Times wires
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said Tuesday that the $250,000 fine levied against coach Jim Tressel for violating NCAA rules might not even cover the cost of the investigation.
"It'll probably eat up the whole $250 (thousand)," Smith said. "I'm not sure. We haven't done any projections."
Declining to address the ongoing NCAA investigation into Tressel's violation, Smith also said he didn't know when Tressel's issues would be resolved.
Tressel has been suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season for failing to notify OSU officials of e-mails he received as early as April 2010 which said his players were selling memorabilia for money and tattoos from the owner of a local tattoo parlor.
Five players, including starting quarterback Terrelle Pryor, were suspended in December for accepting the improper benefits. The NCAA let them play in Ohio State's Sugar Bowl victory over Arkansas.
Tressel, in his 11th year with the Buckeyes, did not disclose what he knew about the violations until school officials confronted him in January.
Ohio State released a copy of Tressel's annual NCAA compliance form to the AP on Tuesday through a Freedom of Information Act request. All college coaches, officials and administrators must fill out the form; Tressel did so Sept. 13, certifying that he had reported any NCAA violations to superiors. Yet he had known for five months that the players had likely broken NCAA rules.
UMASS: The Minutemen will join Division I-A and play in the Mid-American Conference in football in 2013, a school official said. A news conference is scheduled today.
NAME CASE: A new state law ordering North Dakota to keep its Fighting Sioux nickname won't shield the school from penalties for using a name the NCAA considers hostile to American Indians, NCAA executive vice president Bernard Franklin told the school.
Golf: Big East tournament
The USF women finished third and the men tied for fourth after the third and final round of the Big East tournament at the Innisbrook Golf Resort's Copperhead course in Palm Harbor. The Bulls' Robby Carl tied for fourth at 217 after shooting 1-over 72 as the men finished at 895, tied with Georgetown. The women shot 934, led by fifth-place Shena Yang (76—225). Notre Dame swept both team titles.
Basketball
FSU, UCF IN HOLIDAY TOURNEY: Florida State, Central Florida and national champion Connecticut will be among eight teams in the Battle 4 Atlantis, a tournament Nov. 23-27 in the Bahamas.
COMING, GOING: Kentucky guard Doron Lamb will return for his sophomore season. … Northwestern forward John Shurna declared for the NBA draft but didn't hire an agent and can return to school if he withdraws by May 8.
KANSAS: Forward Thomas Robinson was cited with misdemeanor battery after a fight April 10 at a nightclub.