Last month, golfing legend and Ohio State graduate Jack Nicklaus created a mini-stir when he advanced the theory that the powers-that-be at his alma mater knew all along what was going on with the Jim Tressel “situation”.
“I’ll promise you that Tressel wasn’t the only one who knew what happened,” Nicklaus was quoted as saying by the Columbus Dispatch. “I’m going to bet you the university, I’m going to bet you (president E. Gordon) Gee and I’m going to bet you (athletics director) Gene (Smith) and everybody else knew, and Tressel probably took the hit for it.”
With Tressel’s stunning resignation Monday still reverberating from coast to coast, and with Nicklaus’ prestigious Memorial tournament set to get underway this week, Nicklaus held court with the media Tuesday and, of course, the subject of Tressel’s demise at OSU was one of the first questions the Golden Bear was asked. Just as expected, Nicklaus continued his staunch defense of Tressel.Well, my take on it is that it was no different than a father trying to protect his son, and if I had one of my kids that did what I thought was a fairly insignificant thing, I’d probably say, you know, Hey, we’re not going to worry too much about that. We’re going to try to just forget that.
“Well, obviously the cover‑up was far worse than the act. And once you got the cover‑up, it became a situation where Jim had to say some things that turned out to be that weren’t exactly truthful. And so that’s where he got himself in trouble.
“I think unfortunately it’s a situation they got caught in, and that’s where they are. What’s going to happen, I don’t know beyond this point. The NCAA, it’s more in their hands. ... Once one of these things happens, by the time they get through digging they’re going to find whether somebody had a hangnail someplace or not, whether somebody replaced it improperly.”
Nicklaus has a grandson, Nick O’Leary, who was one of the top tight ends in the country in the 2011 recruiting class and a Buckeyes target before signing with Florida State. Nicklaus said he would want O’Leary or any other of his grandsons to play for Tressel.
"[I feel] very bad for Jim. He’s a nice man. I’ve said many times that if I had a boy at this age who wanted to play football, my grandson Nick up here was recruited by Florida State now, thankfully, but I would love to see him play for Jim Tressel. He’s a good man.”
Even good men, unfortunately, make inexplicable decisions that ultimately costs themselves everything they’ve built over the past decade.
To Nicklaus’ point, though: I agree. I would want my children or grandchildren to play for The Vest as the good of the man far outweighs the bad. Then again, I feel the same way about Bobby Knight...