Back in December – when Tattoogate seemed to be about Ohio State football players only – Buckeyes boss Jim Tressel made the following comment about whether his players should have known that trading athletic memorabilia for free tattoos and money was an NCAA violation:
“We all have a little sensor within us [that says], ‘Well, I’m not sure if I should be doing this.'”
Apparently, Tressel’s sensor had run low on batteries or he simply chose to ignore it when he first learned of these violations 389 days ago – or roughly 340 days before Ohio State suspended him and docked him $250,000 for lying to the NCAA about what he knew of Tattoogate and when he knew it.
Monday, the NCAA went a giant step further. Its official “notice of allegations” to the school labeled Tressel’s actions regarding Tattoogate as “potential major violations.”
In detailing those charges, college athletics’ governing body wrote that the coach “failed to deport himself … [with] honor and integrity,” that he lied to the NCAA when he filled out a compliance form last September that he had no knowledge of player wrongs and that he “permitted football student-athletes to participate in intercollegiate athletics while ineligible.”