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发帖数: 764 | 1 By Mike Wagner, Jill Riepenhoff and Tim May
The Columbus Dispatch
Terrelle Pryor observes the action at the spring game last month. He did not
play due to a right foot injury suffered in the Sugar Bowl that required
surgery.
Fred Squillante | Dispatch
Terrelle Pryor observes the action at the spring game last month. He did not
play due to a right foot injury suffered in the Sugar Bowl that required
surgery.
Photos
* View a slide show of the Jim Tressel era at Ohio State
More coverage
* Text of Ohio State's statement on Tressel resignation
* See complete coverage of Tressel's recent problems in stories,
documents and videos
* Video: Jim Tressel's resignation was forced, says Dispatch reporter
Mike Wagner
* Video: Jim Tressel is like a fallen hero being honored on Memorial Day
, says Dispatch reporter Ken Gordon
* Video: Dispatch reporter Tim May says the changing of a head coach is
always a momentous occasion
* Video: People at the Worthington Memorial Day Parade react to Jim
Tressel's resignation
* Video: Gene Smith addresses Tressel's resignation
* Tressel resignation: A timeline in quotes
* Read the resignation letter (pdf)
* The Hot Issue: Should Jim Tressel have resigned his position as Ohio
State football coach?
More football
* Sources: Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel was encouraged to resign
Monday, May 30, 2011
* Significant inquiry by NCAA and OSU under way for Pryor, sources say
Monday, May 30, 2011
* Rob Oller commentary: Tressel follows in footsteps of ousted coaches
at Ohio State
Monday, May 30, 2011
* Tressel resignation: A timeline in quotes
Monday, May 30, 2011
* The Hot Issue: Should Jim Tressel have resigned his position as Ohio
State football coach?
Monday, May 30, 2011
* Ohio State football: Scandal's effect on recruiting hard to gauge
Sunday, May 29, 2011
* Ask the experts
Sunday, May 29, 2011
* The Mailbox: Hmm, what's there to talk about hey, maybe OSU football
Sunday, May 29, 2011
The NCAA and the Ohio State University's compliance office are conducting an
independent investigation of Terrelle Pryor amid allegations that the star
quarterback may have received cars and other extra benefits, sources told
The Dispatch today.
Pryor has been questioned by OSU compliance officials in the past, but
sources said this is the most significant inquiry to date. He already has
been interviewed at least once by investigators within the past few weeks,
sources said.
Pryor and the cars he drives have been an issue since he arrived on campus
three years ago. Pryor has been connected to more than a half dozen vehicles
during his time at Ohio State, according to sources.
Ohio State spokesman Jim Lynch wouldn't confirm whether Pryor is being
investigated.
"The university continues to work with the NCAA as they investigate matters
involving our football program, and we will continue to do so until the
conclusion of the investigation," Lynch said. "We are unable to comment on
specific players' situations because of federal law."
The investigation of Pryor off the field is separate from Coach Jim Tressel'
s resignation, which was announced earlier today. Attempts to reach Pryor
were unsuccessful.
OSU officials previously said that even before Pryor arrived on campus in
2008, the NCAA examined the ownership of his vehicle and how it was paid for.
Pryor came under scrutiny in December after OSU received a letter from the U
.S. Department of Justice. It said that during a drug raid, it had recovered
Buckeye memorabilia linked to the quarterback and other players.
In the ensuing 11 days, OSU confirmed that Pryor and five other current
football players had sold or exchanged memorabilia for cash and tattoos.
On Dec. 23, OSU suspended Pryor, running back Daniel Herron, receiver DeVier
Posey, lineman Solomon Thomas and tackle Mike Adams for five games this
season. Linebacker Jordan Whiting was suspended for one game.
In January, The Dispatch reported that three times in the past three years,
Pryor was stopped for traffic violations while driving cars that were owned
by a car salesman or a Columbus used-car dealer for whom the salesman worked.
The salesman, Aaron Kniffin, told The Dispatch that while working at Maxton
in 2008, he allowed Pryor to drive his SUV to his hometown in Pennsylvania
so that his mother could check it out. Pryor did not buy the vehicle.
Kniffin also said he arranged for Pryor to use a 2009 Dodge while Pryor's
car was being repaired at Auto Direct, a Columbus car dealership where
Kniffin worked last fall.
About two dozen autographed jerseys hang inside Auto Direct's office,
including Pryor's.
Pryor said at the time that he doesn't remember the circumstances of him
signing his jersey that hangs in the dealership, but "I sign a lot of stuff
for Buckeye fans - I don't like to turn down fans. But I don't do it to get
any favors or discounts."
Kniffin also sold cars to Pryor's mother and brother as well as dozens of
other Buckeye athletes or their family members.
The car dealer has said repeatedly that the vehicles sales with OSU athletes
have been legitimate and he has not offered them special deals.
As part of its investigation of Tressel, the NCAA wants to know details
about Pryor's relationship with Ted Sarniak, a 67-year-old businessman from
Jeannette, Pa., the quarterback's hometown.
Doug Archie, OSU's director of compliance, said in March that Sarniak served
as Pryor's contact person during Ohio State's recruiting efforts but is not
considered a booster.
"Mr. Sarniak and Terrelle Pryor have been friends for a number of years, and
their friendship dates back prior to Terrelle's enrollment at Ohio State,"
Archie said. "As the friendship developed, Mr. Sarniak is someone who
Terrelle has reached out to for advice and guidance throughout his high-
school and collegiate career."
Sarniak has attended virtually every game, home and away, since Pryor
enrolled in 2008.
Sarniak exchanged emails with Tressel last spring when the coach was tipped
off that Pryor and others were selling memorabilia.
OSU released two of those emails but refuses to release any others, citing
the federal student privacy law, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy
Act.
State courts in Arizona, Florida, Illinois and North Carolina each have
ordered colleges in recent months to release documents that they had
withheld after citing FERPA. In Arizona, a community college attempted to
withhold emails among faculty members about a student.
"Court after court has said that not every cocktail napkin with a students'
name on it is an education record," said Frank LoMonte, executive director
of the Student Press Law Center. "An email between a coach and an outside
third party doesn't qualify under FERPA."
In addition to the emails between Tressel and Sarniak, the university also
has censored the Justice Department letter that details by name what
memorabilia the players sold and what they received in return. |
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