Piney/BC - no surprise that I disagree. But what you may think is simply blind hatred for OSU playing itself out in wanting/praying for tough penalties is actually based on the fact I am hearing the same rhetoric out of Knoxville as I hear out of Columbus/you - which isn't a good thing for either Knoxville or Columbus. The husband of a business associate is UT through and through. Friend of mine is ex-UT women's basketball player. Both echo the same rhetoric - we got rid of Pearl, the infractions are no big deal, we are cleaning our house and imposing sanctions, etc. Unfortunately, it is a bad time to be under the gun.
But there is a difference between the UT and OSU infractions. The NCAA does not like recruiting issues, the OSU infraction has to do with extra benefits. PLUS UT got cited for some football issues along with the basketball ones, and was cited for "failure to promote". I know... you might not think of them as big differences, but they are slightly different. In addition, I don't think Tennessee is going to be hit bad either.
The NCAA has made it clear they want to be tough on those caught breaking the rules - "We need to make sure our penalty structure and enforcement process imposes a thoughtful level of concern, and that the cost of violating the rules costs more than not violating them" - Mark Emmert NCAA President. The NCAA knows everyone is pulling these shenanigans. But they can't look the other way when they are so out in the open. Unfortunately, the NCAA has incredible leeway in assigning penalty. Based on a little fire and a lot of smoke, they can assign pretty tough sanctions. More than what you would get for tattoos.
I admit... this is the big unknown. If you go by previous issues, the Ohio State self-imposed penalties fall in line with previous penalized programs that had the same issues. REMEMBER, the issues for now are only the head coach knowingly playing ineligible players and lying to the NCAA. All the other stuff is white noise til proven.
At the end of the day, they know as fact, the answer to three questions.
Did Tressel/OSU know the players were selling memorabilia, and/or trading for tattoos (both of which are an infraction thus making the players ineligible). Answer is Yes.
And then the two biggies:
Did Tressel/OSU knowingly then allow these players to play. The Answer is Yes. Thus the coach knowingly played ineligible players and knowingly broke the rules.
Was the coach less than forthright in dealing with the NCAA? The answer is yes. When provided the opportunity to come clean, he did not - over and over again.
Just one correction on this... ONLY Tressel knew about this. OSU did not. BIG difference and that difference is what OSU is selling to the NCAA. Because OSU is telling the NCAA that once THEY found out about it they acted on it. (ie telling the NCAA)
It is not a question of what they should get, it is what they will get. The NCAA comes down hard when they have anything to go on - just ask UNC (a second tier program). And yes, that involved an agent, but do you think the NCAA feels the guy in Columbus is stand-up?
Did you read the UNC Notice of Allegations? MUCH different than the OSU NOA. UNC had ACADEMIC fraud and a failure to monitor tag. AND they had an assistant coach nailed for being a runner for an agent??? Juuuuuuust a bit bigger than Ohio State's allegations in my humble opinion.
And today's actions regarding Tressel will not help their argument. We blame the coach. He alone caused all this. So we got rid of him. Rescind his $250,000 fine and pay him $50,000. How convenient that the day he formally falls on the sword with the NCAA he profits $300,000.
They will not let UT or OSU off lightly. Will they let them break the rules and punish themselves? They simply can't. They come down light - the whole country laughs at them. They come down hard and Columbus and Knoxville are upset. Pretty easy choice. Not justice, just reality.
We'll see in a few months.
The rescinding the fine is interesting. But look at it this way. What if they kept the fine but instead gave Tressel a buy-out of his contract that normally comes with a resignation, and paid Tressel a couple of million? So basically it is just semantics of what Tressel did, retirement versus resigning versus being fired. The end result is the same, Tressel is gone and most likey the NCAA will give him a hefty no-show penalty to prevent him from coaching for X amount of years.
Another note... when does the NCAA care about public outcry? Newton got to play, the Tat 5 were allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl... the NCAA will do what they do regardless of what people complain about.
So how about this reality... The NCAA doesn't care what the media says or what people think. They care about what they can prove. They have no subpeona power so they can't get the sources that gave all the dirt to the media to even return the NCAA calls. So the ONLY thing they have is Tressel lied and the already reported Tat 5. Those players are already suspended for 5 games (which is the normal punishment). And the fact Tressel lied was brought to them by Ohio State themeselves, and eventually forced him to leave.
In the end they accept Ohio State's self imposed penalties and tack on a few scholarship reductions (2-3/year for 3-4 years) and maybe extend the probation. And in reality... that would be the most severe penalties that any program that faced these allegations would have gotten in the history of the NCAA.