Is tOSU Football The Dirtiest Program In America?

[Tugg Speedman]

This reads like a parody written by a Michigan fan but it's true.



http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6598929

Man connected to Buckeyes charged

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A tattoo parlor owner who bought Ohio State football memorabilia was charged Friday in federal court with drug trafficking and money laundering, though his attorney said there's no connection with the scandal unfolding over the sale of the items.

Edward Rife will plead guilty to the charges and cooperate with authorities, documents filed in U.S. District Court indicated. The charges and Rife's plea agreement do not mention the sale of the memorabilia.

Rife, 31, will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 200 pounds of marijuana, and one count of money laundering, the documents showed. He could face a prison sentence of 20 years, although he likely would receive much less under federal sentencing rules.

The money laundering charge alleges Rife paid $21,500 for a 2005 Nissan Infinity QX56 with money earned through the alleged drug transactions, according to the documents filed Friday.

Five players, including star quarterback Terrelle Pryor, have been suspended for the first five games this fall for accepting improper benefits from Rife totaling between $12,000 and $15,000.

Coach Jim Tressel also is suspended for five games and still is being investigated for knowing of his players' involvement with Rife and not reporting it to the NCAA or his superiors for more than nine months.

Rife's lawyer said Friday that his client is taking responsibility for past mistakes.

"His criminal allegations and what are going on in federal court really has little or nothing to do with the Ohio State football players," attorney Stephen Palmer said. "He's dealing with a very troubling time anyway and to have the heat from the Ohio State situation come down on him has been terrible."

Rife remains a fan of the Ohio State football program, Palmer said.

"He didn't want any harm to come on any players or the university or the program or coach Tressel or anyone," Palmer said. "If he's responsible for anything, it's being a quality Ohio State fan."

Neither the U.S. Attorney's office nor the Internal Revenue Service, which investigated the money laundering charge against Rife, would comment.

Although Rife's guilty plea doesn't mention Ohio State or the players' suspensions, the school first learned of the memorabilia sales through the federal investigation into Rife.

Tressel received an email in April 2010 from a Columbus lawyer, Chris Cicero, who was a former Ohio State walk-on and letterman in the 1980s. He told Tressel that at least two current Buckeyes players had sold signed Ohio State memorabilia to Rife. Cicero also said that they had received free tattoos.

Cicero said that Rife was the subject of a federal drug-trafficking investigation.

The two players were later revealed to be Pryor and wide receiver DeVier Posey. In an email response the same day, Tressel wrote, "Thanks. I will get on it ASAP."

Tressel later said that he felt bound by a vow of confidentiality to not disclose anything about the email, even though there is nothing in it about remaining quiet. He and Cicero traded emails twice more, with more information given to Tressel about the infractions. Cicero said he had even spoken to Rife for 90 minutes.

Athletic director Gene Smith has said Tressel never notified him, his Ohio State bosses or anyone in the university's compliance department. He also did not contact the lawyers on staff about the situation, though he did forward the original email to Ted Sarniak, a businessman and mentor of Pryor in his hometown of Jeannette, Pa.

Tressel signed an NCAA form in September in which he said he had no knowledge of any rules violations. When the U.S. Attorney's office went to Ohio State in December to tell of its investigation that uncovered memorabilia in Rife's possession, the school began an investigation of its own. During interviews that month, Tressel did not disclose what he knew at any time.


Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

[Mayor McCheese]

No, like SMU in the 80's - everyone is doing this, just that tOSU got caught.

[HouWarrior]

If you want to run with the big dogs, and compete for the BCS Championship, it seems you must risk, sooner or later, an NCAA probe....look at the list, and note those which have faced NCAA problems, at some point. It may be chicken or egg, coming first, but BCS champs have a hefty share of NCAA sanctioned/probed FB programs....it seems to come with the elite territory.

BCS Records by teamTeam Appearances Wins Losses Percentage Title Seasons
Florida 2 2 0 1.000 2006, 2008
LSU 2 2 0 1.000 2003, 2007
Alabama 1 1 0 1.000 2009
Auburn 1 1 0 1.000 2010
Tennessee 1 1 0 1.000 1998
Texas 2 1 1 .500 2005
Miami (FL) 2 1 1 .500 2001
USC 2 1‡ 1 .500 2004‡
Ohio State 3 1 2 .333 2002
Florida State 3 1 2 .333 1999
Oklahoma 4 1 3 .250 2000
Nebraska 1 0 1 .000 ----
Oregon 1 0 1 .000 ----
Virginia Tech 1 0 1 .000 ----

[Brewtown Andy]

No, like SMU in the 80's - everyone is doing this, just that tOSU got caught.

And then lied about it, which makes it even worse.

[NYWarrior]

No, like SMU in the 80's - everyone is doing this, just that tOSU got caught.

SMU was worse than that .... they did it, got caught, went on probation for major violations, then kept cheating with the full support of some of the most powerful people in Texas (namely Bill Clements) because they wanted to honor the 'commitments' made to the kids they started to pay as incoming freshmen.  Crazy.  

Then they turned everybody else in in the old SWC as a measure of revenge.  

More on Clements and SMU http://blog.chron.com/sportsmedia/2011/05/remembering-bill-clements-and-the-smu-death-penalty/

[Rubie Q]

No, like SMU in the 80's - everyone is doing this, just that tOSU got caught.

Everyone is knowingly playing ineligible players, and then lying about it when it's exposed?

[texaswarrior74]

Having lived in Dallas before, during and after the whole SMU thing I can tell you that what they got caught doing was going on at most other Southwest Conference schools as well; A&M was another that got caught shortly thereafter. SMU was just the little private school that got caught because they weren't as good at it since they weren't as well practiced.

In reality, what Ohio State is being accused of is small change when compared to SEC schools. If the real truth about the money train at Auburn, dating back to the Pat Dye days, ever comes out, they should get a penalty that would make SMU's look paltry. The SEC is by far the worst conference as far as cheating goes and it it across the board with the only exception being Vanderbilt. My D went to South Carolina and worked in the athletic department....the stories that she's told me about "special privileges" for athletes, especially football players, would make your head spin.....and they continue to get away with it because of the BIG $$$ that SEC football generates.

[HouWarrior]

Ohio State voluntarily vacates its 2010 season including its 12-1 record, and sugar bowl win.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6749330

I dont recall a school voluntarily vacating a seasons wins before...all other instances involve the NCAA ruling and imposing the vacating-yes?.

Either OSU is being proactive to head off deeper NCAA sanctions...or the depth of the violations well is far deeper, than yet fully revealed in the press...either way this looks like USC level sanctions await OSU...this is bad.

[Mayor McCheese]

Ohio State voluntarily vacates its 2010 season including its 12-1 record, and sugar bowl win.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6749330

I dont recall a school voluntarily vacating a seasons wins before...all other instances involve the NCAA ruling and imposing the vacating-yes?.

Either OSU is being proactive to head off deeper NCAA sanctions...or the depth of the violations well is far deeper, than yet fully revealed in the press...either way this looks like USC level sanctions await OSU...this is bad.

They are trying to save face, and it is too late.

[Brewtown Andy]

Ohio State voluntarily vacates its 2010 season including its 12-1 record, and sugar bowl win.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6749330

I dont recall a school voluntarily vacating a seasons wins before...all other instances involve the NCAA ruling and imposing the vacating-yes?.

Either OSU is being proactive to head off deeper NCAA sanctions...or the depth of the violations well is far deeper, than yet fully revealed in the press...either way this looks like USC level sanctions await OSU...this is bad.

Changing the terms of Tressel's departure after the fact isn't going to help them, though.

[bamamarquettefan]

No, like SMU in the 80's - everyone is doing this, just that tOSU got caught.

I know this is the line from every team that gets sanctions, but after watching the president of OSU lead the charge in getting 4 bcs conferences to trash the NCAA for not banning cam newton, the new 0-12 season and 0-10 al time against the sec couldn't have happened to a nicer guy (note the badgers and Penn state do very well against the sec so this isn't a hit against the big 10, just OSU).

The pres apparently missed the spec in his neighbor's eye passages as he had several pro players posing as students while he pronounced that a student at another university had to be presumed guilty because public opinion was against him. Never mind the extensive audits auburn ran of the family's churches and personal books before even signing him, sand the withering media searches that turned up no payments to anyone. The same guy who didn't know hat students were being paid on his own campus under his own nose thought he had enough evidence to pronounce guilt and a punishment for a father unsuccesafully asking for a pay for play of Mississippi state where, unlike with the Ohio state booster, he was told NO.

Imagine how much they might have gotten away with if they'd already thrown out the NCAA for the 4 conferences of 16 teams!

[bamamarquettefan]

what Ohio State is being accused of is small change when compared to SEC schools.

The reason this is no longer true is that the SEC is that they are so aggressive about turning each other in.  Steve Spurrier's commented years back that some recruits he had lost to Bama seemed to be driving nice trucks, and then Fullmer went in and documented the Memphis pay roll.  These programs hate each other and compete for the same athletes, and once they all became aware a competing SEC coach would gladly nail them if they lost a recruit to them it froze people up.  And I'm sorry, as bad as the SEC once was, it was never as free wheeling as the SWC.

After having our town flooded with ESPN reporters digging for dirt for weeks on end, the best thing they could come up with was a backup tackle who never played saying people gave him hand shake with cash in it.  So a disgruntled guy who never played making a claim that noone can ever verify one way or the other?  The conspiracy theory that everyone is in on money going all over the place and noone ever says anything in the age of the internet is pretty hard to take seriously.

Most sports arguments over conferences go through two phases:

1. argue that your conference is better than the other one, and
2. if that no longer becomes possible, then argue that the other conference cheats or has other unfair advantages.

The SEC will get the accusations as long as it is dominating football, and will have special scrutiny.  If there players start driving around in nice vehicles or having a lot of cash on hand they will get busted like OSU, USC and Bama before them, and Auburn in the 80s etc., but overall I believe the NCAA has done a pretty good job of scaring boosters to death because everyone now realizes if they give anything to an athlete they may go from being the biggest fan on campus to being the most hated person on campus who cost his program wins.

Even for the people who would cheat if they thought it would help their program, it's not worth the risk anymore.