I never thought we'd get to this point.
For the better part of the past five months, I've been telling everyone who would listen that there was no way--absolutely no way--that Jim Tressel would lose his job over this ridiculous scandal in Columbus. I couldn't see it happening. I honestly couldn't. And there was one very simple reason why: Tressel was as perfect a coach as Ohio State has ever had.
An Ohio native and son of an Ohio college coach (his father, Lee, led Baldwin-Wallace College to the Division III national title in 1978), Tressel seemed to do everything right, at least in the eyes of the Buckeye partisans. He embraced all of the traditions that Ohio State fans hold so dear. He beat Michigan--and made no secret of taking great joy in doing so. He won Big Ten titles and dominated the conference like no coach in decades. He claimed one national title and played for two others. He was stately, and understated, and a Buckeye to the core.
Plus, well, he won. He won big.
He was, without question, one of the two best coaches that Ohio State ever had.
The only guy who was better? Well, Woody Hayes of course.
It was for all of those reasons--the wins over Michigan, especially--that I figured Tressel was untouchable. Absolutely, unquestionably untouchable. You see, being an Ohio native myself, knowing how much Ohioans love that program and understanding on a very fundamental level how vitally important it is (both culturally, and in a bottom-line sense) for Ohio State to win on the football field each autumn Saturday, I was absolutely certain that the officials in Columbus would do everything in their power to keep Tressel on the sidelines. Because let's face it: Given his enormous success, it would be in their best interest to do precisely that.
Fire Tressel? It could never happen.
That's what I believed. I believed that very strongly, in fact.
Well, as we now know, I was wrong.
Because as it turns out, Tressel, a man who presented himself publicly as a paragon of class and "doing things the right way," turned out to be just another crooked college football coach--just another guy who was willing to look the other way so long as the recruits kept signing on the dotted line, so long as the wins kept coming, and so long as the money was good (and yes, the money was good).
It's sad, really. Sad, that is, the way this remarkable ten-year run had to end.
Tressel was a superb coach, as his record suggests. Mocked at time for his conservatism, one could certainly not argue with the results: An 106-22 record, seven Big Ten titles, one national title, and a stretch of conference dominance not seen since the height of the Woody era. I mean, Tressel was a fantastic winner. Dominant. Consistent. Relentless.
But now? Well, now his legacy, once seen to be on par with the great Hayes, will also include that most dreaded of descriptives: Cheat. There is no escaping the reality that, for all of his success, and for all he's done for Ohio State, Tressel's legacy will be stained forever. He will never be remembered as fondly as Woody. Nor should he be.
Of course, one man's legacy's is not what this mess is really all about. It's mostly about the future of one of college football's flagship programs. And at least in the short term, Tressel must also accept the unhappy truth that he's left this Ohio State program--a program he professed to love so much--in a state of absolute crisis.
It has long been forgotten now, but it should be pointed out that this Buckeye team won 12 games last year, capping another Big Ten title season with a much-needed win over an SEC team (Arkansas) in the Sugar Bowl. With a ton of talent coming back for 2011, it was widely assumed that the Buckeyes would win the Big Ten yet again; some experts had them pegged as national title contenders. At the very least, this team was going to win 10 games and play in yet another BCS bowl game.
Besides, that's what Tressel always delivered.
Of course, a national title is now most likely a pipe dream, as is a Big Ten crown. Talented or not, this team will not--and I emphasize, will not--win the Big Ten in 2011. They will be lucky to win ten games, actually, because they are now rudderless, their leader fired unceremoniously, and the very future of their program thrown into serious doubt.
Let us face the facts, folks: Luke Fickell, the interim coach charged with cleaning up this mess, has absolutely no chance to hold on to this job past 2011. Barring a miracle run this year, he'll be cast aside when this nightmare season comes to a close. Many of the players will very likely face the same fate, as Tressel's real replacement (Mark Dantonio? Gary Patterson?) brings in his own staff, his own ideas, his own recruits. And then there's that black cloud of NCAA sanctions hanging overhead, which will not only keep potential recruits away, but very well could drive many current Buckeyes to transfer elsewhere. I mean, why wouldn't they?
In the wake of Tressel's transgressions, you see, this program faces nothing less than a complete rebuild. But the rebuild cannot begin until demolition is complete.
And here's the thing: Tressel's firing was but the first swing of the wrecking ball.
There are many, many more to come.
Photo: Jim Tressel was the perfect coach for Ohio State. Except, of course, he wasn't. (Getty Images)
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