Breaking The Rules

Let me start out by saying, I am an avid sports fan. I am a March Madness fanatic and a college football junkie, so as you can imagine, I have been completely glued to ESPN all week. The combination of the conference basketball tournaments going on, the NHL in the last grind of the season before playoffs, and the Heat's losing streak, I've found myself watching sports tv any chance I can get. However, among all the athletic happenings, nothing has caught and maintained my attention more than the chaos with Ohio State Head Football Coach Jim Tressel.

Just so everyone knows, I am a Michigan fan...so of course I am bias. However, this is by far the biggest sports related public relations issue that has gained an immense amount of media attention, and it would have had my attention even if it was a different school. This week, Tressel was busted for not reporting his knowledge that six of his players were involved in the sale of memoribilia. Ohio State suspended Tressel for the first two games of next season and fined him $250,000. However, the NCAA still has not dished out their punishments. The big question is, how severe will the punishments be?


The PR aspect in this whole ordeal can really be seen through the press conference that was held earlier this week. On camera, Tressel appeared to be repentful however he never once CLEARLY apologized for breaking the rules by knowing what his players had done. It is publicly known that he recieved emails with this information in April, so why not admit you were in the wrong? To me, this was a big crisis control/PR problem and his image is going to take a hit. Another part of this whole thing that stuck out to me is how the University is handling the situation. When the OSU President E. Gordon Gee was asked whether he was considering firing Tressel or not, he responded: "No, are you kidding me? Let me be very clear. I'm just hoping the coach doesn't dismiss me." Hm...even if you feel this way...why would you say in on camera? I respect the loyalty that the OSU staff has for Tressel, but some of the comments that were said made it appear as though no one saw this as a problem. I credit OSU for taking action, although the way they have dealt with the press through this hold thing has me scratching my head.


All in all, this is a great example of crisis communication and media relations. Not only is Jim Tressel taking a swift PR hit, so is the football team, athletic department and University as a whole. I'm interested in how everything plays out.