WBRS Sports Blog

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Jim Tressel Does the Right Thing

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel has received some criticism for abstaining in the final USA Today/Coaches Poll. A USA Today editor has even said that Tressel's participation in the poll will be part of their "annual review." Despite what USA Today thinks, Tressel did the right thing. A coach shouldn't have a say in who his team plays in any bowl game, let alone the BCS bowl. Although he chose not to emphasize it at the reason for his behavior, Tressel's abstention shows the lunacy of allowing coaches to vote in a poll.

Moreover, voting in the poll would have forced Tressel into a difficult situation. If he votes for Florida, Urban Meyer tells him team that Ohio State wants to play them because they think Florida can't compete with them. If Tressel votes for Michigan then Meyer tells his team that Tressel doesn't think the Gators deserve to be in the championship game. Either way, Tressel is forced to create bulletin board material that Urban Meyer can use to fire up his team for the next five weeks. Tressel shouldn’t have to do that, and therefore he did the right think by abstaining.

// posted by Easy @ 1:50 AM

13 Comments:

At 12/05/2006 4:00 AM , Zach Landres-Schnur said...: agree completely. also remember the $$$ aspect. if tressel votes for michigan -- perhaps even no. 1 -- and they get into the title game, that's more money for the Big 10 and thus for OSU too.
At 12/05/2006 8:46 AM , Anonymous said...: Totally agree, he is the only one that is making the sportsmen thing, this BCS system is a total
Failure, what they expected him to do? to vote which team he wanna plays in the Finals?
At 12/05/2006 12:33 PM , Dr Evil said...: I think it is moreso because if Tressel votes for Michigan then he will be accused of conspiring to help the Big 10 and if he doesnt vote for Michigan every other program in the Big 10 would be mad at him. What if he voted Michigan #1 and Florida #5 behing up and coming programs like SMU to help Michigan even more? Would he then be accused of trying to rig the polls? He was in a lose-lose situation.
At 12/06/2006 12:51 AM , Anonymous said...: Just another reason why the BCS blows chunks.
At 12/06/2006 2:11 AM , twins15 said...: I've seen Tressel get hammered for this in some places but I agree completely with you. It was basically lose-lose, but I thought this was the best option.
At 12/06/2006 3:40 AM , Mini Me said...: Blame the system. The BCS is at the origin of all problems related to college football. Until college football implements some sort of playoff, college basketball will be a better product.
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At 10/22/2007 6:26 PM , Anonymous said...: You should never be able to abstain from voting. In order to keep the integrity of the coaches poll, everyone should have to vote. Criticism is something every coach deals with on a daily basis and should not be a reason to not vote. Pick the teams that you think are the best and take one on the chin.
At 12/17/2007 3:39 PM , Najerbob said...: This isn't about the bloggers page.

I have a poem about the 2002 game. I would like to send it to Mr. Tressel, but don't know where to send it...thanks...GO BUCKS!!!!