Should Tressel still be the coach in 2011?

With the Buckeyes poor showing this season one of the topics that keeps showing up on the forums is 'What would have happened if Jim Tressel were still the coach in 2011?"  My feeling is we probably would have lost to Miami/Michigan State but beat Nebraska/Penn State/Purdue.  Jim Tressel had a way to make teams believe in themselves and his teams always finished strong.  Does anyone think he would have allowed Nebraska to score 21 points in the 4th quarter, not come up with something to shut down Purdue, or figured out a way to get another score vs Penn State?  He was a master of the close games and protecting a lead.  Unfortunately he isn't with the team anymore.

That has created quite a backlash on forums as fan anger is now blaming the board for the decision to let him go as the wrong move.  In truth, there have always been a few that have said this they are now just louder since the results of the season are so poor.  Here's a good example of a recent post:

2011 didn't need to be "The Lost Year"; the OSU BOD could have retained JT&forced the NCAA's hands. We gave up too much *

My response was:  "The price of not getting a FTM or LOIC charge for Tatgate was Tressel."

If the university backed Tressel the NCAA would have given us a harsher penalty probably similar to USC. Backing him said to the NCAA, "The institution agrees with Coach Tressel's actons" which would have given the critics of the Buckeyes in the NCAA enough to punish us like they did with Bush/Carrol/Garrett. Instead, Tressel fell on his sword to save the program from his mistake. IMO the mistake was minor but once it became public the events had to play out like they did.

I wish people would move on. I love the 10 great years we got from Jim Tressel and look forward to the day when the NCAA rules and we can welcome him back with open arms in the stadium. I have no doubt we'd be in the B1G championship game with him at the helm but the sooner we move on as a program the sooner things will be able to return to the greatness that Jim Tressel gave us during his tenure. The BoT realized this over the summer and did the right thing to protect the future of the program. They have gotten a ton of grief for their decision but the reality is the program will be better in the long run because of it.

The response was: Says who? Gene The Weak? We gave up way too much and they'll STILL pile on. The Roo, for once, is right. * -

My response: Gene is gone too. I personally wish we'd have gotten rid of him after he allowed scUM and OSU in separate divisions

He's gone within 6 months after the sanctions are given.

In any big enterprise there is a conservative playbook for damage control. We might not agree with the decisions but in crisis large organizations make Tresselball look like the run and shoot by comparison. They don't take risks and anything that could possibly damage the "organization" is addressed in order.

Tressel was the most public issue and he was the first to go. It wouldn't surprise me if the NCAA gave back channel information to the Buckeyes of their penalty with or without Jim Tressel. Even if that didn't happen, part of the reason the Compliance Group was hired was to give the Board long term scenarios. I guarantee projections were made of donations and ticket sales for the next decade for all the possible outcomes. After reviewing everything they came up with their plan and part of that was to get rid of JT.

Many people here pretend that the Board is incompetent but many of them are very successful business people that face situations like this on a daily basis. I have no doubt that if we had all the information they did, most would have made the same decision.

The main opposition to the decision are people that look to the past and not to the future. That is fine for fans but the Board doesn't have that luxury as they have bills to pay. To do otherwise would been just as shortsighted for the athletic department as was Jim Tressel's initial decision to protect Pryor/Posey at the expense of the rest of the team.

Anyone that has spent any time in a large organization knows that what happened to Tressel had to happen. He was only going to coach 5-6 more years and the potential benefit was less than the threat he posed to the organization.  Organizations always do what is in their perceived best interest.  Tressel was a danger and had to go -- it is as simple as that.

Penn State Riots

I called it yesterday and although it happened a bit earlier than I expected, the Penn State students took a bad situation and made it worse.  As you can see from the picture on the right, last night the Penn State students took to the streets and left a path of destruction in their wake.


The catalyst was a press conference at 10pm EST last night where the Penn State Board of Trustees fired Joe Pateno ending his 62 year run on the sidelines for the football team.  All day was known that the Board was meeting last night where it was expect that the University President, Spanier, would be fired and that they would also address Paterno's future as well.  Paterno made his opinion known mid-day when he released a personal press release that stated he was going to step down at the end of the season but would coach the rest of the games.  A key component of his statement was,

Penn State students take over

At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status. They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can.

While his stated goal was to make it easier for the Board, in effect this statement told the public what he wanted and dared the Board to defy him.  He got his answer a few hours later and the students hit the streets.

I wholeheartedly agree with the Board's decision and I'm pretty sure a large majority of Americans agree.  This morning ESPN reported that Joe wants to meet with the press and get his side out.  The ESPN sources said his message was that "Paterno recalls McQueary "vaguely" referencing "fondling" or "touching" or "horsing around" by Sandusky and a youth. But Paterno never had the understanding that McQueary had witnessed a "sodomy" or "rape.""  The sad thing is his statement to the Grand Jury also said that he could tell that was McQueary traumatized by what he saw and it was bad enough that JoePa thought it necessary to tell his boss..  I'm not sure how he believes clarifying that is going to improve his situation as I'm pretty sure everyone understands what he is saying but doesn't agree that passing it up the line to his superiors and never following up was an appropriate response.

The Board did the right thing.  They failed in a couple of other ways.  


First they fired JoePa on the phone.  I understand their reasoning as the timeline was short and visiting his home in person would have turned into a media circus.  Still, they should have seen this issue coming and asked him to attend the meeting so they could let him know what was going on either way.  I'm sure they thought of that and figured that would turn into a circus as well.  They are probably right but it doesn't seem proper to end a 61 year career with a phone call.


Another issue is that they didn't alert the local police of the press conference and instruct them to be on heightened alert in case of a student outburst.  Perhaps they didn't do this because that action would be stating that Paterno might be fired and they didn't want to tip their hand.  The lack of preparation had consequences as after the announcement the students hit the streets en masse and the police scrambled to get the situation under control.  It took a few hours as the student mob got so large they had to call for reinforcements from neighboring counties before they felt they were able to act.  In the meantime, television vans were overturned, windows were smashed and general lawlessness took over the campus.  This went on for about 3 hours until the police took action and took back the streets though it might also be true that the students got tired and went to bed.


The actions of the students have brought shame on their university and shown the world that the insular world in Happy Valley can be just as violent as any other campus.  I really feel for the football team in this situation as they have worked hard and performed well on the field.  Now they will be going into a big matchup with a new coach and will be cheered on by 100,000 angry alumni.  As a Buckeye fan I am rooting for a loss but I hope their fans respect their team enough to be on their best behavior before and after the game.  


Either way, I hope the Board of trustees have learned their lesson and bring in a large force to control the drunken masses.  Else, they risk a repeat of last night's sad events.

Call out the Guards at Penn State

Upset students + Alcohol + Cameras = Chaos

Good thing it is a noon kickoff as most students won't have as much time to party before the game. This might just move the chaos to Saturday night once the students wake up from their morning binge.

Ohio State has had a bad rap for student behavior in the past but some of that is because it is located in the middle of a large city with numerous news teams always looking for a story. Penn State is hidden in a valley far away from prying eyes without a lot of press. Students at the school take pride in their ability to consume large amounts of alcohol as evidenced by being voted a top 10 party school the last 3 years attaining #1 in 2009 (FWIW Ohio University has been #1 the last two years). "This American Life" did a radio program on it a few years ago and how ineffective the administration has been in trying to curb the culture of binge drinking at Penn State.

This weekend the students won't be secluded but will have the glare of the national media all over campus. I hope the Board of Trustees realizes they need to call out extra police to keep them under control or they could have another PR disaster on their hands.

Link: http://onwardstate.com/2009/12/24/life-after-this-american-life/

My take on the Penn State scandal

I first heard about the investigation of Jerry Sandusky in an ESPN report last spring. At the time the story got little press which I thought was a bit odd considering the nature of the charges but this did come out about a month after the Tressel charges. The media circus was full go around the Ohio State program at the time and this story got little coverage. That changed last Saturday when the Pennsylvania State Attorney's office released a report that charged Sandusky with 40 criminal counts and also charged Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and vice president for finance and business Gary Schultz of perjury. The official report from grand jury is a graphic depiction of a serial child molester that is difficult to read without anger. Late yesterday the Penn State Board of Trustees had an emergency meeting and afterward it was revealed that both Curley and Schultz resigned and are expected to turn themselves over to the authorities today.

I'm sure these charges came as quite a shock to most Penn State fans that don't obsessively follow every story about their team. Even the hardcore fans had to be floored because even though there have been snippets of information on the case, there wasn't any sign from the Attorney General the case had much merit. That all changed on Saturday and the reaction has been emotional on all sides.

We don't have all the facts yet and as this is only a grand jury finding I'm sure much more will be brought out in the next few months. Even so here is the timeline as I see it:

• 1969 - 1998 - Jerry Sandusky is hired by Joe Paterno and the two lead the team to multiple undefeated seasons and national championships in football. Sandusky is the defensive mastermind behind these teams and seen as the heir when Joe Paterno retires. 
• 1977 - Sandusky founds the Second Mile which began as a foster home to troubled boys and grew to a statewide organization that helped boys from dysfunctional or absent parents. It's mission was to "help children who need additional support and would benefit from positive human interaction." 
• 1998 - Sandusky is charged in Centre County (county where Penn State is located) with molestation but the charges are dropped when the county Attorney General, Ray Gricar, decides there is not enough information to prosecute. 
• 1998 - Sandusky's pay is cut in half but he continues to coach at Penn State. I'm sure Paterno would claim there is no relation between this and the charges of molestation but the timing seems odd to me. 
• 1999 - Apparently not getting the hint, Joe Paterno forces Sandusky out. His retirement package includes a pension, an office in the Penn State athletic offices, and the right to use the campus hotel on visits to the university (This is a pretty normal package for an exiting coaches. Earle Bruce/John Cooper at Ohio State have similar arrangements). 
• March 1, 2002 - Mike McQueary, a former QB and grad assistant on the Penn State football enters the locker room at the Lasch Football Building about 9:30 pm to get some game film and hears noises coming from the showers. He sees Sandusky with a boy about age 10 pinned against the wall having anal intercourse. McQueary left the scene distraught and calls his father who tells him to leave the scene and come to his house to discuss the situation. 
• March 2, 2002 - McQueary reports the incident to Joe Paterno the next day. 
• March 3, 2003 - Joe Paterno informs the Athletic Director, Tim Curley, of the incident. 
• Approx 10 days later - McQueary is questioned by Curley and Schulz and he is told that they would look into it. Joe Paterno is not present at the meeting. 
• A few weeks later - McQueary is told that Sandusky's keys to the university locker room have been taken away and the Second Mile foundation has been informed of the incident. 
• Also - Curley informs Penn State University President Graham Spanier of the incident and actions taken. Spanier approves Curley's method of dealing with the matter though no police agency is ever told of the situation. Schultz's job responsibilities include the campus police department though he is not engaged in the day to day running of the office. He doesn't bring it to attention of the campus police as was done in 1998 and no report is ever filed. 
• April 15, 2005 - Probably totally unrelated but oddly the DA in charge that dropped the 1998 incident for lack of evidence disappears after leaving work and is never heard from again. The only thing that is found is a laptop which has been thrown into the Susquehanna River near where is car is found. No body is ever found and he is declared legally dead in 2011. 
• 2005/6 - Sandusky meets an 11 year old boy designated at Victim 1 through the Second Mile program and over time becomes close to him. They attend many events together and eventually it leads to Sandusky performing oral sex with him more than 20 times in the next few years along with other sexual acts. 
• Early 2008 - Victim 1 is seen by various faculty at his school engaged in "suspicious activity" with Sandusky. School officials become aware of potential abuse when Victim 1's mother calls to report it. School officials forward the information to the authorities as mandated by law. 
• 2008-2011 - Investigation into Jerry Sandusky by local and state authorities leading to the Grand Jury finding released on Saturday. 

The story seems ready made for Hollywood if the subject matter wasn't so disturbing. A few thoughts:

• Some people are outraged that McQueary didn't intervene during the 3/1/02 incident. While he was a 28 year old man at the time, he witnessed a disturbing act by a man he'd grown up admiring. I think it is reasonable to think any person in that situation would be traumatized, retreat and get advice from a mentor on how to proceed. While we all would like to think we'd be a hero in the situation none of us really know how we'd react unless we were there. 

• I have seen a few comments similar to "Gays are perverted people and this is where their lifestyle leads" in regards to Sandusky. Ignorant comments like this piss me off as their is a big difference between homosexuality and pedophilia. Most pedophiles get sexually excited only by young children and the vast majority consider themselves heterosexual. It drives me nuts when people use an incident like this to falsely categorize a segment of the population they don't like. 

• Joe Paterno released a statement saying we all were fooled and that he met his responsibilities. He also said he was shocked by the revelations in the Grand Jury report. I'm not sure how we are expected to believe this as 1) Sandusky was his right hand coach for almost 30 years, 2) he had to have known of the charges in 1998 as they weren't exactly a secret in State College, 3) he essentially fired his heir apparent Sandusky the next season but never disclosed the reasons, and 4) he admits he was told by McQueary that suspicious activities occurred by Sandusky in the shower of their locker room and McQueary was traumatized by the event. Are we to believe after knowing all this Paterno never followed up or asked any questions? The person that witnessed the incident (McQueary) was one of his best players in the 90s and now is his Wide Receiver Coach. Are we to believe the two never talked about it again after he discussed it with Paterno on March 2nd? Or that he never asked the athletic director what happened with the case at a university athletic department he virtually ran and was well known for his no nonsense beliefs? Sorry but that isn't remotely believable. 

Three thing were damaged by Sandusky's actions and the subsequent decisions by Penn State:

1. Victims - My heart goes out to all of them and hope they can work their way through the residual damage caused by Sandusky. Words don't do this situation justice and I won't attempt it. 
2. Legal - Sandusky has been charged and will eventually spend the rest of his life in jail if he doesn't kill himself first. Curley and Shultz have been charged with apparently trying to cover up the incident and no doubt they are going to spend some time in jail and pay large fines. I do feel an odd sense of sympathy for them as they were put in a terrible position by Sandusky. They had two terrible options. They could turn Sandusky in and see their university endure a scandal that would cost it millions of dollars and see its reputation dragged through the mud. Or they could cover it up and hope Sandusky stopped his actions while they prayed none of his former victims came forward. They chose to do the latter. I don't in any way agree with their decision but anyone that has been in a large organization can tell you that there is enormous pressure to do whatever is necessary to protect it and sometimes lines are crossed. They chose poorly and now they will goto jail while the university will still need to pay out millions in punitive damages. 
3. Reputation - I touched on this in the last point but Penn State will forever be linked to this scandal. Twenty years from now you will still be seeing opposing fans called them "Ped State" and this has to be grating for the thousands of players/alumni/fans that did nothing wrong and only bring credit to the school. That is forever lost due to the actions of a few men. 

I want to end with a thought. A year ago I wrote an article about Jim Tressel and how grateful I was that he was the coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes. He is a moral man that was a great leader of young men that also happened to have the ability to win football games. Over the next six months the Tressel regime came to an inglorious end due to one bad decision. Something similar happened with Woody Hayes about 30 years about so it is safe to say that Buckeye fans are intimately aware of the fragility of their hero's reputations.

Everyone loves heroes. Whether it be Wyatt Earp, George Patton, or Knute Rockne we like to look to these men as models to which we can aspire. We place our values on them and build them up to a level that no man can possibly achieve. That doesn't stop us.

One of the best things I have ever seen on television is a show called "Friday Night Lights". It's the story of a small town in Texas that is filled with amazingly human characters that happens to have a good football team. The characters in the show are constantly making mistakes but they can always count on their football team to bring them relief. As for the team, many of the players find themselves in trouble but you can always count on "Coach Eric Taylor" to get involved and resolve the situation with integrity. He's the rock for the whole community.

That's what we expect of our heroes and whether they want it or not football coaches are revered in our society. They are molders of young minds and in today's age of electronic warfare, they lead their men in to combat. This appeals to the human psyche on a primal level. We want to believe these men are perfect but in truth that is an impossible bar to reach. They are human and as we have seen, they make human mistakes.

We will probably never know the full truth of what Joe Paterno was thinking on March 2, 2002 but one fact is clear. He failed the hero test and this incident will forever be linked to his legacy. That saddens me as the world needs more heroes and it lost one of its brightest with the revelations over the weekend.