Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel stepped down in shame and while many are celebrating, pointing fingers and enjoying the demise in Columbus, there’s a bigger picture to focus on; the lesson.
Athletic directors, head coaches, players and fans – don’t let this happen at your beloved university. Turning a blind eye for the sake of winning never works. At some point, you always pay. Someone always slips. Someone always rolls over.
Ohio State had their share of success this past decade. Miami folks choose to focus on the controversial call that led to the Buckeyes’ national championship in 2002, but Tressel’s success continued on as the Canes faded under Larry Coker and Randy Shannon.
Ohio State reached the BCS seven of the next eight seasons, including two more title games, though no more championships were earned as the SEC’s Florida and LSU prevailed, taking the Buckeyes to the woodshed. Still, the Buckeyes have owned the Big Ten, rival Michigan and have remained a major player on the main stage since Tressel’s second season.
But again, at what price?
For who want the torrid details of the Tressel era, Sports Illustrated has the story here. They didn’t have the stones to go with a “Why The Ohio State University Should Drop Football” type cover like Miami got back in the summer of 1995, but the piece by George Dohrmann and David Epstein goes into great detail about what happened on Tressel’s watch – going back to the blind eye he turned when head coach at Youngstown State prior to taking over at Ohio State.
Deep as any Hurricane hatred might run for all things scarlet and gray, this isn’t the time to pile on. There but for the grace of God goes any other college program. Are Ohio State fans a bit over the top and does Columbus’ lifeblood come from their football factory of a program? Yes, but behavior of this magnitude is happening nationwide and it’s a sad day for college football when a program of this magnitude is exposed as a fraud, putting athletics over academics, saying that it’s alright to lie, cheat and steal, as long as the wins and money keep rolling in.
A message to new Miami athletic director Shawn Eichorst, head coach Al Golden and all administration who interacts with student athletes at the University of Miami, heed the warning and drive this message home with your players. Force them to read this Sports Illustrated piece – and even dig up that slanderous piece on the Canes, by Alexander Wolff, for good measure.
Just like high school parents who take a time out to talk to their kids when a tragedy happens to a fellow student, this is the time for coaches and teachers nationwide to make an example out of the Tressel and the Buckeyes’ demise.
Talk openly about what happened. Put it under a microscope. Realize that it can happen to anyone. Show how the selfish nature of the me-centric player can ruin a team and how cover ups by adults (who should know better) can take down a program.
Again, as much as any Miami fan has disdain for Ohio State, at day’s end we’re all fans of a great game, share a sense of pride for our respective universities and on a day when one program is in shambles, while another rebuilds, it’s not time to point fingers. It’s time to say, “better them than me” and to hope that our beloved program hears the message loud and clear and makes sure that nothing of this nature is going on in Coral Gables.