Addendum: Following the Reading of the Jim Tressel Emails

I am fully aware that my status as an Ohio State fan is coloring my analysis of this situation. However, if you will excuse my justification of my subsequent position, I have made it a point to try not to speak on rumors up to now (and I hope I have been largely successful), and I have generally tried to give people the benefit of the doubt in most cases. For that, I feel justified in now drawing on my equity of goodwill.

I had heard about these emails being sent back and forth between Jim Tressel and the unnamed lawyer who informed the coach about the players, but I had not expected that they would be released to the public. They were redacted to protect the identity of the lawyer, but I have the feeling that the Columbus law community won't have much trouble figuring out who it is. With that, it seems that we have some strange issues in this case.

Here's the thing: the lawyer should never have sent those emails. He was breaking attorney-client privilege and he knew it was wrong. So did Jim Tressel. That, in essence, is the crux of the weirdness.

Upon receiving those emails, Tressel was in a very difficult dilemma. The lawyer was risking disbarment by sending those emails. The feds already knew about the memorabilia, so it was only a matter of time before it became public. From the tone of the emails, it seems to me that the lawyer is actually a friend of Tressel's, not just some anonymous schmoe who sent him an email containing some information he might want. That meant that Tressel could either inform people of the situation and risk his friend's disbarment while covering his rear with the NCAA, or he could wait until the feds moved and risk heavy NCAA sanctions for not reporting a known violation immediately while helping his friend keep his job. From that angle, I have to admit that I would have a tough time figuring out what to do.

As fate would have it, the double-whammy is coming down: Tressel is likely receiving heavy NCAA sanctions over not reporting the known violations, and his friend is likely to be censured, if not suspended or even disbarred, for breaking attorney-client privilege.

So, for all you lawyers (and doctors) out there: don't break confidentiality rules! And for that matter, if you are working in a hospital, don't violate HIPAA rules to look up medical records you don't need to see! And if you signed a non-disclosure agreement, don't disclose anything! As strange as it may seem, you may be hurting more people than just yourself when you do that.

The more I think about this, the more I come to the conclusion that Tressel may not have been as awful as people are saying. He could have thrown the lawyer anonymously under the bus to at least deflect some blame, but he did not. This will not help him with the NCAA or the recruits, but it does at least keep him from betraying someone who was (however misguidedly) trying to help. That should keep him in good stead with the Ohio State community from which he draws his support.

And let's not forget that these emails were sent by a lawyer passing along information about an active drug investigation and the subsequent prosecution of the dealer, which means that any release of this information could compromise the federal case against the guy who was buying Ohio State player paraphernalia. How's that for a dilemma? Honestly, of all the things the tattoo parler owner was doing wrong, buying the players' stuff was the least of his offenses. Unfortunately, that is not the case for the players who sold their stuff, nor is that the case for the coach who did not pass along the information to the school's compliance department and, through them, the NCAA.

Had Tressel submitted the emails to the compliance department after the fact, he might have gotten away better than he will. However, he did not—the legal office of Ohio State discovered the emails through some agency that I can't remember (this is described in the notification letter sent to the NCAA, which I also read). More than likely, the two-game suspension and fine are not going to be enough for the NCAA, and I suspect that they will hand down additional penalties which I cannot even guess at (Note: I have no idea whether the NCAA will take the now-five-game suspension and leave it at that, but it is certainly closer to the mark than two games).

While I cannot condone Tressel for not informing the NCAA about the violations, I can at least understand why he did not. But he should have done something sooner to at least lessen his guilt.

However, I should also note that a few things Tressel has said gives me the feeling there is a little more to this than the fans have been informed of so far. Not much, but a little, and whether it is good or bad is impossible to say. But as to whether that is the case, or whether we will ever hear the full story even if there is... well, that's far outside my ability to guess.