Just shakes head in disbelief....The absolute blind loyalty of these fanatics is simply beyond reason. They are certified loony.
Here's a view from Akron Beacon Journal columnist Jason Lloyd, who took some severe heat from ABJ readers for daring to suggest Tressel be, GASP, fired!!! Can you imagne??? Anyway, Lloyd's been firm in all his follow up columns since the Cbus Disaster hit...
http://www.ohio.com/sports/jason-lloyd- ... l-1.225654
Jason Lloyd: Coaches shouldn’t dress up to honor Tressel
By Jason Lloyd
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published: July 19, 2011 - 12:53 AM
Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel arrives at a news conference Wednesday, March 30, 2011, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)
View Larger Version >> Jason Lloyd: Coaches shouldn’t dress up to honor Tressel July 18,2011 11:53 PM GMT Jason Lloyd Beacon Journal Publishing Co. Copyright � 2011 Beacon Journal Publishing Co. Inc and Black Press. All Rights Reserved. Any copying, redistribution or retransmission of any of the contents of this service without the express written consent of the Akron Beacon Journal is expressly prohibited.
When Jim Tressel replaced John Cooper as head coach at Ohio State a decade ago, one of his first priorities was to strengthen the relationship between the state’s biggest university and Ohio’s high school football coaches.
Ultimately, it was probably a big reason Tressel was so successful at securing the top in-state players. Rarely did he aggressively pursue an Ohio kid and lose him to another school.
High school kids trust their coaches, who in turn trusted and admired Tressel. It’s easy to connect the dots from there.
It’s also easy to see why Solon coach Jim McQuaide suggested all high school football coaches in the state wear a shirt and tie on opening weekend this year to honor the former Ohio State coach.
McQuaide’s idea was unanimously approved by the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association’s board of directors, making it an official recommendation. It’s not required, but the OHSFCA is encouraging it as a good idea.
It’s a noble gesture, but it has missed the mark.
It’s inappropriate to use high school football, where coaches and teachers try to instill the importance of telling the truth and deciphering right from wrong, as the platform to honor a coach who lost his job for being untruthful.
It’s that dichotomy within Jim Tressel that makes him so unique, yet eerily similar to Woody Hayes. Just as the legend before him, Tressel’s legacy inside and outside Ohio will forever remain starkly different.
Outside of this state, Hayes will always be remembered as the irascible coach who often threw childish tantrums on the sideline and was fired for slugging an opposing player.
Ohioans, however, staunchly defend a generous, giving soul who made it chic to “pay it forward” and always made academics a priority for his players.
Such is the case with Tressel, whose tattered trail of NCAA investigations dating back to Youngstown State and recent web of lies makes him easy fodder for critics outside the state.
Around here, his fiercest supporters point to all of his charity work and emphasis on academics with his players as plenty of reasons to forgive any transgressions.
The football team’s academic score is fifth best in the country among Football Bowl Subdivision schools. Ohio State trails only Northwestern, Rutgers, Northern Illinois and Duke, according to NCAA data released in the spring.
Tressel and his wife, Ellen, were big donors to Youngstown State’s indoor practice facility. He chaired the fundraising efforts to expand Ohio State’s library, donating $100,000 out of his own pocket and following it up by donating the proceeds from his Winners Manual book a few years ago to the library fund. He established the Tressel Family Fund for cancer research and prevention after both of his parents died of the disease.
The complete list of his charity work could fill the Horseshoe.
If Ohio’s high school coaches want to quietly honor the good in Tressel, they should follow the idea suggested by Lima News Ohio State writer Jim Naveau, who has covered OSU football dating back to the Cooper years.
Instead of dressing up for the occasion, Naveau suggested the high school coaches who want to participate donate the cost of a nice tie — say $25 — to one of Tressel’s favorite charities.
It’s a good idea and a way for a group of men to privately celebrate the good in Tressel without being drawn into a public debate for which they never volunteered. Now that the idea is out there, any coach who doesn’t want to participate — for whatever reason — will be exposed to undue scorn from Tressel supporters when they have done nothing wrong.
McQuaide’s intentions were on target, but the execution is not.
Regardless of what he did off the field, Jim Tressel lost his job at Ohio State for playing ineligible athletes and lying to his bosses. That isn’t the type of behavior that should be publicly celebrated by high school coaches trying daily to teach their players to do the right thing.
Jason Lloyd can be reached at
[email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at
http://www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.
