Beleaguered Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel has resigned effective immediately, the Columbus Dispatch reported Monday.
The Dispatch obtained a memo written by President E. Gordon Gee to the Board of Trustees in which he said the announcement would come Monday morning. "As you know," Gee wrote, "I have appointed a special committee to analyze and provide advice to me regarding issues attendant to our football program.
"In consultation with the senior leadership of the university and the senior leadership of the board I have actively been reviewing the matter and have accepted coach Tressel's resignation.
"My public statement will include our common understanding that throughout this, we are one university with one set of standards and one overarching mission.
"The university's enduring public purposes and its tradition of excellence will guide our mission."
Assistant coach Luke Fickell will act as interim coach all next season. Fickell was tasked with leading the team in its first five games of 2011 while Tressel served a suspension for witholding information from the school's compliance office and the NCAA.
Tressel addressed the team in what the Dispatch described as an emotional 8:45 a.m. meeting. After Tressel's exit, Fickell spoke with the players but did not address the media when leaving the practice facility.
Tressel has been on a short leash after since revelations came out that he was made aware that five key players, including quarterback Terrelle Pryor, sold memorabilia to a local tattoo parlor owner in exchange for benefits a full eight months before an FBI investigation revealed the the scandal, but never reported it to compliance. The FBI had the tattoo parlor owner on their radar for a drug trafficking probe.
Just last month, the Dispatch alleged that car dealers also gave perks to OSU players and their families.
Gee and AD Gene Smith have been heavily criticized for for the way the investigation was conducted. The two initially suspended the players for five games, but Smith, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and Sugar Bowl CEO Paul Hoolihan successfully lobbied the NCAA to reinstate them for the 2011 Sugar Bowl and postpone the penalties until the 2011 season.
Tressel was originally suspended for two games and fined $250,000 for failing to notify the school of potential NCAA violations. He then offered to extend his suspension five games.
Tressel won a national championship with Ohio State in 2002.
Tressel initially asserted he hadn't told anyone about the violations but the Dispatch, using the Freedom of Information act, uncovered e-mails he had sent to Pryor's mentor, a Jeanette, Pa., businessman.
On April 24, the NCAA accused Tressel of withholding information and lying to keep his players eligible, both potential "major violations." (source:nydailynews.com)