Shocking End of Era at OSU

I'm just stunned at the chain of events that has led to the downfall of one of college football's great coaches.  A few players flaunt some rules and make a little spending money, the coach learns of it and files it away hoping no one finds out, events gain steam and boom, the coach is out at one of the top 5 jobs in the game.  The more you learn about college football, the more you wonder how anyone can navigate these trecherous waters.  You have to win, but you have to weave around a complicated set of rules, stretching, bending, but staying under the radar of everyone wanting to bring you down.

Look at Jim Tressel's career:  an Ohio native who built a dynasty in 1-AA winning 4 national championships in 15 years but wondering if the big call would ever come.  Then it does and he's ready: 10 years, 106 wins, 8 BCS bowls (5-3), 7 Big 10 championships, a 9-1 record against Michigan.  He wins a BCS championship taking down one of the most talented teams ever, and produces NFL players at a fantastic rate.  Unassuming, visible in the community, seemingly the perfect representative for one of America's top programs.

Now its all gone and at 58 Jim Tressel may have coached his last game.  He's a big boy and has to live with the decisions he's made.  But what I'm left with again is just how difficult being the head man at a major program is; the immense pressure, the wide array of responsibilities, the complicated rules, the talented enemies.  Lord knows I don't pull for Ohio St., but I feel the game lost a great one today and I hope that he can find peace whether in retirement, or if fate finds him coaching again on a smaller scale where he just be a coach once more.

S