Just when Buckeye Nation thought it couldn’t get any worse for the Buckeye football program, it does.
So much for “isolated incidents” and “nothing more to see here”. Apparently, Gene Smith (Ohio State’s Athletic Director), just doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Either, A) Smith is naive enough to believe there really isn’t going on, or B) Smith has no idea just how deep it really is for the Ohio State football team.
After the “Tat-5” scandal and attempted cover-up by former coach, Jim Tressel, Buckeye Nation was set to move on. First, we thought we had five of our “stars” suspended for five games, along with our head coach. Then, we came to terms with the fact that only four of the original five would remain with the team, while being forced to believe that this was all Tressel’s fault. Now that the “problems” have been removed from the situation, who do we blame now?
Tressel wasn’t here to blame when Jordan Hall, Travis Howard and Corey Brown were suspended the first two games of the 2011 season for receiving improper benefits. He’s certainly not here to blame for that pathetic excuse of a football team each and every Saturday. And he’s certainly not here to blame for the further suspensions of Boom Herron, Devier Posey and Marcus Hall for their involvement with the same charity event that got Hall, Howard and Brown suspended.
In hindsight, I don’t think Tress was totally to blame. I think there is a clear lack of institutional control, and I think AD, Gene Smith, is more to blame than he wants to believe. University President, Gordon Gee, is about as dumb as it comes when it comes to sports, but I have to think that he’s smart enough to know when someone has a severe character flaw.
Herron, Posey and Hall have been suspended for, at least, this weekend’s match-up on the road against Nebraska. What’d they do? Well they knowingly accepted overcompensation for work that they didn’t do. What is really going on at Ohio State?
What I’m about to say next, hurts – really, really, bad – but I think it’s the truth.
The NCAA was supposed to decide on their ruling from the original scandal, in just a couple weeks. With the “new” violations surrounding the charity scandal, that decision has now been delayed. So what does that mean? Well, trouble for the Buckeyes.
Gene Smith, who should be fired by the way, is an idiot. Here’s why:
1)”Tat-Gate” wasn’t an isolated incident, and he keeps saying it was.
2) There’s a clear lack of institutional control, and he keeps turning a blind eye.
If this was an isolated incident, the NCAA wouldn’t be delaying their ruling on the original scandal. So, Buckeye Nation, don’t be surprised if the football team gets smacked with the very sanctions we believed were as far fetched as they come. With the new violations, the NCAA now has even more crap to sort through.
First of all let me say this, Mr. Pryor is to blame for these new violations becoming the talk of Columbus. When he decided to leave Ohio State to pursue a career in the NFL, many of us were more than happy to see him leave. What we didn’t know, however, is that Pryor was willing to throw his teammates, coaches and whoever else, under the bus in order to reach the NFL. When Roger Goodell took longer than expected to declare Pryor eligible for the NFL’s supplemental draft, it got nasty for OSU.
What happened then, was Pryor decided to fight tooth and nail, to do anything he could to find his way to the gridiron. He was faced with a peculiar situation. When he was still in a Buckeye uniform, he had to do everything he could to prove his innocence. When Goodell told Pryor he couldn’t manipulate the system just to get in the NFL, he had to prove that he would’ve been ineligible to play at Ohio State this season anyway. So then, he started dropping names, dropping booster names, player names, coaches…the list really goes on and on.
That is what led to the NCAA’s further investigation into Ohio State’s football program, and that is what led to the discovery of Jordan Hall, Travis Howard, Corey Brown, Boom Herron, Devier Posey and Marcus Hall’s involvement with booster Bobby D. (Who has since been disassociated with the university).
If you ask me, there’s plenty of blame to go around. Save the whole, “this goes on at every university”, argument. We know it goes on everywhere, but not everyone gets caught. Ohio State’s football players, have been caught – more than once.
Herron and Posey were already suspended by the NCAA for “Tat-gate”. Marcus Hall and the others, were more than aware that the NCAA had the university square in their crosshairs. Did that matter? No. And apparently, hell no.
The players being paid for not working, went on well after “Tat-gate”. So, unless the players were forced into an empty padded room, they knew the school was in trouble, and still took the money. Why are they still on the team? Why? Anyone?
I’m all for second chances, but it must be earned. Herron and Posey were already suspended, but were working on their second chances by serving out their suspensions. They screwed it up, and, as bad as the Buckeye offense is without them, they need to go. Hall, on the other hand, suspend him, but don’t let him start coming back.
Here’s how I’d fix the problem at Ohio State.
Fire Gene Smith, fire the compliance office, fire anyone and everyone who had anything to do with the Jim Tressel Era. I’m sorry but, Daniel “Boom” Herron and Devier Posey, no matter how big of a help to our team they might be talent-wise, should be kicked off the team. Let them finish out their careers at the JUCO level. If they want to play in the pros, they can take that route.
You can fix minor character flaws in a person. If an individual has a fear of public speaking, put him in front of 200 people and tell him to talk. If your girlfriend doesn’t feel pretty, you damn well better find ways to make her believe it. But you absolutely can not, under any circumstances, fix stupid. Herron and Posey are stupid, and can’t be fixed.
They’ve added to the negativity surrounding the OSU football team, when they were, in fact, part of the original problem. What in the hell have they done to earn their way back onto the football team? Other than serve their suspensions? Nothing. If fact, the suspension clearly had no effect on them whatsoever. They continued to do the things they were doing that got them suspended in the first place? They need to be removed from the team, ASAP.
Their removal will set a standard at Ohio State that they’re not use too – Mess up once, okay, we’ll give you a second chance. Mess that one up? You’re gone. No third strike, you’re ejected from the game.
Most importantly, the school has once again been forced into damage control. With the NCAA delaying their decision on “Tat-gate”, that all but means that they’re looking to hit Ohio State harder than originally thinking. Kick the players off who are responsible, and maybe – just maybe – they NCAA will take it easy on us.
If Gene Smith insist on blaming a coach, please – please – blame Fickell.
____________________
This is what scares me about all of this.
Michigan was set back about 5 years, without even having the NCAA doing it for them. All it took was one coach, Rich Rod, who had no flippin’ idea what he was doing. (Yes there were violations, but nothing on Ohio State’s level)
At Ohio State, they’re facing serious sanctions, and they currently have a head coach that has no idea what he’s doing. This affects the school in so many ways – production on the field, player morale and, most importantly, recruiting – which is the future of the football team.
If you’re an 18 year old kid, who can go to any school you want to in the country, why in the hell would you want to come to Ohio State right now? They’re facing possible USC-like sanctions, they don’t have a head coach and they really aren’t doing all that great on the field to compensate for their off the field troubles.
I’m afraid that this is going to set-us back about 5 years. We’re looking at a Michigan type rebuilding process, and with help from the NCAA, possibly a Cleveland Browns rebuilding process.
I’ve stated how I thought they could put the team back on the right track – firing Smith, kicking the players off the field, etc. – but I’m not sure how it’s going to help in the grand scheme of things. It’s ugly in Columbus, and even more heartbreaking than originally thought.
Fans of Ohio State are some of the most dedicated fans in the nation. We’ll back our team, right or wrong, for as long as we can. I’m not sure how much longer we can defend the actions of our football players though. We demand perfection more often than not from our Buckeyes, but in all reality, we’d settle for a Big Ten Championship and bowl game. Now, we’ll be lucky if we play in the Insight.com Bowl. The season is a wash, and it seems to keep getting worse.
Who knows how long it’ll take for the Bucks to be relevant again in the college football world. No matter what, though, they’ll be relevant in the hearts of Buckeye Nation.
Go Bucks!
