Coach X on Jim Tressel (ESPN Insider)
Article is behind the ESPN Insider paywall. Link here.
This is the first column from anonymous Coach X, who "helms a top NCAA football program". The column discusses the recent college footbal scandals and the pressure on college coaches to win.
Relevant Tressel bit:
From the average college fan's perspective, Tressel was about as clean as it gets. But for coaches who are actually in the business, well, we knew he did have some issues at Youngstown State, and there was a lot that went on with Maurice Clarett's situation after he got to Ohio State. To a lot of college coaches, seeing Tressel getting into this kind of trouble with the rules wasn't shocking.
I recommend the article for those with ESPN Insider. Pretty interesting stuff.
August 27th, 2011 at 5:37 PM ^
It's interesting how Tressel created this halo around himself; some still feel he was somehow wronged in all of this. Honestly, the more that comes to light, the more he makes my skin crawl. He's like a religious fanatic who has a tremendous sense of entitlement and not much of a conscious. I think he regrets that the wall came tumbling down, but he doesn't regret what he did in the least.
August 27th, 2011 at 5:47 PM ^
Coach Tressel just looked like a choir boy. And everyone in Ohio hailed him as a saint because of his record against.
August 27th, 2011 at 7:42 PM ^
...just a tragic hero.
August 27th, 2011 at 5:49 PM ^
The delicious irony of Tressel's image-whoring was that there is no question the story around him became bigger as a result of it, much like a family values-espousing politician caught in an extra-marital affair. America eats stuff like that up.
August 27th, 2011 at 6:11 PM ^
sorry, conscience, not conscious. It wouldn't let me edit.
August 27th, 2011 at 7:40 PM ^
You can't edit posts after someone has replied to it.
August 27th, 2011 at 6:46 PM ^
Self-santimonius son of a bitch is still out there showing his face at NFL camps and at his boy Pryor's pro-day...acting smug as if he did nothing wrong.
August 27th, 2011 at 5:49 PM ^
You're right, though: Tressel doesn't have one. He reminds me of a reptile. He isn't immoral; he's just amoral.
August 27th, 2011 at 6:16 PM ^
I understand the sentiment. However, the carefully cultivated "St. James of Columbus" image was cultivated, managed and totally false. Pure hypocrisy moves the meter from amoral to immoral for me.
August 27th, 2011 at 7:11 PM ^
with a University and State full of willing droogs wrought great things--terrible, yes, but great nonetheless.
August 27th, 2011 at 10:06 PM ^
Welcome, finally, to my very short list of what I consider thoughtful posters.
Perhaps a bit delayed (and meaningless), but welcome indeed sir.
August 27th, 2011 at 11:17 PM ^
Well shit "brah."
An avatar as a sig line? After trying to coax me into one at all? I'm always on board with innovation. I'll tip my hat.
And you do whatever the fuck you want too, so I'm happy to accept the compliment from an authentic source.
August 28th, 2011 at 12:05 AM ^
Thanks for all the complements. I appreciate it, I really do.
I've been more or less doing what I want ever since I found my "voice" on the Board. Keeping myself and hopefully others thoughtful and entertained is fun, and it's good keeping up with the fellow fanbase and meeting new people.
What the hell. Kitteh hugz!
August 27th, 2011 at 5:49 PM ^
Take the followers money and buy some whores...
"The devil made me do it!"
August 27th, 2011 at 5:49 PM ^
August 28th, 2011 at 11:42 AM ^
Tressel was pretty soft-spoken, never talked smack, was respectful of other teams and their coaches, and made a big show of his religious devotion. He was a hard guy for most people to dislike
His acolyte Mark Dantonio makes a big show of his religious devotion. The other stuff, not so much, which is why I find him far more of an asshole than I thought Tressel was, even if Tressel is actually guilty of far more serious transgressions.
August 27th, 2011 at 5:51 PM ^
nobody could come up with some concrete evidence on the vest years ago
August 27th, 2011 at 5:52 PM ^
Of the warden from shawshank redemption. He seems that delusional, using religion to justify his rule-breaking.
August 27th, 2011 at 6:11 PM ^
To me, it's doubly sad - for OSU, not for me - that he played casual with NCAA rules for all this time and was thrown under the bus by an institution that was outwardly, even smugly, aiding him in doing this very thing.
August 27th, 2011 at 6:18 PM ^
And so is the writer. Couldn't he find at least ONE coach to say that and give his name?
The coach didn't need to be anonymous. Have some balls. Tressel's no longer a coach; what's he going to do? If there really is a coach who said that he should have the courage of his convictions.
Anonymous sources are sometimes necessary to break news but this is the kind of story where the reporter is either too lazy to find someone who'd go on the record or NO ONE would go on the record, and that says something.
I didn't respect the use of anonymous sources in the Freep's story on Michigan and don't respect the use of them in ESPN's Tressel story.
August 27th, 2011 at 6:28 PM ^
Coach X/Player X is a recurring segment in ESPN the Magazine. It's generally one of the better articles that normally discusses the aspects of the game that you never hear about, and you'd never hear about without anonymity. There is no reporter, the coach/player writes a story based on the topic that's picked for them/suggested.
August 27th, 2011 at 7:03 PM ^
When do you ever see coaches criticize other coaches' ethics? There was a similar report earlier quoting an unnamed B1G coach. If you think some coach that plays OSU is going to go on the record you're crazy.
This is a much different use of unnamed sources than the Freep or SI stories. They aren't giving evidence, just their opinion on Tressel's character.
August 27th, 2011 at 6:54 PM ^
To a lot of college coaches, seeing Tressel getting into this kind of trouble with the rules wasn't shocking.
...And he wouldn't chew grass with me, so he's an asshole there too....
August 27th, 2011 at 7:04 PM ^
I've got nothing against this anonymous coach. Or how ESPN is managing this anonymous column. I agree with OMG Shirtless on the value of something like this. It is good entertainment, if not taken too seriously as reporting.
It would be quite a different matter, if this were not an anonymous or pseudonymed opinion column; and if it were instead the abuse of anonymous sources for major investigative reporting. ESPN's own obmudsman, Don Ohlmeyer, has a rather big problem with how much of that (anonymous-source investigative reporting) there is, in the extremely loose world of sport reporting.
Still, I am pretty unimpressed with most of what has swirled around Tressel. None of this stuff at OSU was his idea; none of it was schemed or concocted by Tressel; none of it surrounded recruiting or comeptition. What Tressel was guilty of was covering for some of his stupid players, on some terribly stupid, mostly meaningless violations. And then lying about it. The lying is the worst part, given the NCAA's vast reliance on self-reporting by member institutions. Maybe that was Tressel thinking that the NCAA would not catch up with Pryor & Co., because he knew how bad the NCAA was at investigations.
ESPN's Anonymous Coach doesn't seem to have much in the way of specifics regarding Tressel, apart from the matters of public record at Youngstown State. Maybe supplying more specifics could have blown his anonymity. But it didn't sound like it. Anyway, not having access to the paywalled column itself, I shall not go too far in either criticizing it or praising it.
Carr said the same. He has lasting admiration for Tressel, his former rival and a man he hopes will one day coach again. "From a personal and coaching standpoint, it was a tragedy," he said of Tressel's stunning fall at Ohio State. "We all feel for Jim, and if I know him, he'll rebound."
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110816/SPORTS0201/108160418/Lloyd-Carr--Jim-Tressel-visit-Cleveland-Browns-camp#ixzz1WGyfUV80
August 27th, 2011 at 7:37 PM ^
Given his role at YSU in introducing his star QB to a booster, I'd say he was MUCH more involved in misdeeds in Columbus than you suggest.
August 27th, 2011 at 8:14 PM ^
August 27th, 2011 at 8:27 PM ^
You just spent four paragraphs critiquing an article that you didn't read???
"doesn't seem to have much in the way of specifics"
"Maybe supplying more specifics could have blown his anonymity. But it didn't sound like it."
"Anyway, not having access to the paywalled column itself..."
August 28th, 2011 at 12:20 PM ^
I didn't critique the article! I commented on the general subject of "anonymity" and on the fact that there are no new known specifics, as relates to Tressel. I specifically declined to to critique it!
Correct me if you had access to the paywalled story, and if I am wrong; was there anything new that was specifically alleged, with respect to Tressel? Indeed; that really might be a problem, if it was one just uncorroborated anonymous source, masquerading as reporting.
Perhaps that was the way that this column was taken, by the Tressel-haters. As more proof of his guilt. When in fact it is just a column.
The point about "specifics" didn't go to the credibility of the unnamed author; it wasn't criticism of him. It went to the general point about what level of specificity an opinion columnist might be held to, in his unique role. Versus reporters.
Look, there actually is a longstanding tradition of anonymous American newspaper writers, going back to Ben Franklin, The Federalist ("Publius") and Mark Twain. And I don't deny that. And this subject is quite close to MGoBlog, as we criticized the Free Press' methods in Stretchgate. It just bears some careful parsing as to what people are doing, and what they are talking about when journalists get into anonymity.
August 28th, 2011 at 12:59 PM ^
...how do you know what specifics the article contained if you didn't read it?
August 28th, 2011 at 1:24 PM ^
[facepalm]
August 27th, 2011 at 7:40 PM ^
he is always on espn and he said some of the same points on their roundtable talk show.
August 28th, 2011 at 11:20 AM ^
August 27th, 2011 at 8:52 PM ^
In the SI piece from late May, is that it was widely known that Tressel would rig raffles at camps for star players to "win". I know it wasn't a hugely damning bombshell, more funny than anything else, but it also speaks volumes to Tressel's own internal descision making process.
August 28th, 2011 at 7:58 AM ^
from the Get Go...I find istfunny all this corruption comes as a SHOCK for some!
He was Dirty at YSU and dirty the second he set foot at Olieo....The best part is
the VictimHood that OSU fans spew...This season they will play the" Poor Victims "
as motivation....THEY CHEATED THEY LIED and its been going on for almost a
Decade...such a "TRAGIC HERO!!!........
August 28th, 2011 at 11:18 AM ^
August 28th, 2011 at 11:42 AM ^