Tressel received information that players sold products to Edward Rife - the owner of Fine Line Tattoos Ink in Columbus - in April 2010, according to a source. However the investigation is Ohio State or NCAA transactions or relationships with players Rife until December 2010 when the school claims he was informed of the situation at the local office of U.S. Attorney.
Ohio State compliance director Doug Archie fell immediately comment when reached Monday Yahoo! Sport. Tressel and athletic director Gene Smith was unavailable for comment. NCAA declined comment.
Rife federal probe has revealed that he had several pieces of memories football Buckeyes, who formerly belonged to five players: quarterback Terre Pryor, running back Dan Herron, wideout diverts Posey, a defensive end and offensive Solomon Thomas linjapihdit Mike Adams. Federal officials contacted the school on December 7 if the goods are stolen or sold to the players instead of money, said Rife.
According to one source, an interested party in April approached Tressel, the coach warned that memories transactions took place between Rife and a handful of Buckeyes players, including Pryor. The sale of articles of violating NCAA rules of eligibility. The source said that Tressel has been concerned about the information, and the coach said he would investigate the matter and take appropriate action.
It is the coach started the accusation of investigation is unclear, but all five players remained on the ground in the coming months to carry out regular season in 2010.
After Ohio State has alerted the NCAA of the sale of memorabilia at the beginning of December, the staff of the NCAA student-athlete reinstatement ruled players were barred from the first five regular season games in 2011. Players also had to repay improper benefits achieved - for $ 2,500 Pryor, $ 1,505 for Thomas, Posey for $ 1250, $ 1150 for Herron and $ 1,000 for Adams. Linebacker Jordan Whiting also had to pay $ 150 to a charity to receive a tattoo there.
But in a controversial part of the decision - including pressure from Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany, according to Smith - The staff of the restoration of the NCAA decided in late December that the five players were entitled to Thursday 2011 Sugar Bowl against Arkansas .
At December 23 press conference, Smith said the school was informed of memorabilia for sale on December 7 Smith said the athletic department was told the next day and immediately initiated an investigation
If Tressel has not informed or Smith Ohio State Department about its relationship with the Rife players, he could inherit a series of NCAA violations in unethical conduct, are not monitored and the inability to foster a climate of respect. In general, the coach must act, or pass information on potential violations of reasonable rules for further investigation.
Contract with Ohio State Tressel said he would "monitor and take appropriate measures to ensure ... Team members to know, recognize and respect all laws, rules of the University and the Board Rules of sport and immediately report to the Director (Athletics) and (athletics) Services Department in writing if a compliance person or entity, including, without limitation, representatives of athletics interests Ohio State has violated or may violate laws, rules of the University and controlled rules of the sport. "
Section 5.1 (m) of the contract also stipulates that failure to report without delay "all violations" could lead to the abolition of the state of Ohio for the cause. "
Ohio State itself can be cited with gamers playing ineligible and forced to leave his 2010 season when he won a part of the Big Ten championship and finished 12-1. Could also face additional penalties for serious crimes.
Smith was adamant at the press conference on December 23 we did not know the state of Ohio until the United States Attorney has contacted them in early December.
"The athletic department was informed on 8 December," said Smith.
At the press conference on Dec. 23, Smith made a point of driving through the chronology of the case and I thank the federal authorities to provide information to university, so it can work. He explained each step of the investigation 10 days and subsequent negotiations with the NCAA and Big Ten office, until being informed of the suspension by the NCAA in the afternoon on December 22.
Tressel nor correct, nor Smith has publicly expressed any prior knowledge of the case. He hinted that he had discovered objects in the sale of recently saying he needed time to recover from the disappointment. "I try my mood for the holidays so I will be happier, of 26 years," said Tressel.
Tressel expressed his disappointment with the players after the suspensions were announced, saying that while Ohio State should have done a better job of explaining the rules on the sale of memorabilia, the players knew they probably doing something wrong.
"I think everyone has a small sensor in us," Well, I'm not sure if I should do it, "Tressel said." And then sometimes it is replaced by what you believe that you need. ... "
"There is an exciting feeling when you lose a game and you know you could have done better, he said later." And then there's the one that goes beyond when you do not feel as if you don ' had what you do as human beings. So whatever the next step in the unnerving is that it is what you feel. And we feel a responsibility to our children on and off the field. It is obviously painful. "
Tressel also proposed that responsibility for compliance ultimately falls on the coaching staff.
"I think ultimately, it seems coaches, the responsibility is ours - we're the ones who have to make things even more crystal clear that when the staff could spend time with a team or an external speaker or whatever it happens to be, "he said. "The important thing is that it seems as if it is our responsibility, so obviously we feel good that we left."
According to the study at Ohio State, five players have been sold multiple items Rife, who appears in some of memories of her Facebook page. Among the pieces sold by Pryor in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl, sportsmanship award, jersey Herron, a number of Big Ten championship rings and a series of pendants gold pants player is rewarded with victories against the University of Michigan. Pryor, Posey, Herron, Thomas and Whiting were also cited as receiving discounted tattoos in general.
The Columbus Dispatch reported on 2 January that Pryor had been "arrested for traffic violations on three occasions while driving vehicles owned by a car salesman or a batch of Columbus used cars if the seller has worked." He was allowed also to test a car for the weekend at his home in Pennsylvania.
Archie said the school knew two of the incidents and found nothing wrong. He said the school would investigate congestion third in a borrowed car. There was no update on the internal investigation.
Tressel, 58, was head coach for 25 years, the last 10 at Ohio State. His Buckeye teams have won at least part of the last six Big Ten titles and captured in 2002 BCS National Championship.
