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Home > Blogs > Buckeyes Beat > Archives > 2008 > May > 06
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
From Wikipedia: Is bad part of Jim Tressel’s YSU past relevant?
While scrolling through Jim Tressel’s page on Wikipedia, one finds a message just inside the section on his time at Youngstown State. It says:
The neutrality of this section is disputed.
What you find when clicking on the link to discuss the issue is an interesting take on the extent of a coach’s responsibilities. Apparently, one user has twice added a paragraph into the YSU section that reads like this:
While at YSU, Tressel’s football program was investigated for major NCAA infractions. It was found that on numerous occasions during the period beginning August - September 1988 and continuing through the spring of 1992, a representative of the institution’s athletic interests, who was at the time a member and chairperson of the Youngstown State University Board of Trustees, gave at least $10,000 in cash and checks to a football student-athlete for his personal use. In the fall of 1988, the athletics booster instructed the football student-athlete to contact a business associate regarding the use of automobiles. The football student-athlete contacted the business associate who provided the free use of automobiles to the eligible football student-athlete.
This story has become well-known and to some has called into question Tressel’s squeaky-clean image, especially after NCAA violations involving Maurice Clarett and Troy Smith. But, you can’t read it in Tressel’s Wikipedia biography.
The user who added it argues that Tressel was the head football coach and therefore “was thus responsible for the YSU football team, it’s highly relevant to the subject matter.”
Others disagree:
… while yes, Tressel was responsible for the team’s operations, he cannot be (and wasn’t) held accountable for what happened outside the limits of his own personal actions and/or guidelines he set for the team. It was a booster, not a member of the coaching staff. So far as the matter in question is concerned, the info belongs on the YSU football team article, not Tressel’s
So, just how much should be attached to a coach’s biography? I didn’t take the time to look through Lou Holtz’s, but he has been criticized for leaving programs behind that later face violations apparently done during his tenure.
Most Ohio State fans will tell you that the YSU incident doesn’t mean much because it was the booster’s fault, not Tressel’s. Others say it is a symptom of Tressel’s willingness to break NCAA rules.
It’s a disagreement we find over one little paragraph on Wikipedia.
