Wednesday Afternoon Reading Room: Good stuff on the Ohio State mess

I hit the interstate highway this afternoon with Scott Dochterman of the Gazette, as we wind our way to Indianapolis for the Big Ten men's basketball tournament.

That will be my March Madness for men's hoops in person, unless  I catch some of Northern Iowa in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

But today isn't about basketball. Today is the day-after of the incredible Ohio State football story, the one in which OSU Coach Jim Tressel just didn't know who to turn to when he found out two of his players were caught up in a federal drug-trafficking case and the sale of memorabilia, breaking NCAA rules.

I don't have anything to offer on this that isn't painfully obvious. Tressel's two-game suspension by OSU is a joke. Not reporting what he knew constitutes a major NCAA violation by Tressel. If the NCAA doesn't increase the penalty significantly, the NCAA is a joke.

Iowa fans who thought Kirk Ferentz and the U. of I got mercilessly hammered by national columnists over the rhabdomyolysis situation several weeks ago should know that was spit in the ocean compared to what Ohio State and Tressel are getting today. ESPN Radio pretty much ignored the rhabdo story. It was a blip elsewhere. Yes, it led to some scathing (and in some cases, not entirely fair) columns in the so-called mainstream media. But it had a short shelf life, and it didn't register nationally no matter how much you may have felt like it did at the time.

This Ohio State thing, it's not going away. That said, here are a few columns and blog items I would say are pretty good.

Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote that Tressel's legacy is permanently stained. An excerpt:

This is 58-year-old Jim Tressel, entering his 11th season with the Buckeyes and 26th as a head coach, hiding from the truth in part because he said he didn't know who he should tell. Yet the contract that pays him more than $3.5 million per year requires him to promptly report any violations he knows about to his athletic director.

This is on him.

"The integrity of this program and the integrity of this coach is absolutely superb," Gee said.

That's just not true anymore.

Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com has a pretty biting column on Tressel. A passage:

From his character-based books to his conservative sweater vests, Tressel wanted us to believe that he's a straight shooter who follows the rules.

On Tuesday night, we learned Tressel isn't any different from a lot of coaches in college football. He's apparently more concerned about winning games and championships than following rules and doing things the right way.

In fact, Tressel might be even worse than other coaches who are corrupting college athletics. He won't admit he's wrong even after he has been caught.

Weirdly, Bob Knight defended Tressel on ESPN Radio Wednesday morning. Rick Bozich of the Louisville Courier-Journal took umbrage to that. Bozich wrote:

What's the big deal? How could you expect anybody to remember all the NCAA rules and know what all of his players are doing?

Funny, but that's not exactly the way Knight reacted when he was coaching in the Big Ten and losing recruiting battles here and there.

Amazing?

Nope. That's Bob Knight.

Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press wrote a column that should play well to Michigan fans. An excerpt:

Tressel should have been immediately fired for breaking an important clause in his contract. But as far as Ohio State is concerned, the most important aspect of his agreement is to keep dragging Michigan up and down the field every year and participate in BCS bowls. As far as the NCAA is concerned, it's more important keeping a megabrand such as Ohio State football standing on an ivory tower, winning big while making big money and keeping its television partners happy. That's why the NCAA probably won't add to Ohio State's self-imposed sanctions of suspending Tressel for the first two games next season.

Then there's this from Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal, with the headline "OSU's Tressel piles lies upon lies." An excerpt:

For (OSU Athletic Director Gene) and (OSU President Gordon) Gee to suspend Tressel for two games (against Akron and Toledo) and fine him $250,000 (14 percent of his salary for next season) is a snub of arrogance at the rest of college sports.

When Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl lied to NCAA investigators, he was suspended half of the conference season by SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. When Washington football coach Rick Neuheisel lied to NCAA investigators, he was fired by the university.

Pearl lied about hosting potential recruits at his house and Neuheisel lied about a March Madness office pool - hardly the same as lying about playing ineligible athletes.

And let's be clear: Jim Tressel knowingly played six ineligible athletes all of last season.