Yahoo, Tattoos, and tOSU (1-year bowl ban, 82 scholly limit for 3 years)

[Jake]

The worst part about this now is the uncertainty. The University, and potential recruits, need to know the resolution no matter how bad.

I would rather receive a loss of 15 scholies over 3 years and a 1 year bowl ban TODAY than to wait until March and hope it isn't as severe.

 

[OH10]

I would rather receive a loss of 15 scholies over 3 years and a 1 year bowl ban TODAY than to wait until March and hope it isn't as severe.

I agree and this is the most likely result. Ohio State is in denial at this point.

 

[HINYG8]

I just don't understand what could possibly take the NCAA so long at this point. The options are limited: 1) Probation; 2) Postseason ban; 3) Scholarship reductions. It shouldn't take months to reach a consensus about what the punishment should be.

The individuals who made the mistakes have all been punished:

1. Terrelle Pryor: basically kicked out of school.

2. The Tat 5: suspended for 5 games.

3. Howard, Hall and Brown: suspended for 2 games.

4. Boom and Posey: suspended additional games, the latter a total of 10 games in his senior season.

5. Tressel: Fired (basically) and shamed on the way out.

6. DiGeronimo: disassociated with Ohio State, the product of an apparently unhealthy obsession on his part.

7. Ed Rife: prison.

8. Chris Cicero: soon to be hammered by the Ohio Supreme Court.

9. Gene Smith: most likely to be out of a job, not due to any intentional act on his part, but due mainly to an inability to control a public relations disaster.

So who will be left at Ohio State to blame? Nobody. The only people that will be punished going forward are fans, players, and coaches that had absolutely nothing to do with the violations that happened in the first place. Ohio State will have cleaned house. All of the individuals responsible will have been appropriately punished. And yet the NCAA will still feel the need to determine institutional punishments that have the trickle down effect of hurting people that didn't do anything wrong.

I understand why the individual punishments weren't good enough for the USC case. But here, all of the individuals who [censored]ed up are being held accountable. Why is it necessary to punish innocent parties?

You left out forfeiting an entire season and now dropping some scholarships.

Given the nature of the actual violations..the price OSU has paid is absurd.

Our administration (and sadly that includes JT) took a candle flame of a violation and turned into a forest fire....mostly I am looking at you Gene Smith.

 

[MaxBuck]

Best interests? He cost several of them games this year. I would characterize his actions as (at best) selfish and (at worst) obsessive. He didn't make any type of positive impact on their lives. He simply wanted to be closer to them, closer to the program.

It's all about ego with these guys and you can see it clearly from his statement. He wanted to be more than just some fan of the program. He wanted to feel like he was a part of the program. Well, you are now asshole. The bad part of it.

I don't know DiGeronimo personally, but I have friends who do. Your characterization of him based on inference is wildly different from what I hear from my friends. Of course, you can believe what you like.

Lots of people are labeled now as "morally suspect" because they haven't regarded NCAA rules as being a moral issue but rather a matter of exigency. Fuck the NCAA. They don't care about the students, they don't care about the athletes, and they don't care about good people who may sometimes be overzealous in supporting student-athletes. They care only about their image.

 

[OH10]

Our administration (and sadly that includes JT) took a candle flame of a violation and turned into a forest fire....mostly I am looking at you Gene Smith.

The media turned it into a forest fire. I think people are just looking for another scapegoat in Gene Smith. Of all of the people I listed, he is (by far) the least culpable. And yet he receives the most venom. Baffling.

 

[BUCKDUBBS007]

Its because he is a domer... fuckin domers...

 

[CookyPuss]

Call me crazy, but I actually trust Gene on this. I think he knows exactly what to self-impose to make the NCAA happy - either as "enough" punishment or close enough that NCAA can add a little to look tough (e.g. 1-2 more schollies). I think if Smith thought a ban was coming, he'd get in front of it. Like I said, maybe I'm crazy but I believe this is why he still has his job... he knows how to navigate this stuff. I think tOSU's cooperation throughout the investigation goes a long way to mitigate any sanctions. Contrast with USC who stonewalled for nearly a decade.

 

[OH10]

I don't know DiGeronimo personally, but I have friends who do. Your characterization of him based on inference is wildly different from what I hear from my friends. Of course, you can believe what you like.

They're his friends! Come on man, what do you expect them to say about him? He did nothing for those players but cost them games. He couldn't see the forest (how his actions affected Ohio State and its players) from the trees (his short-term ego boost).

There is absolutely no defense of this guy or any jock-sniffing booster that can't follow the rules. You may not agree with what the NCAA says in its rulebook, but it's not a [censored]ing buffet line. You don't get to pick and choose which rules you want to follow and which rules you want to break.

 

[BUCKDUBBS007]

Call me crazy, but I actually trust Gene on this. I think he knows exactly what to self-impose to make the NCAA happy - either as "enough" punishment or close enough that NCAA can add a little to look tough (e.g. 1-2 more schollies). I think if Smith thought a ban was coming, he'd get in front of it. Like I said, maybe I'm crazy but I believe this is why he still has his job... he knows how to navigate this stuff. I think tOSU's cooperation throughout the investigation goes a long way to mitigate any sanctions. Contrast with USC who stonewalled for nearly a decade.

Trust me?

 

[buckeyebri]

The media turned it into a forest fire. I think people are just looking for another scapegoat in Gene Smith. Of all of the people I listed, he is (by far) the least culpable. And yet he receives the most venom. Baffling.

While the media may have turned it into a forest fire, I don't buy that Gene Smith is just another scapegoat or the least culpable. It is well documented what his failings have been regarding all of this up to this point. And now, he openly admits his failing regarding the FTM. He deserves all the venom he gets, as he is DIRECTLY responsible for the compliance staff and ensuring the integrity of the program.

 

[BB73]

I don't know DiGeronimo personally, but I have friends who do. Your characterization of him based on inference is wildly different from what I hear from my friends. Of course, you can believe what you like.

Lots of people are labeled now as "morally suspect" because they haven't regarded NCAA rules as being a moral issue but rather a matter of exigency. Fuck the NCAA. They don't care about the students, they don't care about the athletes, and they don't care about good people who may sometimes be overzealous in supporting student-athletes. They care only about their image.

To be fair, the NCAA also cares about their tax-exempt status.

 

[Onebuckfan]

Yes the NCAA is a joke, but that's whose rules we play by..just obey them and do all we can to affect change within the NCAA. Breaking the rules and having our fan base criticize the NCAA and the media don't seem to be working for us..every time ppl say it is a witch hunt another violation or an admission comes out from our University

 

[BB73]

Today's article has a summary of the DeGeronimo situation.

Dispatch

...
The NCAA said that Ohio State failed to advise football players "to cease interaction" with DiGeronimo or inquire about their dealings with him, thus permitting players to deal directly with the booster without OSU's knowledge.

Ohio State says it took appropriate steps to distance DiGeronimo, but recognizes "that if it had undertaken additional follow-up ... the probability of the current violations occurring would have been reduced."

In its response to the failure-to-monitor charge, Ohio State portrayed DiGeronimo as an insider who received access to athletic facilities, coaches and players.

Dating to the 1980s, DiGeronimo was a member of the OSU 'Committeemen,' fans who helped recruit players before it was forbidden. Former coach John Cooper allowed DiGeronimo access to the locker room and on the sidelines on game days, OSU wrote. DiGeronimo also frequently brought meals to the football coaching staff.

Tressel and Smith, however, said they cracked down on DiGeronimo, ending the meals and locker-room and sideline access. However, DiGeronimo and another man sneaked into the locker room for a home game in 2001 or 2002, Tressel said.

"Tressel saw DiGeronimo attempting to hide in a locker to listen to Tressel's pre-game speech. DiGeronimo and the other individual were told to leave the locker room," Ohio State wrote the NCAA.

In an interview with The Dispatch yesterday, DiGeronimo disputed the university's version of events. "They're trying to put it all on me, the supposedly rogue booster," he said. "They want to get all the heat off them."

DiGeronimo denied that Smith in 2006 instructed him to stop feeding coaches, to distance himself from players and to comply with NCAA guidelines. "If Gene Smith says that, I'm calling Gene Smith a liar," DiGeronimo said.

He also called Tressel a liar about the allegation that he once sneaked into the locker room. DiGeronimo said OSU's claims aside, he received access to the locker room until being shut out in 2003 or 2004.

"The statements regarding me 'sneaking' into the locker room are so absurd it's laughable," he said. "If I was in the locker room, it's because I was invited."

DiGeronimo added: "My guess is that Gene needs a villain in this case, and unfortunately it's me."

DiGeronimo said Ohio State did a poor job in monitoring players who worked for his company, saying, "I never received a call from them in 10 years about kids working for me."

Cont'd ...

DeGeronimo says that tOSU never called him in recent years to talk about his employment of players, but documents released yesterday include multiple letters that the compliance department sent him between 2004 and 2006.

Bobby D. was involved with a secondary violation back in 2005-06, and he was told that if he employed tOSU athletes in the future, he would need to complete forms and return them to the compliance office.

He says Smith didn't ask him to stop providing food, but there was a letter from Tressel to DeGeronimo in May, 2005 that tactfully asked him to continue his "generosity to the ticket office and in other areas where student-athlete do not frequent". That was after DeGeronimo told JT at a meeting, earlier that same month, that he "understood the rules regarding extra benefits".

He's upset with having been disassociated with the program, but his comments now are not helpful to either himself or Ohio State. But the fact that he's making these comments to the Dispatch yesterday is indicative of another failure on the part of Gene Smith.

 

[HINYG8]

The media turned it into a forest fire. I think people are just looking for another scapegoat in Gene Smith. Of all of the people I listed, he is (by far) the least culpable. And yet he receives the most venom. Baffling.

Not baffling at all..as he is far from the least culpable.

As I said in the thread here about him:

His post...his responsibility.. his title, his job and the reason he makes a good amount of coin: and this mess has been allowed to burn rampant under his watch.

Isn't it his job to manage the circumstances, perception, and bring control to the situation? Isn't he the AD? Doesn't that mean he is responsible for the actions of his staff and the various athletic programs that he leads?

I think so...and IMO he has botched that beyond repair.

Publicly we clearly rolled over and were flogged. Behind the scenes FTM and LOIC, IMO, should never have been on the table..yet here we are holding our breath for the final decision and truly embarrassed about our program. Maybe I have a different view of the AD's job than I should..but to me he is responsible for making sure neither the public or the NCAA sharpens their knives on the athletics of my alma matter.

*AFTER* our problems it was revealed that boosters at Miami were providing whores and abortions..but even THAT couldn't bump OSU from the headlines or replace our name as the face of NCAA corruption and cheating.

Yeah..the media burned us down to the bottom of our wick....because the AD did nothing to get in front of the false accusations or take the steps needed to put that fire out.

$8K in trades and some unearned pay..and we lost our HC, forfeited a season, had multiple players suspensions that extended in length beyond what was served for similar violations at other places, and now we drop some scholarships and have FTM on our calling card. If you don't hold the AD responsible for that then I'd like to have that job...big pay check and no accountability..sweet gig.

 

[buckiprof]

I don't know DiGeronimo personally, but I have friends who do. Your characterization of him based on inference is wildly different from what I hear from my friends. Of course, you can believe what you like.

Lots of people are labeled now as "morally suspect" because they haven't regarded NCAA rules as being a moral issue but rather a matter of exigency. [censored] the NCAA. They don't care about the students, they don't care about the athletes, and they don't care about good people who may sometimes be overzealous in supporting student-athletes. They care only about their image.

They're his friends! Come on man, what do you expect them to say about him? He did nothing for those players but cost them games. He couldn't see the forest (how his actions affected Ohio State and its players) from the trees (his short-term ego boost).

There is absolutely no defense of this guy or any jock-sniffing booster that can't follow the rules. You may not agree with what the NCAA says in its rulebook, but it's not a [censored]ing buffet line. You don't get to pick and choose which rules you want to follow and which rules you want to break.

I don't know Bobby D., but I do know former players that worked for him back in the early 1990's. What they have told me about him fits much closer to what Max has described. In fact, what I have been told is that Bobby D. made them work...real work and it was hard work. One told me of the time he and a couple other teammates were hired to help move his family to a new house over a weekend. He actually bitched that he felt they were hired because they were ultimately cheaper labor than hiring a moving company.