More Problems for Ohio State: At Least 50 "Car Sales" Being Reviewed

An ugly off-season for Jim Tressel gets even uglier:

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State's director of compliance is reviewing at least 50 car sales to Buckeyes athletes and relatives to see if they met NCAA rules, The Columbus Dispatch reported Saturday.

Meanwhile, as part of his punishment for not revealing his knowledge of his players' NCAA violations, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel will attend a five-day compliance seminar in June in Tampa, Fla. Ohio State spokesman Jim Lynch confirmed Saturday that Tressel would take part in the NCAA-sponsored event June 6-10 at a resort hotel on the waterfront.
   
The Dispatch reported that a car salesman who received game passes from Ohio State athletes handled many of the deals at two different dealerships. Ohio State has since taken the salesman, Aaron Kniffin, off the pass list.

Athletes are prevented from receiving special deals not available to other students. They are not permitted to trade autographs for discounts. Both dealerships display signed Ohio State memorabilia in their showrooms.

One car, a 2-year-old Chrysler 300 with fewer than 20,000 miles, was titled to then-sophomore defensive player Thaddeus Gibson in 2009. Documents show the purchase price as $0. Gibson said he did not know why the title showed a zero for the purchase price and said he was still paying for the car.

Note the highlighted part in the above excerpt. This story came out as a result of investigative reporting done by the local paper in Columbus. The contrast from how the local papers have treated the other football program in Los Angeles amidst all their scandals with how the Ohio papers are dealing with the Buckeyes couldn't be more dramatic.

NCAA never showed enough courage to go after someone like Pete Carroll, who was the media darling of ESPNs of the world. Are they going to do take the same passive approach with Tressel they took with Carroll? Will they drag their investigations along and not do do much while he is the coach, and then come out with sanctions after Tressel is gone from Columbus?

The fans don't have anything to worry about apparently. Tressel is doing this penance by taking "compliance seminar" "at a resort hotel on the waterfront."