NCAA Drops Ball Again: Ohio State Free but USC is Not?

In a shocking, yet not surprising announcement, the NCAA alluded that Ohio State will likely not face any additional charges for Tattoo-Gate, citing that former coach Jim Tressel was the only university official in the know.

Take that in for a second. Savor it. Ohio State will be off scotch-free despite alleged infractions of up to 28 players, over the course of nearly ten years, because Jim Tressel – once legendary coach, turned violator, turned martyr – resigned, coupled with the vacating of a season’s worth of wins. Athletic Director, Gene Smith? Still there. Outspoken OSU President, Gordon Gee? Still in charge. Ability to recruit and play on ESPN in multi-million dollar bowl games? Intact.

It’s absolutely criminal. So while USC is stuck wallowing over ONE player’s interactions with ONE non-university affiliated agent, while ONE position coach was aware, Ohio State is untouchable for the violations of many. It just doesn’t add up.

"“Considering the institution’s rules education and monitoring efforts, the enforcement staff did not believe a failure to monitor charge was appropriate in this case,” the NCAA said in the letter sent Thursday."

According to the NCAA, the “failure to monitor” violation is void against the Buckeyes, due to the limitation of knowledge to solely Tressel. So is it the case that the NCAA decided that grouping the Reggie Bush fiasco with the O.J. Mayo dilemma was the surefire way to punish USC?

In the documents pertaining to USC’s punishment released in 2010, both incidents were linked together in the same report and therefore, the violations were implied to be hit university wide for USC. But if that is the case, then why weren’t the punishments mandated across the athletic department, and only pinpointed towards football?

USC basketball, which by accounts was dirtier program than football, escaped NCAA punishment. Why? Because they self-imposed sanctions (a one season postseason ban on a team that wasn’t going anywhere, anyways) and head coach Tim Floyd resigned. Ohio State football followed the same course, and as we see now, they’ve received the same punishment, or lack thereof.

So this is the new direction of the NCAA, sit back and let universities ding themselves for the major violations, like paying players(O.J. Mayo) and allowing improper benefits(Terrelle Pryor, et al.), while executing a total war mentality for one-off violations without university involvement(Reggie Bush).

If the NCAA is going to treat each differently (let’s not forget about Auburn, Mississippi State and Scam Newton), then how can they maintain a successful governing body of college athletics? At some point, USC, both the university and the athletic department, should wage a legal effort against the NCAA. The actions of the association lack a continuous procedure of punishments for all violating schools, so a case could surely be made against them.

Plus, if the NCAA’s ace in the whole is that idea that USC’s issues were university wide, then their sanctions fail to match their findings. They should have either cited USC for a failure to monitor all athletics and banned all sports from any postseason play for one or two seasons, or divvied up the violations between the basketball and football teams and treated them as they were, separate acts, thus eliminating the possibility of using a “repeat offender” moniker on the Trojans.

Self-imposed sanctions and the resigning of Tressel saved Ohio State, so why include O.J. Mayo in the report alongside Reggie Bush, enabling a stiffer punishment for a lesser violation?

It’s unfair, corrupt, and downright insulting to college athletics to allow the acquittal of the NCAA’s media darling, in favor largest football factory in the West. Oh, and that same school facing the wrath of the NCAA? They have a new President and Athletic Director in addition to a new coach, leaving an entirely new administration than the one there during the Reggie Bush violations. The same can’t be said for Ohio State.