Times wires
Friday, March 25, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel forwarded e-mails to Terrelle Pryor's mentor that accused the star quarterback of selling memorabilia to a man under federal investigation, the Columbus Dispatch reported Friday.
The newspaper reported that Tressel sent the information to Ted Sarniak, a businessman in Pryor's hometown of Jeannette, Pa. That contradicts the coach's claim that he didn't share the information concerning the players.
Ohio State director of compliance Doug Archie said Sarniak and Pryor are longtime friends and that Sarniak was the player's primary contact during recruiting.
"As the friendship developed, Mr. Sarniak is someone who Terrelle has reached out to for advice and guidance throughout his high-school and collegiate career," Archie said in an e-mail to the newspaper.
Tressel will sit out the first five games this season and was fined $250,000 by the university for failing to notify the school about e-mails he received in April involving two players and questionable activities involving the sale of memorabilia.
During a March 8 news conference about his NCAA violations, Tressel said he was trying to protect his players by not breaking the confidentiality of the federal investigation, not even disclosing the e-mails to the Ohio State staff or the NCAA.
When asked by the paper whether Tressel had passed the information to Sarniak, Ohio State officials said: "We are not discussing any issues relative to the case until it is resolved with the NCAA."
Five Ohio State players, including Pryor, were suspended five games in 2011 for selling jerseys and other memorabilia to the owner of a local tattoo parlor, who was under investigation in a federal drug trafficking case.
More colleges: John Lomax III, 22, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in the fatal stabbing of Connecticut junior cornerback Jasper Howard, 20, during an on-campus fight in 2009. … Penn State receiver Curtis Drake hurt his left leg in a drill and will miss the rest of spring practice.