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By RUSTY MILLER and ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, Associated Press


      COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio State is vacating its wins from the
2010 football season, including its share of the Big Ten
championship and the Buckeyes' victory over Arkansas in the 2011
Sugar Bowl.


      Responding to the NCAA's investigation of a memorabilia-for-cash
scandal that cost former coach Jim Tressel his job and led to star
quarterback Terrelle Pryor leaving school, the university also said
Friday it is waiving a $250,000 fine imposed on Tressel and
changing his resignation to a retirement.


      Through the school, the ex-Buckeyes coach said that he is taking
responsibility for the NCAA inquiry, which developed after it was
learned Tressel failed to report players receiving improper
benefits.


      Tressel will attend Ohio State's Aug. 12 hearing before the NCAA
infractions committee, the former coach's attorney said Friday.

      The university also is putting the football program on probation
for two years, which means there would be harsher penalties if any
further wrongdoing is discovered.


      The response to the NCAA doesn't mean Ohio State's woes are
over. The governing body for college sports could still impose
tougher sanctions, such as a ban on post-season play and a
reduction in scholarships in the wake of the August hearing.


      Athletic Director Gene Smith wouldn't speculate on what else the
NCAA might do, but he called the university's actions significant.
Not only is the entire 2010 season wiped out along with the Sugar
Bowl, but so is the university's seven-game winning streak over
rival Michigan.


      "That's a significant impact to those who participated, and
some of them are still here today," he said.


      Smith said the university will overhaul how it manages its
football players, from the cars they drive to where they live, to
the bars and restaurants they visit. "A lot of different
strategies," he said.


      Smith said he felt betrayed by Tressel when the coach informed
him he'd known for months that players had sold memorabilia or
traded them for tattoos and cash at a local tattoo parlor without
telling anyone at the university, as required under his contract
and NCAA rules.

      "In the moment, yes, I felt betrayed. Why not bring that to
me?" Smith said. "But I've gone on."

      Originally, five players including Pryor were suspended for the
first five games of this year. But Pryor left to try his luck in
the NFL soon after Tressel quit in May, and now an unidentified
player has been added to the list. Another player will miss one
under a previously announced sanction.


      The scandal initially broke shortly before the Sugar Bowl,
though the Buckeyes involved were still allowed to suit up.

Gallery

Sports

Responding to the NCAA's investigation of a memorabilia-for-cash
scandal that cost former coach Jim Tressel his job and led to star
quarterback Terrelle Pryor leaving school, the university is giving up its share of the Big Ten title and the Buckeyes' victory over Arkansas in the 2011 Sugar Bowl.

Ohio State vacates 2010 football wins, Sugar Bowl

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