Patspsycho

For once, PFT has done a very nice write up on Vrabel's retirement:

Upon his retirement, an ode to Mike Vrabel’s career | ProFootballTalk

supafly

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Here is the most recent statement from today. "Ohio State has self imposed bans on themselves which includes forfeiting all games from the 2010 season when the violation occurred, and putting themselves on 2 years of probation."

They do not even bring up any 'real' or serious sanctions, such as any loss of scholarships, or banned post-season bowls. I believe they are leaving some room for the NCAA to take away some scholarships. The potential loss of a year or two of bowl eligibility would be an absolute, worst-case scenario, and if that is the route that the NCAA takes, it would then make it appear as though the NCAA really dropped the hammer on them.

To answer your question about probation violation and any mirroring of SMU's permanent blacklisting (for trading tattoos, and the HC lying about it, LOL) :

The Ohio St football program was under a 'probation' period which started in March of 2006, and ended directly after the 2008 season, consisting of 3 years.

NO, they would never have anything like that happen, not just b/c the SMU situation will never happen again, but b/c they just were not on probation at the time of any of these alleged concerns.

The dates of the first emails have been proven, and it is in relation to last season, or 2010.

supafly

Here is the full (short and sweet) article in regards to their sanctions imposed as of today. The main points are that Tressel was the only one who knew about any wrongdoing, and that Athletic Director Gene Smith has a good feel on any additional penalties, due to his closeness with the NCAA rules committee.

However, it should also be noted that AD Smith is the one who suggested to Tressel to step down and resign, so that may have been pretty much what the NCAA rules committee wanted all along.



"The Dispatch, citing sources close to the program, is reporting Ohio State will vacate wins from the 2010 season and place the program on probation for two years as part of self-imposed punishment in their response to the NCAA's Notice of Allegations.

Importantly, the school is not suggesting a loss of scholarships or any type of postseason ban.

The university submitted its response to the NCAA today, addressing allegations that then-coach Jim Tressel lied and allowed ineligible players to compete by failing to report that they had sold OSU-issued memorabilia to a tattoo-parlor owner.

Sources familiar with the university's response also told The Dispatch that Ohio State is admitting major violations of NCAA regulations, but says it should not face harsh punishment because no OSU official other than Tressel was aware of player violations.

This is pretty huge as I imagine most of us were bracing for something much worse. Of course, the NCAA could come back and say the punishment is not enough, but given athletic director Gene Smith's relationship with the organization and the close level of cooperation between the school and the NCAA, there's a chance that the two sides are somewhere in the vicinity of each other on the punishment side of things.

In somewhat related news, Jim Tressel's $250,000 fine has been waived, contradicting a statement from Smith last month that Tressel would still be on the hook for the fine."