Football
Comments of Jim Tressel on the Allegations Made by ESPN

In what can only be described as a surprise and unprecedented event, OSU Head Football Coach Jim Tressel and OSU Director of Athletics Andy Geiger today both addressed the allegations made regarding the OSU football program by ESPN. Geiger's remarks are lengthy, and will be posted later.

Below are the comments of OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel. Tressel's comments are more general in nature, but are interesting. Geiger's comments tended to be more specific, and will be posted later.

OSU Head Football Coach Jim Tressel addresses the media at the Tuesday press lunchion.
Photo by Jim Davidson

"I feel good about how we do things at Ohio State. I feel good about the way we lead this program and the intentions and the the ways that we do things," Tressel began.

"I understand the rules of the game and the rules of the NCAA very, very well and have great confidence that we follow them to the tee. I feel the same way about our coaching staff.

"I know when I first became a head coach the advice given to me was 'Don't get caught up in finding experts, find good people who happen to know a little bit about the game of football,' and I think that's what we've had here at Ohio State, that's what we do have at Ohio State, and I have great confidence in all of my coaches as to how they apply the rules of the NCAA and the institutional rules and our responsibilities.

"I feel the same way about our academic support areas.

"I've been asked questions about and things have been brought up about the support systems and how we go about helping young people with what we feel is their ultimate goal, which we think is for them to graduate with a meaningful degree from Ohio State.

"We know at times their favorite class at times is football, but we also know that the thing that will serve them in the long run will be their degree.

"I have tremendous confidence in our academic support services, what we all SASSO. They do a tremendous job. I think they give kids every opportunity and make them earn everything they happen to get as a collegiate student.

"I have great confidence in our players. We have great kids here, and we have kids who want to do things right. We talk about doing things right very, very often. They reflect that very, very often.

I think the intentions of our kids, and the honor of our kids, is extraordinary at Ohio State.

People ask that question, has it been a distraction in the midst of a football season, and you would have to answer as a coach or a player that perhaps it's a distraction, but the last thing it is is an excuse. We're playing an Ohio State vs. Michigan game this weekend, which is the greatest honor you could possibly have as a collegiate football player or a collegiate coach, and there is no way that any distraction is any excuse for not playing the greatest football game we've played in 2004."

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