Jim Tressel (National Champion, ex-President, Youngstown State University, CFB HOF)

[Onebuckfan]

It won't be the first time someone was paid for silence..

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

It won't be the first time someone was paid for silence..

Please. This does NOT legitimize the dearly sought hope on the part of many that JT really is a saint, that he did everything right and is only covering up (obviously out of good, noble saintly intentions) for Smith and Gee.

Quite the opposite since he's walking away (on water in the eyes of some) with a pittance of his contract. If his silence was worth anything and this was some attempt to buy it, he'd be getting a hell of a lot more than this.

 

[Buckeye86]

Please. This does NOT legitimize the dearly sought hope on the part of many that JT really is a saint, that he did everything right and is only covering up (obviously out of good, noble saintly intentions) for Smith and Gee.

Quite the opposite since he's walking away (on water in the eyes of some) with a pittance of his contract. If his silence was worth anything and this was some attempt to buy it, he'd be getting a hell of a lot more than this.

Woody is an Ohio State saint and he punched a kid in the face on the sidelines among many other incidents. You can object to and mock people who support Tressel all you want, but Tressel will be an Ohio State saint one day as well. You might as well get on the side of history and get over it.

 

[Onebuckfan]

I love Woody and JT as football coaches and teachers..I"ve seen enough to know Coaches are not saints definitley not Bear, Bowden or even Joe PA. People or coaches can do many good things but that doesn't mean they are a saint without flaws.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

Woody is an Ohio State saint and he punched a kid in the face on the sidelines among many other incidents. You can object to and mock people who support Tressel all you want, but Tressel will be an Ohio State saint one day as well. You might as well get on the side of history and get over it.

Perhaps if a large portion of the fanbase had desperately attempted to legitimize Woody's punch with all manner of overwrought conspiracy theories (perhaps Charlie Bauman was about to sucker punch an Ohio State player and Woody only threw down to protect that player. Examine the film Zapruder style. It's there, I tell you. It has to be; there's no other reason to explain why he would do this!), then the Woody situation would be analogous to the lengths some are going in order to maintain their cherished, pristine vision of Jim Tressel.

Personally, I don't tend to put coaches up for sainthood regardless of their Ohio State connections and win-loss record. Woody Hayes was a fine man with a deep flaw that eventually forced the university to rightfully dismiss him from his post. Now, that is a much more apt analogy with JT's trajectory.

 

[Jake]

Woody is an Ohio State saint and he punched a kid in the face on the sidelines among many other incidents. You can object to and mock people who support Tressel all you want, but Tressel will be an Ohio State saint one day as well. You might as well get on the side of history and get over it.

Ahh, yes, the argumentum ad populum. Millions of people can't be wrong, right? Actually, millions of people are often wrong and the number of people who choose to believe something has no bearing on its validity. So I hope you won't mind if I pass on your tempting offer.

Woody Hayes embarrassed himself. Jim Tressel embarrassed the University. He left a black mark - an erased season - never experienced by Ohio State. So while I have no doubt many will always support him - after all, he owned TSUN - I won't be one of them. If that makes me the only one who doesn't see him as a saint, that's fine with me. I will take that over blindly following the flock every time.

 

[Buckeye86]

Time heals all wounds. Like I said, the sooner you get over it the sooner you'll be on the side of history. Your suggestion that Woody didn't embarass the university by punching someone is laughable and perfectly proves my point.

 

[Steve19]

Woody Hayes and Jim Tressel are the two most successful coaches in the history of one of the most storied college football programs. Both developed players into men on the field and in the classroom. Both earned less than they might have commanded, because they felt they earned enough. Both gave to charitable causes. They also were very secure in their own values, which didn't really include fear of the press. Forever, they will share these distinctions.

Until recently, what separated them was that Woody was the only one who had brought his public image into disrepute. It was due to his bullying others, according to some accounts. If you had the opportunity to see his inflexible but respectful discussions with hippies and Vietnam war protestors, as I did, you might find the argument that he bullied others to be difficult to accept.

What we can all agree is that they were separated by the lack of a defining moment when Jim Tressel revealed himself as very flawed. There was no punch thrown at a taunting player. No headlong dash down the sidelines ripping up yard markers.

Now, those days are gone and Jake's account of events sounds probable to me. We have that incident to look back on, when Tressel revealed that flaw.

Let's not let ourselves look back on either of these great coaches in an imbalanced way that fails to acknowledge the good that they did.

We live in a time of 30 second sound bites that segue into Aunt Susie's kitty being rescued from the tree. Life is more complex than that and, as Jesus said, let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

I cannot express in words the depth of my disappointment in Jim Tressel and the Ohio State sports administration compliance people right now. But I refuse to value his contributions at Ohio State on the basis of this train smash that ended his career.

Right now, I just want to see what these kids do on the field this year.

 

[Jake]

Time heals all wounds. Like I said, the sooner you get over it the sooner you'll be on the side of history.

What history will show is Ohio State forfeited all of its wins in 2010. Time won't erase it, and this "side of history" crap you keep peddling is nothing more than "more people will agree with me", as though that proves something.

Your suggestion that Woody didn't embarass the university by punching someone is laughable and perfectly proves my point.

The fact that you apparently can't tell the difference between what Woody did and what Tressel did is beyond laughable. You have no "point", only emotional appeals.

Woody's gaffe is forgotten by history. No one will ever look at the record of Ohio State football and see anything more than Clemson beat Ohio State in that bowl game. Tressel's will be documented forever. When one sees all of those winning seasons then sees 0-12 it will always point to one explanation, hence his black mark on the University. The two are not remotely the same.

There is more to representing Ohio State as football coach than beating Michigan, at least for some of us. But for many, Tressel will always be a "saint" simply because of that record. That's a "side of history" I'll gladly let go on without me.

 

[Jake]

Woody Hayes and Jim Tressel are the two most successful coaches in the history of one of the most storied college football programs. Both developed players into men on the field and in the classroom. Both earned less than they might have commanded, because they felt they earned enough. Both gave to charitable causes. They also were very secure in their own values, which didn't really include fear of the press. Forever, they will share these distinctions.

Until recently, what separated them was that Woody was the only one who had brought his public image into disrepute. It was due to his bullying others, according to some accounts. If you had the opportunity to see his inflexible but respectful discussions with hippies and Vietnam war protestors, as I did, you might find the argument that he bullied others to be difficult to accept.

What we can all agree is that they were separated by the lack of a defining moment when Jim Tressel revealed himself as very flawed. There was no punch thrown at a taunting player. No headlong dash down the sidelines ripping up yard markers.

Now, those days are gone and Jake's account of events sounds probable to me. We have that incident to look back on, when Tressel revealed that flaw.

Ripping up a yard marker or throwing a punch is a momentary lapse of reason due to losing one's temper. No doubt Woody woke up the next morning realizing he screwed up and trying to make amends. He never tried to justify such actions.

Consciously choosing to not disclose information one knew had to be disclosed is far different. Every morning from April 2010 Jim Tressel woke up with that information, and each day chose not to disclose it. Had it not been found, there is no evidence to suggest he was ever going to disclose it.

One is a "flaw", the other is something else entirely.

 

[jwinslow]

Suggesting that history forgot Woody's disgraceful exit is absurd. It is his defining moment and was an incredibly ugly moment for Ohio State football. This was too, but the different elements involved don't magically erase what happened nor separate OSU from it.

Like Tressel, Woody was Ohio State. He was so large that separating the two was impossible.

If Coach K assaults a player on the court, that is a black mark on an otherwise pretty clean image for Duke. And yes, I know about recruiting, but that dirty underbelly applies to all big time sports.

 

[BB73]

What history will show is Ohio State forfeited all of its wins in 2010. Time won't erase it, and this "side of history" crap you keep peddling is nothing more than "more people will agree with me", as though that proves something.

The fact that you apparently can't tell the difference between what Woody did and what Tressel did is beyond laughable. You have no "point", only emotional appeals.

Woody's gaffe is forgotten by history. No one will ever look at the record of Ohio State football and see anything more than Clemson beat Ohio State in that bowl game. Tressel's will be documented forever. When one sees all of those winning seasons then sees 0-12 it will always point to one explanation, hence his black mark on the University. The two are not remotely the same.

There is more to representing Ohio State as football coach than beating Michigan, at least for some of us. But for many, Tressel will always be a "saint" simply because of that record. That's a "side of history" I'll gladly let go on without me.

I can't buy that statement at all. It's difficult to ever see a mention of Woody without a reference to the action that caused his dismissal.

For casual college football fans, especially younger ones, that's the one thing they definitively know about Woody Hayes, since most media references to Woody over the past couple of decades have included a mention of it.

As far as JT not paying the fine, that was levied when the University thought he'd still be making over $3.5 million in the 2011-12 academic year. Since he no longer has that income, it doesn't bother me that he negotiated his way out of it.

 

[jwinslow]

Ripping up a yard marker or throwing a punch is a momentary lapse of reason due to losing one's temper. No doubt Woody woke up the next morning realizing he screwed up and trying to make amends. He never tried to justify such actions.

Consciously choosing to not disclose information one knew had to be disclosed is far different. Every morning from April 2010 Jim Tressel woke up with that information, and each day chose not to disclose it. Had it not been found, there is no evidence to suggest he was ever going to disclose it.

One is a "flaw", the other is something else entirely.

Putting aside your excuses for assaulting a player, something no coaches do (unlike Tressel's misdeed)

Woody Hayes was paying players and setting up no show jobs. He was banned from the rose bowl, and those violations were much worse than these. The punishment system was simply different back then. If Tressel was caught doing what woody did, gene smith would beg to only be docked twenty scholarships.

 

[SloopyHangOn]

Woody Hayes was paying players and setting up no show jobs. He was banned from the rose bowl, and those violations were much worse than these. The punishment system was simply different back then. If Tressel was caught doing what woody did, gene smith would beg to only be docked twenty scholarships.

I would chime in to this conversation you're having if it weren't with a notorious hit-and-run controversialist.

Instead I'll just go with the patented "This."

 

[NateG]

Regardless of anything that has happened of late, I am sitting here watching State Penn vs tOSU 10 and thinking how much I'm gonna miss Tressel. Granted I hope Luke does well and helps remedy the loss a bit, but I know the full effect of Tressel being gone won't hit til September 3rd. Damn it. Will miss you coach.