[Husker] So, Who's That Sixth Game Against?

[Steve Schmadeke]

While I don't know whether the NCAA will hit Ohio State with a penalty beyond a lengthier suspension, I thought it was a poor decision by the university to lowball the self-imposed suspension at two games to begin with.  That was just asking to be taught a lesson by the NCAA.  To the NCAA, the coverup is often worse than the crime, just ask Dez Bryant, who lost the bulk of his final collegiate campaign for lying to investigators about a visit to Deion Sanders that ultimately was ruled to not be a violation in and of itself.

In Tressel's case, sitting on the incident was bad enough since the coach certainly has an even greater responsibility to know and apply the rules than the players do, but then the situation was compounded by Tressel denying knowledge of the violations on two separate occasions when the violation was being explicitly investigated by the NCAA so that Tressel can in no way claim that he misunderstood the severity of the violations at the time.  I don't see any way that the NCAA could leave the final penalty for Tressel as low as what the players received, much less not even half as long, as was originally imposed.

I do wonder what tools the NCAA has in its toolbox to apply penalties, though.  They certainly have the power to suspend the eligibility of players.  I don't know whether that power applies to coaches or other specific employees of the institutions.  The NCAA might be limited to levying penalties on the institution as a whole (e.g. the scholarships, etl al. that David Strong brought up).  Didn't Jerry Tarkanian win a lawsuit to that effect?  And currently, I believe that Bruce Pearl's suspension at Tennessee was imposed by the school, not the NCAA.  Thinking about it, I think that the NCAA investigation is still ongoing there, so there may still be further developments on the Bruce Pearl front.

Anyway, assuming that the NCAA has the power to extend Tressel's suspension, I can't see that they could let the suspension stand at two or even five games and I think that the university's original slap on the wrist might provoke a bigger response from the NCAA than they would have received if they had initially jumped straight to the same five-game suspension that the players received.

On Mar 17, 2011, at 10:06 PM, Mark Landin wrote:

> And probably will be. Remember, so far this is all self-imposed in
> order to show contrition. The NCAA hasn't gotten into the act yet ...
> Possivly because of the entabglement with an ongoing federal
> investgation.
> 
> On 3/17/11, David Strong <gobigredlist at gmail.com> wrote:
>> This being suspended for games stuff is all very nice, but it's impact is
>> questionable.  Yank a few scholarships and/or TV spots and/or a bowl game
>> and that is the stuff that hurts.  It's been done for a lot less.
>> 
>> Dave
>> 
>> On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 9:35 PM, Dick Karre <dkarre at comcast.net> wrote:
>> 
>>> At his own request, Jim Tressel's suspension has been increased to five
>>> games, matching the suspension of the players who committed the offenses.
>>> 
>>> http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2011/03/jim_tressel_suspension_ncaa_five_games.html
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Dick Karre
>>> dkarre at comcast.net