Organizational Failure

Organizational Failures:

Ohio State’s Jim Tressel

Jeffrey Kaiser

KNES 456

June 11, 2012

There isn’t much that can hinder a major university’s football reputation more than violating NCAA rules. Since college football is one of the most followed sports in America, breaking these regulations can cast a dark shadow over a program for many years. It not only hurts the university’s image, but also diminishes the chances of recruiting future star athletes. These players may not want to attend a school that has restrictions on their program due to what other players have done in the past.

In the case of the Ohio State scandal, the violations of the players and the coach led them to be automatically out of the running for any bowl or national championship for the following year (Ludlow, 2011). This greatly impacted the school, as newly hired Urban Meyer was trying to bring in new recruits. The remaining players that were guilty of the violations were suspended for the first five games of the following season and it took a toll on the football program as a whole.

After the investigation began by the NCAA, they claimed that former head coach Jim Tressel knew about the violations that the players were committing since April 2010. Among the allegations, they included receiving cash and tattoos in exchange for signed memorabilia from Ed Rife, a local tattoo shop owner. During this time, Rife was being investigated by the FBI for money laundering and drug charges. When his house was raided in an attempt to find drugs, the FBI came across a large quantity of Ohio State memorabilia. Among the items, officials found Big Ten championships rings, signed memorabilia, and star quarterback Terrelle Pryor’s Fiesta bowl Sportsmanship Trophy (Gray & Pyle, 2010). Everything was taken which led to the university’s knowledge of the situation which ended up with the suspensions of the players involved.

Following these events, information started to leak out to the public...