Please patronize our advertisers to help
keep theOzone.net free for everyone.

The-Ozone.net Mall

Interesting, Fun companies with interesting, quality products - and the-Ozone gets a piece of the action!

Football
Bob Knight Comes to Tressel's Defense
By Tony Gerdeman

Since the news of Ohio State's latest NCAA violation broke a couple of days ago, this time surrounding Jim Tressel himself, the Buckeye head coach has been under punditry fire from all angles, and for good reason. But on Wednesday morning, Tressel finally had someone speaking out for the newly-embattled coach.

Speaking to ESPN Radio's 'Mike & Mike in the Morning', Bob Knight, who is one of the few people who can get away with calling Tressel “Jimmy”, came to the defense of his fellow coach.

“I will say this about the situation, there is no coach in college sport that is a better example in my mind of what coaching is all about and what it should be and how things should be done than Jimmy Tressel,” he said.

“He has done a great job at Ohio State, not because he's won a lot of games, but because he has won a lot of games doing things the absolute right way.

"I think he would be at the top of the heap when it came to picking guys that did things the way they were supposed to be done. There isn't anybody that's better in that regard than Jim Tressel is.”

Knight, who was the long-time basketball coach at Indiana where he won three national titles, and also a former Buckeye basketball player himself, admittedly wasn't up to speed on everything that had occurred, and it clearly wasn't the direction Knight ever intended on heading in when pressed. Even when critical of Tressel, he always followed up with what he quite obviously believed to be a trump card—the coach's character.

“If that is the case, and then it comes to my attention, then I've got to do something about it,” Knight said when asked to put himself in Tressel's shoes.

“And if it did come to Jim's attention and he failed to do anything about it, then that's something that he should have taken care of. But that being said, I still say what I said about Jim Tressel and his overall approach to college football.”

While defending Tressel the man, and semi-admonishing Tressel the coach, Knight didn't waste much time pointing a second finger at the NCAA, specifically their myriad of rules and bylaws.

“I think it's absolutely ridiculous,” said Knight, concerning Tressel's two-game suspension.

“I think if something like that comes up [the selling of apparel], because it's not the most noticeable of rules, it's a rather obscure rule, and they'll say, 'Well, he should know all the rules'. Nobody - God Himself - could not quote every rule in the NCAA law book. And in fact, God would call on the disciples to decipher it for him.”

However, not knowing a rule and breaking it is still a punishable offense. But a plea of ignorance would pale in comparison if it could be proven that Tressel lied to the NCAA about when he knew what, and exactly what he knew. However, even when presented with this very scenario, Knight continued to stand firm in his defense of Tressel

“Well, then you have some severity to the whole situation,” he said, posed with the notion that Tressel lied to the NCAA.

“And again you've got to keep in mind that I'm not conversant with all that took place, but again, I go back to what I said about Jim Tressel, if I was the father of a kid that played football, he's the kind of coach I'd like for him to play under. And I feel very strongly about that. So if there's a problem here where he screwed up, is he the first coach to ever screw something up? No.”

That's just about where the conversation ended. Mike and Mike began saying their goodbyes to the former coach, but before he said his own goodbyes, he wanted to make one last statement regarding Tressel.

“Let me make one last comment, if I was capable of making a stronger defense for Jim Tressel, I would. Because he is a guy that I have tremendous respect for, and a great feeling of appreciation for how he goes about things as a coach. And that comes from me, as a coach, thinking that way about another coach. I couldn't say anything more about him than I already have because there's just nobody that I would feel more strongly about in terms of doing what's right than Jim Tressel.”

Knight's final comments carrying as much weight as the show's individual listeners would allow.

Did he say Jim Tressel did no wrong? No. He couldn't. Tressel admitted to wrong-doing. Knight merely spoke to the character of the man in question, and it's clear where he stood in that regard.

While everybody else is busy pointing out his flaws, Bob Knight wanted people to know about the Jim Tressel that he knew. The man and the coach. His opinion doesn't seem to have changed at all despite the situation that Tressel finds himself in now.

It also doesn't appear that his opinion will change any time soon.

Donate by Check :

Ozone Communications
1380 King Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43212

Help us bring you more Buckeye coverage. Donate to the-Ozone.

Click here to email this the-Ozone feature to a friend...or even a foe.

(c) 2010 The O-Zone, O-Zone Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, rebroadcast,rewritten, or redistributed.