Buckeye Blogger Network
Ohio State AD Gene Smith
Update – Bumped
After days of waiting with little to no news everything finally hit the fan when Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith announced in a press conference that several Ohio State football players had committed NCAA violations.
Five players, including Quarterback Terrelle Pryor, were found to have sold championship gear – including Big Ten Championship rings – in order to earn money for their families. The action is a direct violation of NCAA bylaws and subject to suspension for several games, and the players are forced to repay the money earned in the sale to charity.
The violations, as reported by the university, and the resulting punishment are as follows.
A sixth player – Jordan Whiting – was found to have earned discounts due to his status as a student athlete. He was penalized the first game of next season, and is required to pay $150 to charity. Whiting is most likely the one from where the “Tattoo-gate” rumors came from.
Ohio State University’s compliance office deserves credit for moving so quickly with this investigation. It was a no-nonsense approach that got results quick. The players also deserve lots of credit for being willing to come forward honestly about what had happened. It’s a great signature of personal responsibility to be willing and able to do that, knowing what might happen.
That said, the violations were committed, NCAA bylaws were broken. The NCAA has handed down it’s punishment decision, and it’s up to the players to continue to prove that they are the responsible individuals they seem to be and face the consequences of their actions.
Update – We will have further coverage and analysis on this topic later today.
December 23rd, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Yes, I’ll give credit to the players for honesty. BUT, there is no excuse for this and I do not believe “ignorance” due to the lack of rules education was at fault. This is due to blatant greed and arrogance. No, players are not paid and yes, they may need a stipend but no OSU player is living on the street or going hungry. As for Pryors’’ high school coach saying “he did it for his mother”…. Ask his mother if she would have wanted him to put his career and reputation on the line or let her find a way to deal with matter. Yes these are only kids… Kids that can recall a very large playbook and take college level courses and will hopefully make better decisions in the future.
[Reply]
Eric
December 23rd, 2010 at 2:36 pm
I will only point out a couple factors that influenced our viewpoint on this.
1) The violations occurred in 2009
2) In the summer of 2010, the University fired one of it’s compliance Officers and hired a new one.
3) In 2010, the bylaw that covers this issue was stated more clearly then it had in the past. At that point the players realized they had done something wrong.
The opinion that it was done for greed is not surprising, nor will I argue that it’s not a valid viewpoint.
However, I am personally willing to accept what the players have stated at face value because they haven’t provided any evidence to the contrary, and because one of the more common reasons for bailing early into the professional ranks is because kids need to help their parents financially.
Given conversations I’ve had with former players I’m not surprised that they believed that the paraphernalia belonged to them, and so they believed they could sell it. The NCAA rules that it doesn’t belong to them while they’re in college. Not exactly the most obvious rule in the history of the world.
[Reply]
Kaitlyn
December 23rd, 2010 at 3:34 pm
But this does not make it okay. It’s sad that you want to excuse these players and make it okay to do these things. They should be removed from bowl play. It happened similarly to Michigan State players in last years bowl game and it should happen to them. What, a free ride isn’t enough?!
[Reply]
Eric
December 23rd, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Whoa now! I never once said that what they did was ok.
Read the article again – they broke the rules and that’s that.
I merely argued that I’m not about to say that what they did was for greed.
[Reply]
December 23rd, 2010 at 2:18 pm
I should emphasize, the origin of the Tattoo-gate story has really yet to be fully stated. It’s likely that the three players (Herron, Posey and Thomas) who received discounted services also received tattoos.
That story would match perfectly with Pryor and Adams both stating in public (on twitter) that they paid for their tats. It also ties all of the available information up perfectly.
[Reply]
December 23rd, 2010 at 3:17 pm
[...] ring for $1,000, 2008 Gold Pants for $350 and receiving discounted services worth $155. NCAA Punishes Pryor and 5 Others for Rules Violations The Buckeye Battle Cry __________________ Common sense is not so common. Be Sure To Vote In The Forum Polls [...]
December 23rd, 2010 at 3:26 pm
[...] NCAA Punish Pryor and 4 Others for Rules Violations – The Buckeye Battle Cry Tags: Consequences, director, jordan, jordan-whiting, ncaa, repay-the-money, selling-2008, [...]