As to the OP - Hells yes. I don't care if he comes here and moves on. I don't care if he looked the other way when his players were exchanging memorabilia for tattoos. I don't give a damn about any of that. i just want CU to win some fooking football games. All this bull**** about baggage and whether the CU admin would hire him is garbage. We need a winner in the worst possible way. We need somebody who can turn this ship around. We need to show the rest of the college football world that we do, indeed, take our football seriously.
Hell yes. Hire Tressel. Hire him right now. Don't waste any time.
After winning 4 1AA national championships at Youngstown State (and making 2 more championship games), Tressel did the following at OSU:
[TABLE="class: wikitable"]
[TR]
[TD]
2001[/TD]
[TD]
Ohio State[/TD]
[TD]7–5[/TD]
[TD]5–3[/TD]
[TD]3rd[/TD]
[TD]
L Outback[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]Coach[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]AP[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
2002[/TD]
[TD]
Ohio State[/TD]
[TD]14–0[/TD]
[TD]8–0[/TD]
[TD]T–1st[/TD]
[TD]
W NCAA Division I Football Champion[SUP]†[/SUP][/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
2003[/TD]
[TD]
Ohio State[/TD]
[TD]11–2[/TD]
[TD]6–2[/TD]
[TD]T–2nd[/TD]
[TD]
W Fiesta[SUP]†[/SUP][/TD]
[TD="align: right"]4[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
2004[/TD]
[TD]
Ohio State[/TD]
[TD]8–4[/TD]
[TD]4–4[/TD]
[TD]T–5th[/TD]
[TD]
W Alamo[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]19[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]20[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
2005[/TD]
[TD]
Ohio State[/TD]
[TD]10–2[/TD]
[TD]7–1[/TD]
[TD]T–1st[/TD]
[TD]
W Fiesta[SUP]†[/SUP][/TD]
[TD="align: right"]4[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
2006[/TD]
[TD]
Ohio State[/TD]
[TD]12–1[/TD]
[TD]8–0[/TD]
[TD]1st[/TD]
[TD]
L BCS NCG[SUP]†[/SUP][/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
2007[/TD]
[TD]
Ohio State[/TD]
[TD]11–2[/TD]
[TD]7–1[/TD]
[TD]1st[/TD]
[TD]
L BCS NCG[SUP]†[/SUP][/TD]
[TD="align: right"]4[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
2008[/TD]
[TD]
Ohio State[/TD]
[TD]10–3[/TD]
[TD]7–1[/TD]
[TD]T–1st[/TD]
[TD]
L Fiesta[SUP]†[/SUP][/TD]
[TD="align: right"]11[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]9[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
2009[/TD]
[TD]
Ohio State[/TD]
[TD]11–2[/TD]
[TD]7–1[/TD]
[TD]1st[/TD]
[TD]
W Rose[SUP]†[/SUP][/TD]
[TD="align: right"]5[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
2010[/TD]
[TD]
Ohio State[/TD]
[TD]12–1*[/TD]
[TD]7–1*[/TD]
[TD]T–1st*[/TD]
[TD]
W Sugar*[SUP]†[/SUP][/TD]
[TD="align: right"]5[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 2, align: center"]
Ohio State:[/TD]
[TD]106–22[/TD]
[TD]59–14[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 5"][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
I'm not so concerned about him failing to report some players trading gear for tattoos. But there's a bigger issue. Didn't he also allow walk-ons to eat at the scholarship athlete training table without having to pay for it? :wink2:
I'd hire this guy yesterday if I possibly could.
The difficulty is really in the NCAA "Show Cause" penalty against him, which I think is well worth the risk given the current situation:
It also imposed a five-year show-cause penalty on Tressel, which means any NCAA member that wants to hire him would have to "show cause" for why it shouldn't be sanctioned for hiring him, and could face severe penalties if he commits any further violations during that time. The order stands until December 19, 2016; given past precedent, it will likely have the effect of blackballing Tressel from the coaching ranks until the 2017 season. If Tressel ever coaches again during this period, he will be suspended for the first five games of the regular season, plus any conference championship game or bowl game. The NCAA came down particularly hard on Tressel because he'd had four chances to tell the truth and failed to do so.