6. Every single person who called for Bruce Pearl to be fired has to call for Jim Tressel to be fired as well.
Why?
Because Tressel’s actions are much worse. Pearl lied about hosting juniors at a home BBQ. That would have been a secondary violation if he hadn’t lied. Pearl gained no competitive advantage from the situation. Indeed, two of the three players who attended the BBQ are presently playing at Kansas and, ironically, Ohio State. Pearl admitted lying to the NCAA of his own volition not because the school uncovered his lie. In fact, there’s no suggestion in the record that he lied to the school.
For that action — lying about a secondary violation to the NCAA — the school took him off the road recruiting for a year, docked him over a million dollars in salary, and the SEC suspended him for half the conference basketball season. Pearl still has to appear before the Committee on Infractions and face additional penalties.
Meanwhile, Jim Tressel lied about the receipt of multiple emails that explicitly detailed a major violation that would have rendered players ineligible, three times lied to his university, lied to the NCAA about when he became aware of this situation, played those players for 12 regular season games while knowing that they had sold apparel, rings, and assorted other awards and were under investigation for federal drug trafficking, instead of admitting his wrongdoing he was caught in that lie by the school’s review of his emails, and still has not taken responsibility for that lie — as noted he cited a bull**** “confidentiality” rationale.
Whew.
For these blockbuster lies and borderline criminal activity, Tressel won’t be able to coach against Akron and Toledo.
That’s not a joke.
What Jim Tressel did makes Bruce Pearl look like a choir boy. Yet I haven’t heard a single media member call for Tressel’s firing. (Personally, I’ve ripped Pearl on air for months. And I’ve said for months that you can make strong arguments to fire him or keep him. I haven’t taken a side because I’m interested in how the NCAA deals with a situation with no precedent and I think it’s a 50/50 call).
But for all the Pearl angst, Tressel is skating by with barely a speck of public criticism.
