Paging Buckeye fans...

[corncraze]

So if I was a USC fan, how would you explain to me how my program has received the biggest NCAA violations of this decade, meanwhile your program avoids a stamp of "failure to monitor" which basically prevents you from having any level of Bowl bans.

 

What separates the disparity of infractions.

 

Now's your chance to lay everything out for me here.

 

The oppositions banter is also welcome on this page as well, I want to piece this together the best I can, but please everyone uphold to some level of courtesy.

[jsneb83]

It's kind of obvious actually. They're too busy investigating Nebraska giving players improper benefits. Oh and trying to find different ways to prevent Charles Jackson from making it to campus.

[corncraze]

It's kind of obvious actually. They're too busy investigating Nebraska giving players improper benefits. Oh and trying to find different ways to prevent Charles Jackson from making it to campus.

Let's not be paranoid now...

[Fridge56Vet]

First off, I would like to wish a warm welcome from the great state of Ohio to all of my new Big Ten brothers. May you have a fun and successful (but not too successful) first year in the conference.

 

While I am not uber familiar with the details of the USC/Bush/Mayo situation, I will do my best with the limited knowledge that I have.

 

While visiting my folks up in Michigan over Memorial Day weekend there was an article in the sports section of the Detroit Free Press basically telling UM and MSU fans to not get giddy re: OSU on the heels of the USC decision because OSU was cooperating fully with the NCAA investigation, where as USC did not. Take that for what you will, but I was surprised to find that position taken from a columnist of a "hostile" paper. Furthermore, The OSU case did not involve any players or staff having illegal contact with alumni, boosters or agents. (Nor, for that matter, were any issues with drugs, crime or academic integrity.) The NCAA found no significant evidence to support that anyone in the university, save Tressel, had prior knowledge of wrongdoing w/respect to the tattoos & memorabilia. He's now gone, and the school has self-imposed a vacation of the 2010 season and 2 years probation. While the NCAA has not made a ruling w/respect to final penalties, I can understand that it's hard to penalize the program & university as a whole when there was no widespread cover-up. With respect to the alleged car scandal, the NCAA apparently didn't find anything substantial enough to back up those allegations, either. Not totally surprising, as the Bureau of Motor Vehicles inquiry found that of all the alleged "deals" players got, only one car was sold at a loss to the dealer, and that was one that had been on the lot for over 150 days. Therefore, selling at a loss would not be unexpected.

 

In short, the NCAA found only a single violation by the coach that did not involve a broader cover-up. With respect to the players' infractions (which are a separate issue from Tressel's) there were no boosters, agents, etc. associated with those "benefits" and any compensation the players received was comparable to the market value of the items (i.e. a booster didn't pay $40k for a ring).

 

Hope I didn't ramble too much & made some bit of sense. Been a long day over here, & I'm heading to bed.

[Creed]

Here's my two cents.

 

USC - Bush received car and housing for his family from an agent. BBall star was paid $1,000 by coach tim floyd via agent to come to USC. RB Joe McKnight also was given a car (Range Rover) for playing at USC.

OSU - 5 players exchanged personal FB memorabilia for tatoos.

 

Let's see - housing, cars, $1,000 vs free tats. Which one do you think is worse?

 

USC - Athletic department was found to be uncooperative with NCAA during investigation. RB coach failed to report knowledge of benefits to Bush. He was later fired. USC's compliance department did not verify Bush's incomplete car registration. Carrol held open practices (well publicized) which allowed agents to interact with players.

 

OSU - tressel failed to report extra benefits to higher ups. Rationale was that it was part of a Federal investigation. Tressel was forced out. NCAA found no other OSU personnel were aware of the benefits and the school fully cooperated.

 

As usual the media will crap on OSU and not explain the facts.

[Coqui]

USC - Football, basketball, Tennis

OSU - Football

 

USC - Admitted violations after NCAA reported it to them

OSU - Admitted violations and got the NCAA involved for punishments (self reported)

 

USC - Dragged their feet in response to the NCAA

OSU - Gave everything requested by the NCAA before requested deadlines

 

USC - Proof of violations occurring for more than one year

OSU - Proof of violations occurring for only one year.

 

USC - Failure to show compliance office capable of managing an AD their size

OSU - Had enough people and showed with documentation they exhibited an air of attempted compliance and education.

 

USC - 10 major violations

OSU - 2 major violations

 

USC - All involved escaped punishment by leaving for greener pastures prior to punishment.

OSU - Only one left for greener pastures, while the other 4 athletes are remaining to server their punishment. Head coach was forced to resign.

[It'sNotAFakeID]

I find it bizarre how tOSU got off with less, but these explanations cleared up my questions. It seems that tOSU was more compliant and had less severe problems than what was initially suggested and less problems than USC had overall. Thanks for the clarification.

[Creed]

I find it bizarre how tOSU got off with less, but these explanations cleared up my questions. It seems that tOSU was more compliant and had less severe problems than what was initially suggested and less problems than USC had overall. Thanks for the clarification.

 

Officially OSU is not out of the woods yet. I think many CFB fans are like you - thought OSU got off easy compared to USC. ESPN's constant barage of anti-OSU stories and talking head automatically judging Tressel led to these perceptions. I hear talk of "renegade out of control program", "Tressel is EVIL", etc.

 

They assumed Tressel lied to protect himself and the program. Did he really lie or just failed to report? To me there's a difference between lying (fraud) and failure to report (lack of due care). Also, he had a somewhat reasonable rationale for not reporting (part of Federal investigation). Anyway, he should have reported it.

 

It reminds me of when Bush was under constant attack for high gas prices and being friendly to big oil companies. Now with Pres. BO and even higher gas prices, hardley a blip on the media radar.