The one takeaway from day four of the Jim Tressel/NCAA saga is this: longer one has to look at it, the worse it looks. That seems to be the summary from today's round of reactions, leading with the Sporting News' Matt Hayes, who pieces together the full timeline of Tressel's actions over the course of the illegal benefits case and finds the evidence damning in triplicate.
• Tressel signed a document on Sept. 13, 2010 that said he was not aware of NCAA violations.
• He failed to tell school officials on or around Dec. 9, 2010 about emails he received in April explaining players’ involvement in selling memorabilia.
• He did not tell school officials about the emails – or his knowledge of players selling memorabilia -- when specifically asked on Dec. 16, 2010. He also misled school officials that day when stating he “did not recall from whom he received the tip,” and that he “did not know that any items had been seized.”
There is also a mention of the dreaded phrase "lack of institutional control" in Hayes' piece, albeit one made by the writer and not by the NCAA.
Additional irony can be found in Ohio State's firing of former men's basketball coach Jim O'Brien in 2004, where violation of NCAA bylaws were used as justification for terminating with cause.