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发帖数: 764 | 1 COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A day after coach Jim Tressel's forced resignation for
lying about Ohio State players receiving improper benefits, the focus has
shifted to the investigation of star quarterback Terrelle Pryor and his
succession of used cars.
The salesman who put Pryor behind the wheel of several expensive vehicles
said in a sworn affidavit released by Ohio State on Tuesday that he didn't
offer any special deals to Buckeyes.
Rittenberg: Pryor Under Microscope
Rittenberg As Jim Tressel continues to be at the center of the Ohio State
scandal, the spotlight soon could be turning to Buckeyes quarterback
Terrelle Pryor, ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg writes. Blog
• Big Ten blog: Tressel by the numbers
"The deals that I did for Ohio State student-athletes were no different than
any of the other 10,000-plus deals that I've done for all my other
customers," Aaron Kniffin said in the statement.
Tressel's 10-year reign as coach of the Buckeyes ended in disgrace Monday as
he was forced to step down for breaking NCAA rules. He knew players
received cash and tattoos for autographs, championship rings and equipment
and did not tell anyone at Ohio State or the NCAA what he knew for more than
nine months. NCAA rules -- and Tressel's contract -- specify that he must
disclose any and all information about possible violations.
Pryor, one of the highest-profile recruits of Tressel's 25-year coaching
career, is one of five Buckeyes who have already been suspended for the
first five games of the 2011 season. They players were suspended for taking
money and tattoos from local tattoo-parlor owner Edward Rife, who pleaded
guilty last week to federal drug trafficking and money-laundering charges.
Ohio State confirmed that the NCAA continues to look into potential
violations, including Pryor's cars.
[+] EnlargeTerrelle Pryor
AP Photo/Terry GilliamTerrelle Pryor, whose acquisition of cars has drawn
NCAA scrutiny, arrived at a team meeting Monday in this Nissan 350Z.
"I can tell you that obviously you have an open investigation," Ohio State
spokesman Jim Lynch said Tuesday. "The university and the NCAA are working
jointly to review any new allegations that come to light. We're going to
continue to do so until their investigation wraps up."
The Columbus Dispatch has reported that the NCAA and Ohio State are
investigating more than 50 vehicle purchases by Buckeyes players, family
members and friends over the past. Sports Illustrated, citing a source close
to the investigation, reported that Pryor, who will be a senior this fall,
might have driven as many as eight cars in his three years in Columbus.
Even though Pryor's vehicles have been a focal point of the investigation
for weeks, that doesn't mean he has been riding a bicycle around the city.
Pryor drove up to a players-only team meeting on Monday night in a coal-
black Nissan 350Z sports car with 30-day plates. The automotive information
site Edmunds.com lists a recent, used 350Z, which it calls "a proper sports
car for the everyman," as costing between $16,000 and $27,000.
Pryor was stopped three times for traffic violations over the past three
years, each time driving cars that were owned by Kniffin or a Columbus used-
car dealership where he worked, the Dispatch has reported. Kniffin, owner
Jeff Mauk of Jack Maxton Chevrolet, Inc., and Jason Gross of Auto Direct
Columbus, Inc., each provided affidavits to Ohio State officials earlier
this month.
They said that all transactions associated with an Ohio State athlete were
cleared through Ohio State's NCAA compliance department.
"If the OSU Compliance Department approved the transaction terms, the
transaction would be finalized and the vehicle would be delivered to the
customer," Mauk said in his statement.
Mike and Mike in the Morning
Sports Illustrated writer George Dohrmann says former Ohio State coach Jim
Tressel is not the great person everyone says he is. Plus, Dohrmann says
Ohio State's problems are not all Tressel's fault.
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Even though the dealerships have dozens of signed jerseys on display in
their showrooms, Kniffin and the dealerships said that was not part of any
deal.
"OSU student-athletes weren't given any enticements to buy the car at my
dealership," Kniffin said. "At no time did memorabilia come into play when
it came time to negotiate a deal or buy a car. I was never given any
memorabilia from a student-athlete in exchange for a car deal."
Late on Monday night, Sports Illustrated reported that the memorabilia-for-
tattoos violations actually stretched back to 2002, Tressel's second season
at Ohio State, and involved at least 28 players -- 22 more than the
university has acknowledged. Those numbers include, beyond the six suspended
players, an additional nine current players as well as other former players
whose alleged wrongdoing might fall within the NCAA's four-year statute of
limitations on violations.
After the article's release, athletic director Gene Smith issued a statement.
"During the course of an investigation, the university and the NCAA work
jointly to review any new allegations that come to light, and will continue
to do so until the conclusion of the investigation," he said. "You should
rest assured that these new allegations will be evaluated in exactly this
manner. Beyond that, we will have no further comment."
Smith and Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee declined comment Tuesday when
contacted by The Associated Press.
The turmoil at Ohio State comes at the same time PGA Tour pros are arriving
at Jack Nicklaus' Muirfield Village Golf Club in suburban Dublin for
Thursday's first round of the Memorial Tournament.
Nicklaus, a standout golfer at Ohio State while Woody Hayes was the football
coach in the early 1960s, was asked about Tressel's downfall.
"Well, obviously the coverup was far worse than the act," Nicklaus said
Tuesday. "And once you got the coverup, 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."
Nicklaus said that now that the NCAA is continuing to investigate, almost
any result is possible.
"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 said. |
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