Boise State Trying To Avoid Being Ohio State

News broke a few days ago relating to possible NCAA violations for Boise State University. My first reaction was what did their football team do. However, the initial sanctions were violations regarding the Women's Tennis team. Yeah, thats right, Women's Tennis. Now don't get me started about Title 9 and how I think it is unfair to schools and what not, but after those violations, things turned back to the football program.


The violations that occurred were minor NCAA violations included providing cheaper housing and stay for recruits during summer visits. NCAA experts on ESPN have stated that these violations were minor compared to some other schools. Hint hint... Nevertheless, Boise St came down harder on themselves than many thought they would. Typical to normal NCAA methods, if a school punishes itself enough, they will not face any other punishment from the NCAA. Boise took away three scholarships over the next two years and took away at least three practices before their opening game. These are fairly large punishments especially being self-imposed. 


Three scholarships can hurt a program and practice time before their first game is very surprising. Head coach Chris Peterson took full responsibility by saying, "We pride ourselves on doing things the right way at Boise State. As soon as we became aware that these inadvertent infractions were not in accordance with NCAA rules, we acted swiftly and without hesitation." 


Jim Tressel needs to take a hint from this. I know these sanctions are different from one another, but Peterson showed that by taking responsibility, you can look like you actually have integrity. Practically every team in Division 1 NCAA cheats a bit. But when you are ousted, you have to come forth and take the punishment. Ohio States punishment of a five game suspension did nothing. Please, Tressel is still going to make the game plan and be there during the practices. Ya it will be hard in game without him but the NCAA does not think that is a good enough punishment. 


By Boise taking away scholarships for a minor violation, this almost certainly means Ohio State will lose some scholarships. They may even lose more of their coach and possible coaching restrictions. Even though Boise still could face more, this shows that they are at least taking responsibility and trying to improve their image. An image of a sub-par academic institute who built its football program on Prop-48 kids who couldn't get in anywhere else. As much as I personally dislike Boise State and how they reached their level as a football program, you can't help but applaud Chris Peterson or owning up. 


Ohio State should take a page from Peterson in the future and see how they can avoid such a terrible national image.