He's resigned at 2 other schools. To me, the bigger question is whether he can be trusted not to quit within 5 years. I don't want to see Ohio State settle for a 5-year rental. I wouldn't mind seeing them bring in Mark Dantonio.
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I have to agree with Cedric, this is a matter of a good person making a bad mistake. Tressel knew the rules and should have moved forward on this from day one. It's shame because he's done a good job and his career will forever before marred by this failure on his part.
I don't think any big time coach will take this job until after the NCAA speaks. So until we know the penalties its really pointless to speculate who will be next coach. For instance, Meyer might very well want to take a year off and then get back into coaching and Ohio State is one of his preferred landing spots. But if Ohio State gets USC'd then Meyer is not going to go there.
As for D'Antonio - good name but he is a Tressel protege, no? Might be a hard sell now.....
If they launched Tressel (and I do believe this was a "you can resign, or we'll be firing you on Tuesday" kind of situation), you can bet that the AD's office has heard whispers from the NCAA that the hammer is about to come down hard.
I'd expect USC penalties at minimum.
I promise you, that could not be further from the truth. It has absolutely nothing to do with what the NCAA might do. Nothing has changed between now and March when Ohio State said they were standing by Tressel.
Now, the SI article might have something to do with it. But the NCAA doesn't tell institutions what's coming, nor do they hint.
Ohio State won't get anything like USC punishment based on what we currently know. In fact, I will guarantee that, as of right now, Ohio State won't get even one year bowl ban. Of course, tomorrow it might be different depending on what happens in the SI article. But I'll amend that statement tomorrow if necessary.
If Ohio State thought USC-like sanctions were coming, I guarantee you they'd swallow their medicine and self-impose a bowl ban on this year's team to get it out of the way ahead of a new coach and further sanctions. After all, the timing would be perfect since a few key players will be missing nearly half the year anyhow. If they don't do that, it will be an indication they don't think any type of bowl ban is coming.
The NCAA will stay silent, but that's not going to stop words (via unofficial channels) from reaching the right ears about what's coming down the pike.
This whole situation reeks of a "non-firing" firing -- I find it hard to believe that Tressel would spend all winter / spring dodging bullets only to decide on his own now, at the end of May, that it's simply too hard to stay.
Denial about what? There's nothing to deny. If you look at the history of NCAA sanctions, the programs like USC, Michigan, Alabama, etc... you know what they share in common? Lots of money exchanging hands. This situation is nothing like that. It's not that Ohio State won't get in any trouble, it's simply those situations involved thousands and thousands of dollars and benefits to athletes. This situation is more about a coach not passing along information when he got it. There's such a huge difference it's not even remotely in the same ballpark.
I think Jim Calhoun and Connecticut's situation is more like what Ohio State will get, based on what we know.
As I said... it's not that I don't think something changed, but I think the timing reeks of being more about the SI article coming out than anything having to do with the NCAA. The NCAA hearing isn't even until August. That means there won't even be a ruling until later this fall. There can be whispers, but it's not even remotely time where those whispers would really come out as the NCAA is still compiling information.
I disagree. Fickell is in a great position.
He's all of 38 years old (my age - graduated from a rival HS the same year I did) and just got handed the keys to one of the top 10-15 football programs in America. He has a roster of 5 recruiting classes including a stout group of incoming freshmen. He has a good staff of assistants, and a schedule that's conducive to him putting up a solid season regardless of the suspensions. He gets Penn State and Wisconsin at home.
There's no way he flops. None. Short of going 0-fer, he's going to end up on his feet somewhere.
I think the biggest question is what happens if the 2011 Buckeyes put together a 9+ win season? Does OSU still pull the trigger and go after Urban Meyer? Or maybe they just "lucked" (and I use that term very loosely) into finding the guy who's going to lead the program for the next quarter century.
This has been coming ever since the April notice of allegations. By declaring Tressel in violation of the ethical-conduct rule -- the infamous 10.1 that hardly any coach ever survives -- while holding out the promise that OSU itself has not been guilty of lack of institutional control, it was inevitable (to me, anyway) that Ohio State would eventually conclude that standing by its man wasn't going to result in anything other than getting creamed. Perhaps the exact timing was influenced by the rumored SI article but it was going to happen before camp opened, in my opinion.
So much for going board on USC to make them an example to others.
I guess we can answer the top with a certain 'No'.
I doubt Meyer is going anywhere soon, he had a serious health scare, tried to delegate last year and ended up with a team that was unfocused and awful at times, he won't try again unless he decides that dropping dead on the field is ok.
I'm not so sure about that. Urban Meyer is an Ohio native, former OSU assistant coach and has long said that OSU would be considered his dream job. USC was Lane Kiffin's dream job and he readily took that job when it opened up, despite the dark clouds hanging over the program.
And it's not like Urban Meyer is in any hurry or pressure to win right now. The guy already has two national championships under his belt. Maybe he's done with coaching altogether anyway, unless it's at Ohio State. If that's the case, I doubt a two-year bowl ban would impact whether he'd come home.
Personally, I'd rather have Bob Stoops, another Ohio native and Bucks fan.
Or how about John Gruden, another coach with extensive Ohio ties?