There is plenty of legitimate criticism of the Baseball Hall of Fame and its process of who gets in and who gets shut out of Cooperstown. But now, the College Football Hall of Fame has a controversy of its own after announcing its most recent class for 2015 that includes former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel and former Oklahoma Sooners linebacker Brian Bosworth.
Tressel had to resign in disgrace from Ohio State in 2011 after lying to the NCAA, while Bosworth was a reputed steroid user in his playing days at OU. Even the most ardent college football fans and bashers of the Baseball Hall of Fame must admit that this latest class for the College Hall leaves plenty ammunition for critics and skeptics of the game.
The Vest
Tressel rubbed many as a sanctimonious phony during his time at Ohio State. He had arrived at Columbus from Youngstown State where he oversaw a football program that won big but also had been reported to have had shady dealings and player payoffs. While at Ohio State Tressel became a beloved figure where the Buckeyes were the winningest Power Five program from 2001-2010 and also went 9-1 against hated arch rival Michigan.
The music stopped for Tressel in the offseason of 2011 when it was reported that Ohio State players were selling memorabilia and getting free tattoos. Tressel tried to cover it up with false denials to NCAA investigators. When the story blew up nationally, the head coach could not stave off the national outrage and resigned.
Tressel is still serving what is called a show-cause penalty from the fallout of the infamous tattoo scandal and would need to win a special appeal if he wanted to coach today.
In essence, a man that described himself as an “educator” and sold an image of being a man of character has been voted into the Hall of Fame of college football despite being convicted of lying to its very governing body during an investigation of his players breaking the rules of said body.
The Boz
And then there is the case of Brian Bosworth. The Boz had to leave head coach Barry Switzer’s renegade Oklahoma program early due to failing a drug test and then mocking the NCAA on national TV during the Orange Bowl as he compared the governing body to the Soviet Union. Even Switzer, who normally would tolerate almost anything in the name of victory, had enough and told the Boz to get lost, kicking him off the team for his senior year.
Bosworth, to his credit, has been since demonstrated humility and regret for his actions as a college player. A recent ESPN documentary was sympathetic to his cause, while acknowledging his checkered past. Bosworth went as far as to tearfully apologize to his Sooners teammates, which went a long way to restoring the good will of the public.
On the field, Bosworth was an undeniable one man wrecking crew during his college career as one of the most dominant linebackers in history.
Seamheads Right to Point Back
The Baseball Hall of Fame has received plenty of justifiable criticism for its methodology of enshrining members. But baseball fanatics have every right to take apart the College Football Hall of Fame for its newest inductions, particularly in the case of Tressel, who lied in an attempt to cover up a breaking of the rules.
The best case for admitting such miscreants as Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, and Mark McGuire to the Baseball Hall of Fame is that College Football has admitted a cheating liar of a coach and a performance enhanced roid raged linebacker to its Hall.
NFL Does it Best
Say what you want about the NFL, its Pro Football Hall of Fame does it the best. You can be the most loathsome person on the planet but if you were a star on the field you get enshrined with a bust in Canton, Ohio. No pretense, no questions, no problem. It appears as if college football is following suit. Perhaps Baseball can end its Tressel-like phoniness with its Hall of Fame.
