Ethical Dilemma: IS There A Difference In The Pearl And Tressel Cases??

I know, I goofed!

So, Jim Tressel now thinks it is in the best interests of the Ohio State University that he resign. OK, I can live with that, but why now? Why after all of the information that is out there (and has been for some time) did Tressel and OSU come together and make this colossal decision?

I mean, Tressel really didn’t do anything did he? He just didn’t think that this was all such a big deal. He thought that it was just something small, and it didn’t warrant all of the attention and scrutiny that has occurred. The incident was isolated wasn’t it? Yeah, please. You know, it is getting harder and harder to tell who should be in charge and who should be following orders in collegiate athletics these days. The OSU crowd clamored for Bruce Pearl’s resignation when he was under the microscope. Back when the Bruce Pearl situation became public, one of my OSU fan friends said, “you know, that has to be the dumbest guy I have ever seen. Thinking he could get away with lying to the NCAA about something and thinking that a bunch of high school parents and players would go along with it. The first thing the rats do when the ship starts to sink is head for high ground.” At the time, I honestly agreed with his statement, and still do today. Now when it came to discussing Tressel’s dilemma, his quote was, “Man, it’s hard to keep those OSU folks happy. There are so many things going on that you can’t watch everyone. And the money is so easy to come by anymore.” And this friend of mine is formerly associated with the OSU program. Now I understand loyalty to your program. I am a UK fan for crying out loud. But now that the shoe is on the other foot, there is a different approach. OSU is to college football what Kentucky is to college basketball, or as close as you can get to that. This is like watching the Titanic sinking and finding out that the lifeboats are already in the water and full.

Tressel’s comments about what has happened at OSU are simply lies, and he knows it. I have heard about people taking the “company line” when it comes to problems and headaches, but Tressel took it further. And when all the smoke clears, and all of the shooting stops, the plain truth is that Tressel did the exact same thing that Pearl did. He took an offense that would have been a minor violation and turned it into The Towering Inferno. And now, in exactly the same way that happened at Tennessee, the NCAA has decided to haul out their microscopes and do a little more investigating at OSU. I grew up an OSU football fan. I was born and raised less than 100 miles from Columbus, and lived for Saturday afternoon football with OSU. I watched guys like Archie Griffin and Art Schlichter and was thrilled to see Tressel return OSU to it’s former glory. I watched in horror as Woody Hayes took a swing at a Clemson player and saw his career go down in flames and I believe that I saw the same thing happen in a Jim Tressel press conference. I listened to an interview on ESPN with Brent Musburger and heard Musberger’s assessment of Tressel, and I think that Musberger nails it. He stated that Tressel took a minor mistake, and signed his name to a major scandal.

I know I am beating a dead horse here, but this falls squarely in the lap of the NCAA. Not that they are responsible for Tressel’s actions, because they are in no way responsible for that. However, if the NCAA would get their collective antiquated ways up from the bench and get in gear, they could see this type of thing coming. Selective enforcement is never going to work, and it never has before. The NCAA is going to come down on OSU like a ton of bricks, just like it is on Tennessee, and claim moral superiority and victory for the NCAA way of life. When the honest truth is, they probably could have done something to prevent this kind of thing in the first place.

So now, two really good coaches, both of whom were guiding their programs to heights not seen in a very long time, are sitting at home counting their severance packages, instead of coaching their teams and doing what they should be doing. This is a lot of talent, money, and time wasted by everyone involved. And all Tressel had to do was tell the truth. I am not going to go the usual route here and shout Kentucky’s innocence to the rafters and laugh about how the mighty have fallen, or claim righteous indignation about how John Calipari is treated like scum, while these other people are lauded as wonderful coaches, human beings, etc. And I am not going to take the tact of complaining about all of the NCAA Championships won by coaches and schools that cheated their way into the record books winning multiple National Championships either.

However, I will say this. The world has gone off the deep end when it comes to winning and athletics. Even vaunted men like Lance Armstrong, who sat atop his profession for years, are being called into question concerning their ethics. ETHICS. Not about how they perform, not about how hard they work, and not about their results. This is all about ETHICS. Or should I say, a lack thereof. And do not be fooled into thinking that this lack of ethics is held strictly in the hands of the athletes and coaches either. This goes into the NCAA, the boosters, the agents, and the “clingers on” for some of these kids as well. No one wants to see the gravy train come to an end. So, the ethics go out the window, the those involved get the spotlight for a while (both good and bad), and usually some innocent bystander gets hurt. Even if that innocent bystander is just a kid who nags his parents enough to get them to drop $100 on a replica jersey of their favorite player, and who sees themselves growing up to be just like them. Charles Barkley once said that he was not a role model. And while that statement was a bit naive, it was Charles’ honest opinion about the whole situation. Funny thing is that in this case, I think Charles’ honesty could go a long way towards making some of these people better role models themselves. Is there really a difference in Bruce Pearl and Jim Tressel? Why, yes there is. Pearl lied to investigators about what he did, and Tressel lied to investigators about what he knew. Then again, I guess that is not much of a difference after all.

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