I know what you're saying. What is Dick Vitale doing commenting on the Jim Tressel situation? He's a College Basketball guy, and has proven to be a relatively clueless one at that (quick editor's note: did you know that he picked VCU over Butler, and Kentucky over UConn in the final four last year? Then when he got a second chance in the finals, he picked Butler over UConn? Mind boggling). But he is technically an authority on college athletics, and he does know a lot of things that have happened; and there has to be some value to that.
So what does he have to say about this whole situation? Well, he compares Tressel to Bruce Pearl and Kelvin Sampson. Basically saying that it is even more of a shame that Tressel used these practices, when he was a good enough coach and recruiter to win without them.
It came down to the simple fact that this whole situation snowballed. Tressel tried to protect his players instead of going to the proper authorities and the right people within the University. When he learned of issues, he tried to work with the people involved instead of talking with his compliance staff or administrators. It all spelled trouble.
Vitale makes a good point. Between Tressel's abilities as a game manager, and the natural recruiting base that is Ohio State University, Tressel didn't need to do these kinds of things (or allow them to happen) for his team to be successful. He could have done it the right way and still had an elite program. The fact that he chose not to run a clean program while enjoying that reputation, unfortunately, speaks volumes of his character.