DeVier Posey, T Mike Adams, and backup DE Solomon Thomas for 5 games in 2011 and requiring them to repay money and benefits to charity.

• Adams must repay $1,000 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring.
Herron must repay $1,150 for selling his football jersey, pants and shoes for $1,000 and receiving discounted services worth $150.
Posey must repay $1,250 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring for $1,200 and receiving discounted services worth $50.
• Pryor must repay $2,500 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring, a 2009 Fiesta Bowl sportsmanship award and his 2008 Gold Pants, a gift from the university.
Solomon must repay $1,505 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring for $1,000, his 2008 Gold Pants for $350 and receiving discounted services worth $155.
Jordan Whiting must sit out the first game next year and pay $150 to a charity for the value of services that were discounted because of his status as a student-athlete.

The punishment however, sparred the Buckeye Five from sitting out the coveted Sugar Bowl after a bit of lobbying by Ohio State, the Big Ten and the Sugar Bowl itself. The NCAA obliged citing precedent:

NCAA policy allows suspending withholding penalties for a championship or bowl game if it was reasonable at the time the student-athletes were not aware they were committing violations, along with considering the specific circumstances of each situation. In addition, there must not be any competitive advantage related to the violations, and the student-athletes must have eligibility remaining.

The policy for suspending withholding conditions for bowl games or NCAA championship competition recognizes the unique opportunity these events provide at the end of a season, and they are evaluated differently from a withholding perspective.

Now whether or not you believe some of the biggest stars on the schools biggest sports program would not undergo some form of compliance training is up for interpretation. Heck, when I was in college, my roommate was a walk-on player for the soccer team and he was required to attend NCAA compliance seminars and meet with officers that led to extensive red tape before he could even see the field. How 5 of the most visible stars on Ohio State’s biggest sports program managed to avoid having to do that is beyond me and merits some investigation by itself.

But here is where the new accusations might hurt. The severity of the NCAA punishment, including the concessions for the Sugar Bowl, was largely based on the premise that Ohio State voluntarily stepped up, investigated and self-reported possible rule violations immediately after learning about them on December 7th.

Yahoo! Sports reports that Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel himself was made aware of possible violations as early as April 2010 that players were selling items to Edward Rife, more than 8 months before the school and Tressel himself claims to have learned about the violation from the local US Attorney’s office in December.

According to a source, a concerned party reached out to Tressel last April, alerting the coach that memorabilia transactions had taken place between Rife and a handful of Buckeyes players, including Pryor. The selling of items violates NCAA eligibility rules. The source said Tressel was troubled by the information, and the coach indicated that he would investigate the matter and take appropriate action.

Whether the coach initiated an investigation of the accusation is unclear, but all five players remained on the field in the coming months, playing out the 2010 regular season.

Now the glaring problem with the Yahoo! Sports report is that the source is never named. But there is a clear distinction between a source, and an anonymous source. Just because the source is anonymous to us, it is irrelevant as long as Robinson and Wetzel can provide an actual name to NCAA investigators. The investigative journalists Charles Robinson and Dan Wetzel also fail to provide any substantive evidence such as emails, text messages, phone calls, or pictures of illegal memorabilia in Fine Line Ink Tattoos as early as April perhaps, which could suggest all they have is hearsay. That would also mean the end of any further investigation by the NCAA if their entire case is built on a case of he said, Tressel said.

Or. Charles Robinson and Dan Wetzel do have evidence that would suggest Jim Tressel was made aware of possible violations prior to December. You would be hard pressed to ask Charles Robinson and Dan Wetzel to stake their journalistic reputations on a story that could potentially send one of the most respected coaches to the unemployment line if they did not believe it was authentic. In fact, Robinson and Wetzel may very well be doing the right thing by not playing all the cards. It not only protects their source from the expected fan backlash while Ohio State has a chance to comment and possibly admit to the accusations, but would provide an extra safety net should Ohio State and Jim Tressel flat out deny the accusations and/or even question their journalistic reputation.

Regardless of the reasoning, the consequences are pretty clear should these accusations turn out true. A coach is required to act on, and pass along information about possible rule violations. If in fact, Tressel was aware of the possible violations as early as April but failed to inform Ohio State’s compliance department and in turn the NCAA, he could be charged with multiple NCAA violations including unethical conduct, failure to monitor and a failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance.

Not only would eligibility issues concerning the Buckeye Five be raised, potentially risking their 12-1 Big Ten Championship season, but Jim Tressel’s own job would be in jeopardy.

Section 4.1(d) of Tressel’s contract with Ohio State stipulates that he “supervise and take appropriate steps to ensure … members of the Team know, recognize and comply with any such laws, University Rules and Governing Athletic Rules and immediately report to the (Athletic) Director and to the (Athletic) Department’s Office of Compliance Services in writing if any person or entity, including without limitation, representatives of Ohio State’s athletic interests, has violated or is likely to violate any such laws, University Rules and Governing Athletic Rules.”

Section 5.1 (m) of his contract also states that failure to promptly report “any violations” could lead to “termination by Ohio State for cause.”

Now it would take the hammer from the NCAA for Ohio State to fire a coach that led them to 6 consecutive Big Ten titles, but Tressel was adamant during the December 23rd press conference that nobody at Ohio State knew of the possible violations until the local US Attorney’s office informed them on December 6. If these accusations turn out to be true, not only did he lie to the NCAA, he would have also lied to Ohio State.

It’s easy to be captivated by Tressel’s sweatervest and stern demeanor, but let’s not forget that there is a history of his players receiving benefits while under the supposed watchful eye of Jim Tressel. Ray Issac, a quarterback on Tressel’s first championship team at Youngstown State was discovered by the NCAA to have been receiving money from a booster, Michael “Mickey” Monus from virtually the moment he joined the team in 1988. It was Tressel himself who directed Issac to Monus at the start of his freshman year. Although Issac claimed that Tressel did not know the payments, his track record with Issac, then Maurice Clarett who also received cash and gifts during his time under Tressel, and Troy Smith who was suspended for the Alamo Bowl in 2004 for taking money from a booster does raise some questions as to whether the Senator simply just looks the other way. The NCAA handed down minor scholarship cuts to Youngstown State for the Issac-Monus scandal just 11 months before the Senator left for greener pastures at Ohio State.

Just last year Buckeye quarterback Terrelle Pryor, one of the Buckeye Five, was “stopped for traffic violations on three separate occasions while driving cars that were owned by a car salesman on a Columbus used-car lot where the salesman worked. He’d also been allowed to test drive a car for the weekend to his home in Pennsylvania.” The salesman, Aaron Kniffin who works for Auto Direct of Columbus, allowed Pryor to drive his 2004 GMC Denali when he was ticketed for speeding in eastern Ohio’s Guernsey County. Now I have purchased and test driven several cars in my lifetime, and not once has any dealership allowed me to test drive one across city lines, let alone 200 miles across state lines. Now Ohio State has admitted that they knew of 2 of the incidents and decided they were not improper, but would investigate the third traffic stop in a borrowed car. They have not released any updates since then on that internal investigation. Coincidentally, there are about 2 dozen autographed jerseys hanging inside Auto Direct’s office including ones from Pryor, running back Daniel Herron and receiver DeVier Posey. Ohio State has examined the relationship between Auto Direct and it’s athletes and concluded that there were no NCAA violations. And I’m sure Auto Direct employees offer up their cars to their clients to drive across state lines all the time. So let’s not pretend that this stuff could never happen under Jim Tressel.

As this Yahoo! Sports story plays itself out and Ohio State comments on the matter at a press conference tonight, maybe it’s time to ask whether Jim Tressel not knowing about all this while it runs rampant throughout his career is just as damning as actually knowing and rectifying it. I mean, even Ohio State’s own Antonio Pittman has confessed that the players have been getting tattoo hookups since at least 2001, you really have to try to avoid facing an issue that has been prevalent for at least a decade. You can only cover your ears and eyes for so long.

[Update 7:43 PM EST]

Jim Tressel at the press conference confirming the accusations

Ohio State has admitted and confirmed Yahoo! Sports story that football coach Jim Tressel was aware of potential NCAA violations involving star quarterback Terrelle Pryor months before the school was told. Ohio State will suspend coach Jim Tressel for the first 2 games of the 2011 season, cannot be involved in spring practices/summer workouts (Ohio State said they erred in announcing that Tressel will be barred from spring practices/summer workouts), and he will face a $250,000 fine for violating NCAA rules. Basically Jim Tressel will miss Ohio State’s games against Akron and Toledo, two teams that combined for a 9-16 record in 2010 and be back in time for the game against Miami. Talk about a slap on the wrist.

In addition to the suspension and fines, Tressel will also have to attend compliance seminar and make a public apology. It will be really interesting to see whether or not the NCAA will accept these self-penalties. Jim Tressel signed his NCAA Certificate of Compliance form on September 13th, 2010 stating he had reported any/all knowledge of possible violations. The school only discovered that Jim Tressel actually knew since April of a financial relationship between Fine Line Ink Tattoos and two Ohio State players when they were handling another legal matter on January 13th. Apparently Jim Tressel was informed of the illegal relationship by email back in April, a good 8 months before they reported it to the NCAA in December and 5 months before Jim Tressel signed his NCAA Certificate of Compliance form in September declaring that he had reported any and all knowledge of possible violations.

Because of this, Ohio State self reported (PDF) a violation of NCAA Bylaw 10.1 which is considered a major infraction by the NCAA. For essentially lying by omission to the university and the NCAA, the Committee on Infractions can find Ohio State’s self-penalties insufficient and actually tack on more accusations once they finish their investigation including charges of failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance and a failure to monitor for not reporting the information to the NCAA.

I see a storm a brewin’. Considering that the NCAA practically caved to pressure from Ohio State and the Sugar Bowl to postpone the Buckeye Five’s suspensions so they could play in the Sugar Bowl, they will be hard pressed not to punish Jim Tressel for essentially lying by omission about the same case since April. Jim Tressel’s omission covered up a major rules violation and single handedly kept the players (4 offensive starters) involved eligible for the entire 2010 season.

Comparatively, Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl was accused of lying to the NCAA about hosting junior recruits at a cookout including trying to manipulate the investigation by calling a player’s father before his NCAA interview to discuss details of the visit. In response, the NCAA slapped Tennessee with a Notice of Allegations which includes unethical conduct charge, failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance and failure to monitor the activities of his assistants. In addition, the SEC also suspended Pearl for the first 8 conference games of this past season.

Although Bruce lied about a violation he committed while Tressel did not, a 2 game, $250,000 fine and suspension still pales in comparison to Bruce’s punishment. Not only did Jim Tressel cover up a major rules infraction, by doing so he kept his star players eligible during the 2010 season when they shouldn’t have been. Now we shall see if the NCAA will actually stand up to Ohio State and Jim Tressel.

[Update March 9, 2011]

The attorney that corresponded with Tressel through the email since April has been identified as former Ohio State walk-on linebacker and Columbus lawyer Christopher T. Cicero.

Chris Cicero has a history of tampering with ongoing investigations. His law license was even suspended for a year in 1997 by the Ohio Supreme Court following a highly publicized scandal in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. There is very little doubt he was in clear violation of attorney-client confidentiality by contacting Tressel with information about an ongoing federal investigation while representing his client, Edward Rife the owner of Fine Line Ink Tattoos. It remains to be seen whether he will be reprimanded.

[Update March 25, 2011]

The Columbus Dispatch just reported that Jim Tressel had actually forwarded emails from Christopher T. Cicero warning Tressel of possible violations to Ted Sarniak, a businessman from Pryor’s hometown of Jeannette, Pa., who has known Pryor for years. This revelation runs counter to Tressel’s initial claims that he didn’t share the emails with any Ohio State staff members or NCAA officials investigating Pryor and five other players because he wanted to maintain the confidentiality surrounding a federal investigation. Busted!

In an interesting twist to the entire story, Ted Sarniak is the shady businessman who is also the owner of the corvette that Terrelle Pryor infamously borrowed. How many borrowed cars can one star recruit actually drive?

What’s becoming increasingly clear however, is that Jim Tressel lied by omission to the NCAA, then again when he claimed that he wanted to preserve the confidentiality of a federal investigation as an excuse for lying to Ohio State and the NCAA. Apparently that isn’t true either as he had forwarded the damning emails to Ted Sarniak, but not Ohio State’s compliance officers, the NCAA or even Pryor’s own guardians! This has to raise serious questions concerning the relationship between Ted Sarniak and Jim Tressel/Ohio State.

Though the school still hasn’t turned over any email records, or responded to the new discovery by the Columbus Dispatch of further violations by Jim Tressel, they were really quick in defending Pryor’s relationship with Sarniak. Ohio State compliance director Doug Archie:

“Mr. Sarniak and Terrelle Pryor have been friends for a number of years, and their friendship dates back prior to Terrelle’s enrollment at Ohio State,” Archie said in an email to The Dispatch. “As the friendship developed, Mr. Sarniak is someone who Terrelle has reached out to for advice and guidance throughout his high-school and collegiate career.”

Of all the people involved with the Ohio State program including but not limited to, the compliance department, the NCAA, Pryor’s own legal guardians, and the various legal counsels on retainer, Jim Tressel’s choice to approach Ted Sarniak is shockingly disturbing and worthy of further investigation.

In the meantime, this does not bode well for Jim Tressel. Best case scenario, he has covered up a serious violation that kept his star players eligible throughout their Big Ten championship season. Worst case, he covered up a serious violation that kept his star players eligible throughout their Big Ten championship season and lied to NCAA investigators about it.

Slow states details what constitutes the lack of institutional control.

  • A person with compliance responsibilities fails to establish a proper system for compliance or fails to monitor the operations of a compliance system appropriately.
  • A person with compliance responsibilities does not take steps to alter the system of compliance when there are indications the system is not working.
  • A supervisor with overall responsibility for compliance, in assigning duties to subordinates, so divides responsibilities that, as a practical matter, no one is, or appears to be, directly in charge.
  • Compliance duties are assigned to a subordinate who lacks sufficient authority to have the confidence or respect of others.
  • The institution fails to make clear, by its words and its actions, that those personnel who willfully violate NCAA rules, or who are grossly negligent in applying those rules, will be disciplined and made subject to discharge.
  • The institution fails to make clear that any individual involved in its
    intercollegiate athletics program has a duty to report any perceived violations of NCAA rules and can do so without fear of reprisals of any kind.
  • A director of athletics or any other individual with compliance responsibilities fails to investigate or direct an investigation of a possible significant violation of NCAA rules or fails to report a violation properly.
  • A head coach fails to create and maintain an atmosphere for compliance within the program the coach supervises or fails to monitor the activities of assistant coaches regarding compliance.

Are we there yet? No. But we are getting awfully close. Jim Tressel’s excuse for not forwarding possible violations to the NCAA or Ohio State’s compliance department? Wanting to preserve the confidentiality of an ongoing federal investigation. But he decides to forward the damning emails to Ted Sarniak whose shady relationship with Jim Tressel/Ohio State can definitely raise some eyebrows.

And let’s not forget the NCAA Certificate of Compliance form Tressel signed on September 13th, 2010 stating he had reported any/all knowledge of possible violations. The house of cards is starting to wobble, maybe it’s time to get out.

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  • RedsFan

    I heard from an “anonymous source” that Nick Saban and Gene Chizik each gave smuggled panda bears and human babies to recruits last year. Also, the oak trees on Toomer’s corner were planted from improperly received acorns. If any of this was happening in SEC country, it likely wouldn’t even merit reporting.

    Jim Tressel may well be guilty of everything that the report states (virtually nothing surprises me in the world of collegiate athletics anymore), but let’s all just wait to see what comes from this before condemning the man’s entire career.

  • http://quebecpenspinning.com/ Charlie

    Wow, at last count. Yahoo! Sports investigative team is now 2 for 3 with the Oregon accusations pending. I’d say that’s a pretty legitimate track record. USC and Ohio State accusations proved to be stunningly accurate.

  • Drop the hammer

    There is no reason the NCAA shouldn’t drop the hammer. Tressel blatantly lied to Ohio State when he did not tell them he knew in April and again in the December 23rd press conference when he said nobody had any prior knowledge about Tattgate. And he lied to the NCAA when he signed his NCAA certificate of compliance form on Sep 13. His lie covered up a serious violation and kept the involved players eligible in 2010 when they won a share of the Big Ten. They deserve to be hit and hit hard.