An Email From 2000

In January 2001, I was a full-time graduate student at The Ohio State University while also working multiple jobs. I was in the beginning of a long-distance relationship with my now wife, and I attended most of the home football games that fall. The team ended the season with an 8-4 record after a 6-6 record the season before, which was (and still is) unacceptable in Columbus. As a result, the school fired coach John Cooper. For no apparent reason, I was also sent the following email from Steve Snapp at the university’s Department of Athletics about the new coaching search:

FYI --  While the search for a new football coach is underway, I will be the primary contact for any of you who have questions. As you can imagine, both Andy Geiger and Archie Griffin are immersed in the search process and simply do not have time to respond to all the requests for interviews that they are receiving. I will make information available to you as it becomes available to me. All of us here understand that all of you have a job to do, but we are trying to get the best person available for the job and do not want to do anything that compromises the search process. Thanks for your understanding.

Spoiler: Ohio State hired Jim Tressel. The now late Snapp sent this email to dozens of radio, print, and television media members across the state of Ohio including Kirk Herbstreit, Dan Wetzel, Jim Lachey, and Tim Benz. Contacts at every major Ohio newspaper and television station received this email. I know this because every name and email address were listed in the “To” line. I didn’t receive any subsequent emails, but I saved this message apparently in case I wanted to contact Herbstreit to ask him about his thoughts on college football (and because I save everything).

Last week, I found this email and decided to send my own email to everyone on Snapp’s list. I was curious if any of the emails still worked 21 years later and if anyone would reply. I sent the message and then watched as undeliverable message after undeliverable message filled my inbox. The next day, I received a response from an individual who was the sports director at the OSU student radio. He shared his experiences and cool stories about his time at the radio station and mentioned that he later worked as a sportswriter for more than a decade. I’m amazed that I received a response and that someone (else) still has an email account from 20+ years ago.
 
Now, I’m curious if anyone else who worked in Ohio media in January 2001 still works in media and wants to reply. They can share their thoughts about the upcoming Ohio State football season, covering the Buckeyes in 2000-2001, the state of the Big Ten conference with the pending additions of USC and UCLA, or anything else.

Photo by Kirk Irwin

Update: Since Amy asked, here is the text that I sent to about 65 people:

My name is Sean [redacted], and I am a 2001 Ohio State graduate from the College of Education and Human Ecology. Over 20 years ago, the now late Steve Snapp of The Ohio State University's Department of Athletics accidentally copied me on an email to Ohio media members regarding the open football coach search. Spoiler: Ohio State hired Jim Tressel. That seemed to work out pretty well. 
 
For no apparent reason, I saved this email and now there might actually be a reason. I write a blog called Sean's Ramblings and thought I would try to make a post about Steve Snapp's email. Specifically, I'm curious to see how many of these email addresses still work. If you receive my email, thanks for making it this far. If you don't mind, please reply and let me know who this is and if you still work in media. Please feel free to share any thoughts about the upcoming Ohio State football season, the state of the Big Ten conference with the pending additions of USC and UCLA, or anything else.
 
Thank you for your time and consideration.

Disappointed By Ohio State

I received a call the other day from the folks creating The Ohio State University Alumni Today, the first publication ever to feature alumni listings from 1890-something through today. The school wanted to make sure that my information was correct and then tried to sell me this publication. (The hardback version is available for two payments of only $49.99 each!) Anyway, one of the first questions asked by seller was if I was still basking in Ohio State’s Sugar Bowl victory. I paused and replied that I had moved on to the basketball season. In reality, I couldn’t even remember who Ohio State played in the Sugar Bowl. What I remember from the game was that QB Terrelle Pryor and four other Buckeyes were permitted to play in that game even though they were suspended for five games of the 2011 football season for selling jerseys, championship rings and trophies. They were permitted to play by signing a ridiculous document stating that they would return to school the following season (not declaring for the NFL draft) as required by coach Jim Tressel.

So last week, Yahoo! Sports reported the following (this text is from ESPN)

Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel received an e-mail last April telling him that two of his players were caught up in a federal drug-trafficking case and the sale of memorabilia, breaking NCAA rules.

Tressel responded: "I will get on it ASAP."

But he never mentioned it to Ohio State's compliance department or his athletic director for more than nine months.

On Tuesday, Tressel was suspended for the first two games of the 2011 season and fined $250,000 for violating NCAA rules by failing to notify the school about the players' involvement. He also will receive a public reprimand and must make a public apology.

The NCAA is still investigating and could reject Ohio State's self-imposed penalties and add more sanctions.

So Tressel knew about this since last April but did nothing about it. Lovely. Let’s go back a step. The five Ohio State players who are all around 21 or younger sold jerseys and championship rings for money. If you have little or no money in college and have an opportunity to sell something, you do it. I would have loved to have sold baseball cards or something for $1,000 when I was in college. Of course, what the players did was in violation of NCAA regulations, and therefore, they were punished. I get that. However, Tressel is not a college student with limited resources. He’s a grown man with a seven-figure annual salary. The fact that his suspension is less than the players is ridiculous. This is a case where the cover-up is worse than the crime. I hope that NCAA does the right thing here and significantly increases Tressel’s suspension.

Let’s get back to the Ohio State administration for a second. I was there when football coach John Cooper was fired. At the time, the school stated that he was fired because of players having academic and off-the-field problems. In reality, he was fired for going 6-6 and 8-4 in his final two seasons in Columbus and his inability to win bowl games or defeat Michigan. Here’s what really bothers me about the situation (again from ESPN):

Ohio State president Gordon Gee said he and Tressel had discussed the violation at Gee's house for 3 hours one night.

Gee also said he had not considered dismissing the Buckeyes coach.

"No, are you kidding?" he said with a laugh. "Let me be very clear. I'm just hoping the coach doesn't dismiss me."

President Gee, you are the leader of one of the largest institutes of higher education in the United States. The buck (or in this case, the buckeyes) stops with you. I’m sure that you were instrumental in helping secure the recent $100 million investment by Leslie Wenxer, the head of Limited and chair of the school’s Board of Trustees. Congratulations to you for that (although Wexner probably would give millions of dollars to the school regardless of the president). However, when it comes to football, you would be better served to stay quiet. You already made a fool of yourself in criticizing TCU and Boise State last fall. Now you’re saying that the coach is bigger than you. It doesn’t work that way. Perhaps the Board should consider you position as president.

Oh, I’m not giving any more money to Ohio State, so enjoy making millions off of Pryor and the other players who you threw under the bus while acknowledging that the coach is fine. You probably don't need my money anyway.

The Columbus Dispatch has more about this story.

Vote Against Saban

I should have posted information about this earlier, but the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year voting ends at midnight Eastern Time tonight. This award recognizes the college football coach in each NCAA division that best demonstrates sportsmanship, integrity, responsibility and excellence.

Please note the word integrity. The Division I coach currently leading in the voting is Nick Saban of the University of Alabama. When I think of integrity, I don’t think of Nick Saban. As the coach of the Miami Dolphins, he constantly denied the rumors of the Alabama job and even said, "I guess I have to say it. I'm not going to be the Alabama coach. ... I don't control what people say. I don't control what people put on dot-com or anything else. So I'm just telling you there's no significance, in my opinion, about this, about me, about any interest that I have in anything other than being the coach [in Miami]." Two weeks later, he left Miami.

Personally, I like Jim Tressel of Ohio State or Pat Fitzgerald of Northwestern. This may be the one case where I would write to vote for Joe Paterno over Saban. Actually, I take that back. You can’t be coach of the year when so many of your players get arrested. So vote for anyone besides Paterno and Saban.

For Division II, vote for Bill O’Boyle of Chadron State College. I know nothing about him, but I like the bald head/moustache look.

Once again, voting for the Coach of the Year ends tonight at midnight. Check out this website to vote or for more information.