According to 'Sports by Brooks', Urban Meyer is new....

Noah Spence commits to Ohio State

By Jared Shanker
ESPN Recruiting Nation

For the last several months, Noah Spence's plan was to make an announcement at the Under Armour All-American Game. And up until three weeks ago, Ohio State wasn't going to be one of the hats on the table.

On Sunday, during an official visit to Ohio State, though, Spence, a five-star defensive end ranked No. 4 overall nationally, committed to the Buckeyes -- the program's third ESPNU 150 commit in just a week.

[+] EnlargeNoah Spence
Chris Knight, Patriot News Noah Spence committed to Ohio State, which wasn't even on his radar until new coach Urban Meyer contacted him.

"It just felt right -- the family atmosphere, the great coaches," Spence said shortly after leaving the Ohio State campus. "The players want to win and the coaches want to win, and they're trying to build something that I want to be a part of. ...

"I wanted to get it out the way. It felt right, so, you know, why not?"

Before the season, Spence (Harrisburg, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) named a top seven, and Ohio State wasn't on the list. Penn State was the favorite to land him, but the child sex-abuse scandal at the university jumbled Spence's leaderboard as new teams began to enter the fold.

Still, Ohio State didn't become a factor until Urban Meyer was named coach on Nov. 28, and Meyer got in touch with Spence shortly after he was hired. Spence had never visited Ohio State before this weekend.

"I wasn't really into them a lot," Spence said. "As I got to learn about the staff and what they're trying to do and how close it is to my home, it felt like a fit."

Throughout his recruitment, Spence maintained whichever school he chose had to feel like a second home; Spence is one of nine sons to Greg and Helen Spence. During his official visit, Spence said it was the non-football discussions with the Buckeyes staff that sold him.

"Everyone was talking about their own families and everything like regular people," Spence said. "Everything wasn't about football. That made me feel comfortable. ...

"It wasn't so much what (the coaches) were saying. It was the players who pretty much matched with what the coaches were saying. It wasn't like it was fake or anything."

As with ESPNU 150 defensive lineman Se'Von Pittman and Tommy Schutt, who committed Dec. 12, the Buckeyes staff alleviated any fears Spence had about looming NCAA sanctions.

"We believe everything will work out fine," Greg Spence said. "There won't be any long-term repercussions."

From the beginning, Spence was never a fan of the recruiting process and routinely avoided calls from college coaches during his senior season, and he said he is relieved the process has come to a close as he doesn't believe he will make any other visits.

"I can see where I'm going to be at for the next four years," Spence said. "I'll always have my family at McDevitt, but now I'll be building a new family and help a new family out."

Spence is the Buckeyes' first five-star commitment and 19th overall. Since Nov. 17, the Buckeyes have landed four ESPNU 150 prospects, beginning with Adolphus Washington and ending this week with Pittman, Schutt and Spence.
 
Been wondering when the NCAA is going to finally get around to wrapping things up ...

Today I got this email.

NCAA will announce Ohio State football penalties today

After a season of scandal and national criticism, Ohio State University will learn today what punishment it faces from the NCAA for a string of violations in its football program.
 
I guess it originally came from Fox Sports Ohio

Ohio State to learn their fate today at 3pm

December 20, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Almost exactly a year since NCAA violations came to light, Ohio State will learn the penalties.

Athletic director Gene Smith confirmed to The Associated Press early Tuesday that the NCAA's committee on infractions would hand down its final sanctions of the Ohio State athletic program at 3 p.m. EST.

Five players were suspended last Dec. 23 for the first five games of the 2011 season for accepting cash and tattoos from the owner of a local tattoo parlor. Coach Jim Tressel was subsequently forced to resign for knowing about the violations but not reporting them to his superiors, then playing the athletes throughout the 2010 season despite the risk that they were ineligible.

Based on precedent, Tressel will likely receive a "show-cause" charge, meaning any university wishing to hire him will need to make a strong case to the NCAA.

NCAA investigators later uncovered two more violations involving Buckeyes players accepting improper benefits, each time leading to suspensions.

The NCAA tagged Ohio State with a "failure to monitor" charge -- the second-most serious charge it can levy against an institution -- in light of the additional violations.

Ohio State has offered to vacate the 2010 season, return its share of bowl money, go on probation and have minor recruiting restrictions, costing it five scholarships over the next three years. The NCAA could add to those penalties, possibly piling on more recruiting restrictions or even a bowl ban.

The Buckeyes (6-6) struggled through a year of suspensions and close games under interim coach Luke Fickell. They play Florida on Jan. 2 in the Gator Bowl.

Urban Meyer was hired last month as the new head coach. He is not coaching in the bowl game but has been recruiting and hiring staff members.

He was asked Monday whether, after three weeks on the job, he now had a better feel for what the ultimate sanctions might be from the NCAA. He said he was given indications -- but no promises -- that the penalties would not be severe.

"I just did a lot of research. I contacted people outside of Ohio State before I accepted the position and I wanted to hear from some trusted people that I have within the NCAA and other people who dealt directly with the NCAA," Meyer said. "It came back -- I wouldn't use the word `assurance,' because who knows? -- but when you start talking about the overall integrity of the institution, it's a positive. There were some mistakes made that were serious. I haven't had any assurance about what's going to happen."
 
IF this report is accurate, the Buckeyes got HAMMERED and in no way got off light.

Gotta love the fact that they DRAGGED thier FEET on this for SOOO long that it affects everyone.
===============================================================================

The NCAA today stunned Ohio State University’s football program by banning it from postseason play after the 2012 season, multiple sources told The Dispatch.

The penalty means Ohio State automatically is out of the running for any bowl, or a Big Ten or national championship next year, just as newly appointed head coach Urban Meyer is wooing recruits to the Buckeyes.

Athletic Director Gene Smith said previously that while Ohio State has been declared a repeat violator that failed to properly monitor its football program, a bowl ban would be out of line with penalties handed to universities with similar violations.

In its ruling to be made public this afternoon, the NCAA Committee of Infractions will levy the bowl ban and two other penalties on top of the ones the university already imposed on itself, the sources said. The NCAA will:

* Strip four more football scholarships over the next three years on top of Ohio State’s prior forfeiture of five scholarships over that span.

* Add an additional year of probation to OSU’s self-imposed two-year probation for the football program, meaning any violations through the 2013 season could draw harsher-than-normal penalties.

The NCAA also will hand a show-cause penalty to former head coach Jim Tressel for failing to report that some team members improperly sold memorabilia and for allowing ineligible players to compete throughout the 2010 season.

Coach Luke Fickell commented this afternoon on the possibility of a postseason ban.

“To me it’s just another thing, it’s just another hurdle,” Fickell said. “If it happens you have to get over it. What are you going to do, cry and whine about it? We can’t do that.

“We said that all year, in all the situations we’ve been put in. Our guys have been through it. They’ve been battle-tested. You’re not going to see us complain and whine about it, we’re going to continue to move forward. I think you do that from the top down, and I think when you do that from the top, everybody follows.”

The show-cause penalty against Tressel signifies he is a serious offender and means that any NCAA school that hires him could be subject to sanctions for appointing him as football coach absent a showing it should escape penalties.

Meyer took the job as Ohio State’s 24th head coach on Nov. 28, and did so, he said, with his eyes open about what could come from the NCAA, but feeling good about the prospects.

"I just did a lot of research” before he took the job, Meyer said on Monday. “I contacted people outside of Ohio State before I accepted the position, some trusted people I have within the NCAA and other people that dealt directly with the NCAA.”

He has been asked about possible penalties as he has recruited prospects and their families, Meyer said.

The coach said he has told them there were no promises about the NCAA case, “but that there has been extremely positive feedback, and that we’re going to find out soon,” Meyer said.

The NCAA levied its second-most-severe charge — failure to monitor — on Nov. 3, finding that Ohio State failed to keep an eye on a booster who gave players cash for a charity appearance and overpaid others for part-time work.

In hopes of appeasing the NCAA and warding off tougher sanctions, Ohio State offered up punishments that included the loss of five football scholarships over three years. The NCAA tacked on the loss of four more scholarships today.

The university could choose how many of those scholarships won’t be handed out in any of the three years.

The university also previously placed itself on probation for two years; vacated the 2010 season, including the Big Ten and Sugar Bowl titles; and forfeited its $338,811 share of Sugar Bowl proceeds.

The NCAA ruling follows a season in which Tressel was forced out, former quarterback Terrelle Pryor departed for the pros rather than face ongoing NCAA questions, and starters such as running back Daniel “Boom” Herron and receiver DeVier Posey missed chunks of the season to suspensions.

The scandals that led to Ohio State’s downfall on and off the field arose months apart, fueling a pending move to create a centralized compliance office in which athletic overseers no longer will report to athletic director Gene Smith.

In a series of emails beginning April 2, 2010, Tressel learned from Columbus lawyer Chris Cicero, a former walk-on player for the Buckeyes, that Pryor and other players had sold gear, memorabilia awards to a tattoo-parlor owner.

Rather than report the players’ receipt of improper benefits, Tressel vaguely warned his players to watch their conduct and kept his silence. He later said he did not come forward because he feared for his players’ safety and did not want to compromise an FBI investigation of drug dealing by the now-convicted Rife.

On Dec. 7, 2010, the U.S. attorney’s office informed OSU that memorabilia from football players, including Big Ten championship rings, had been seized during its investigation of Rife. Tressel still did not reveal what he knew.

OSU suspended Pryor, Herron, Posey and two other players for the first five games of the 2011 season, but they were allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl.

On Jan. 13, OSU officials uncovered Tressel’s email exchanges with Cicero, prompting the Ohio State and NCAA investigation of the memorabilia sales and Tressel’s history of untruthfulness.

On March 8, Ohio State announced that Tressel would be suspended for the first two games of the 2011 season and fined $250,000 for violating NCAA rules.

President E. Gordon Gee and Smith stood behind Tressel, saying neither they nor other OSU officials were aware of the player memorabilia sales, a stance with which the NCAA agreed.

At a news conference, Gee was asked if he had considered firing Tressel. “Are you kidding? I’m just hopeful the coach doesn’t dismiss me,” Gee quipped, a line for which he later apologized.

Tressel’s suspension was later extended to the first five games of the season to match that of his players.

On May 29, with Ohio State’s reputation taking a national beating, Smith met with Tressel and asked him to resign. Tressel did so the next day and Luke Fickell was named interim coach.

Ohio State had its hearing before the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions on Aug. 12 in Indianapolis amid indications that more revelations could be forthcoming.

Just before the season opener against Akron, the NCAA suspended running back Jordan Hall and cornerbacks Travis Howard and Corey “Pittsburgh” Brown for accepting $200 in cash at a Cleveland-area charity event from OSU booster Bobby DiGeronimo.

Later, the NCAA extended the suspensions of Herron for one game and Posey for five games after it ruled they were among five players who were overpaid or paid for hours not worked while employed part-time by DiGeronimo’s company.

The players’ dealings with DiGeronimo prompted the failure-to-monitor charge from the NCAA and led Gee to admonish Smith for failing to keep tabs on DiGeronimo despite longtime concerns over his dealings with players. Gee, however, remains a firm supporter of Smith.

DiGeronimo accused Ohio State of attempting to deflect blame off the school and onto him, saying Smith and Tressel were lying about their dealings with him. DiGeronimo has been disassociated from OSU athletics.

The Buckeyes finished their season with a 6-6 record. Fickell will coach the team as it faces Florida, Meyers’ former team, in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., on Jan. 2.
 
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This is brutal considering all the other schools that are getting away with other more MAJOR issues.

Bowl ban for next year.
Now 9 scholarships taken away, for the next 3 years.

And something I have NEVER heard of, having sanctions on Tressel for wherever he may go in the future ... wonder how many years that last for ?
Is that for the same 3 years the Bucks are under watch for and thus Tressel can't coach in the NCAA for the next 3 years, or just what it or how it works.
 
Now I'm not so sure about part of it.
I was under the impression that the Bucks forfeited 5 scholarships per year and the NCAA added another 4, for the total of 9 I mentioned earlier.
Now it sounds like its 9 Total, not each year, which makes it much better.

Really HATE to lose the Bowl ban, while MOST felt that that would not happen, it has.

It will be interesting to see if any of the Urban recent recruits decide to change because of the Bowl ban.
 
Not a pretty thing.

We'll see what happens to the next school that gets found out.....
Theres a long list of them that the NCAA is just getting started with.

Is the Miami stuff already over ?
It was much worse than the Bucks, they had players sit out and that was about it as far as I recall.

South Carolina has stuff happening.

They never did do anything to Auburn .

Then theres the Penn State issue that may or may not have anything NCAA wise going on.
 
Now I'm not so sure about part of it.
I was under the impression that the Bucks forfeited 5 scholarships per year and the NCAA added another 4, for the total of 9 I mentioned earlier.
Now it sounds like its 9 Total, not each year, which makes it much better.

Really HATE to lose the Bowl ban, while MOST felt that that would not happen, it has.

It will be interesting to see if any of the Urban recent recruits decide to change because of the Bowl ban.
yeah it is better. Could have been worse. Look at usc
 
3 years loss of Scholarships ...

Should n't have had ANY bowl ban had the NCAA followed what they have done with everyone else.

multiple players and a coach covering it up seems a lot worse than what USC did
 
only 1 year? what a joke

I agree and NEXT year.. need to pull this years bowl game cause some of those players are still there, why punish those that are not even at the school yet but then again 1 year isn't enough.

This is far worse than what happened with USC... OSU got off damn lucky but doesn't seem fair to me to do next years bowl game and not this years...pure lame!
 
Should n't have had ANY bowl ban had the NCAA followed what they have done with everyone else.

Now wouldn't you like to see them do the self imposed bowl ban as I suggested a month ago? Lose the 6-6 trip to the Gator bowl instead of what would be coming next year. Doesn't surprise me one bit that they received the 1 year bowl ban.
 
Now 9 scholarships taken away, for the next 3 years.

Don't forget that this is 9 scholarships total over three years. They did not say how many would be given up in any one year. They could just have 3 per year over the next three years or all 9 of them next year. I don't think that part was announced.
 

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