By: Bud Shaw (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -

CLEVELAND — The easy answer is to say Jim Tressel’s resignation was the only way for Ohio State to move ahead.

But OSU President Gordon Gee and athletic director Gene Smith did almost as much to tarnish the Ohio State brand in the March 8 press conference as Tressel did in concealing NCAA violations. The way they handled things unwittingly brought even more pressure to bear on Tressel and the Buckeyes program.

Was Ohio State University outraged that its coach played ineligible players and didn’t report known violations to his OSU’s compliance department? Not that you could tell.

Were Gee and Smith even upset with Tressel’s judgment? Common sense says they must’ve been, but if that were the feeling, they failed miserably in delivering that message.

With Gee and Smith throwing their strangely ill-conceived support behind Tressel, OSU not only invited critics to rail about the football tail wagging the university dog, it waved a slab of prime rib in the face of the NCAA and media bloodhounds and invited even more scrutiny…..

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2. Gene Smith says he backs Jim Tressel
3. Terrelle Pryor’s future at Ohio State is the next big topic in Columbus
4. Football scandal puts focus on Ohio State president and AD
5. Text of Jim Tressel’s resignation letter