Jim Tressel Should Be Ashamed

So let me get this straight, five Ohio State football players get suspended for the first five games on the 2011 season for selling jerseys, championship rings and trophies to a local tattoo parlor owner.

Then the head coach finds out about it, doesn't tell anyone - and yet, he only gets a two-game suspension?  WTF?

We're talking about THE Ohio State football team.  By the way, why does Ohio State University refer to themselves as THE Ohio State University?  Is there another Ohio State University that plays major Division I college sports that I'm not aware of?

Buckeyes Head Coach Jim Tressel received an e-mail last April telling him that two of his players were caught up in a federal drug-trafficking case and the sale of memorabilia, breaking NCAA rules.  Tressel responded: "I will get on it ASAP."   Yeah, he got right on that.  He didn't tell his athletic director or anyone else for that matter.  Not only that, he let these guys play an entire season knowing they were essentially ineligible!

In this case, the lying and cover-up is worse than the violation.

On Tuesday, Tressel was suspended for the first two games of the 2011 season and fined $250,000 for violating NCAA rules by failing to notify the school about the players' involvement.

Tressel should be suspended for more than 2 games.  He was in charge of a program where players were selling items for money.  These are improper benefits and it opens up pandora’s box for outsiders to pay the players.  Remember, a booster can offer a player $10,000 for a game-worn jersey.  It's only worth what someone's willing to pay for it, right?

There’s no reason to stop breaking the rules if the punishment is a slap on the wrist!  You need to put the fear of job security or a ban on post-season to make coaches stop this!

Do you know what bothers me?  The fact that a college football coach can have a 100% graduation rate and a clean program and still get fired over a bad win/loss record.  While a coach that has a 42% graduation rate, routinely violates NCAA rules and has players get arrested can keep his job - simply because he wins games!

But when there's money involved, morals are thrown out the window.  Think about it - how many family members have you had a fight with because of financial issues?  And that's your family!

I'm not happy about the state of college athletics today, are you?