Remember Jim Tressel’s alibi when he was first confronted by a Yahoo! Sports story alleging him of receiving emails as early as April warning him of possible violations involving several of his star players? Tressel claimed that he knowingly violated NCAA Bylaw 10.1 by not sharing that information with his compliance staff and the NCAA to preserve the confidentiality requested by his source and of an ongoing federal investigation. Confidentiality that his source did not ask for until months after their initial contact in April. And apparently Tressel was so concerned about preserving the confidentiality of an ongoing federal investigation, he felt the need to share it with someone outside of the NCAA and Buckeye program.

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. A report that 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 of wanting to preserve the confidentiality of an ongoing federal investigation for not forwarding possible violations to the NCAA or Ohio State’s compliance department is laughable in the face of these new reports. By hiding the damning emails from his own compliance department and the NCAA while forwarding them to Ted Sarniak not only shows the intent of a coverup, but raises serious questions about Jim Tressel’s priorities and obligations.

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. When the house of cards is starting to wobble, maybe it’s time to get out.