NCAA to Ohio State: Jim Tressel Lied to Hide Violations

Could Ohio State's Jim Tressel era be coming to a close?

Ohio State University could be facing very severe NCAA penalties as punishment for coach Jim Tressel's failure to report violations, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

The NCAA has delivered a 13-page notice of allegations to Ohio State and Coach Jim Tressel accusing Tressel of dishonesty and failing to report possible infractions when he learned that players were selling memorabilia and clothing to a tattoo parlor.

The report goes on to mention that despite the penalites, Ohio State will not be cited for 'failure to monitor' or 'failure of institutional control' violations which could have resulted in the harshest penalites handed down for the university, The Dispatch reports.

Theallegations relating to the coach, the NCAA said, are considered "potential major violations."

The NCAA alleges that Tressel "failed to deport himself in accordance with the honesty and integrity normally associated with the conduct and administration of intercollegiate athletics." All of which means, the newspaper reports, that the school is "potentially facing the most severe NCAA penalties to its storied football program" as punishment.

In early March, Ohio State University suspended Jim Tressel for two gamesand fined him $250,000 following the admission that the 58-year-old football coach knew of his players involvement in an NCAA violation.

Several weeks later, he received a harsher suspension of five games.

Now the NCAA could very well force Ohio State's hand and force Tressel out. Tressel's contract lays out the scenarios in which Ohio State could fire Tressel for cause. One such scenario is for "Failure by Coach to report promptly to the Director any violations known to Coach of governing athletic rules or Ohio State rules and regulations by assistant coaches, students or other persons under the direct control or supervision of Coach."

Tressel is 106-22 and won a national title and seven Big Ten titles at Ohio State.

Related Resources:

• Latest News Could be End of Tressel (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• Players' Antitrust Lawsuit Against the NFL (FindLaw's Courtside)
• Motion for preliminary injunction could be resolved soon (NBC Sports)
• Supreme Court to Hear NFL Antitrust Case (FindLaw's Tarnished Twenty)