Tressel

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel was told by the school that he did a poor job of self-reporting NCAA violations years before he failed to tell his bosses that players were selling championship rings and other Buckeyes memorabilia, a cover-up that cost him his job.

In an evaluation of Tressel's job performance from 2005-06, then-athletic director Andy Geiger rated Tressel “unacceptable” in terms of self-reporting rules violations in a timely manner. The coach also was warned in a separate letter that he and his staff needed to do a better job of monitoring the cars the Buckeyes were driving — an issue that would arise again this spring.

The documents were part of a mountain of public records released Friday by Ohio State dealing with Tressel and the ongoing scandal that has sullied one of the nation's elite football programs.

Tressel received a letter of reprimand from then-athletic director Andy Geiger for giving a recruit a Buckeyes jersey — a clear NCAA violation — before he had even coached his first game.

In spite of a sparkling 106-22 record and winning the 2002 national championship, Tressel was forced to step down on May 30 after it became clear that he had knowingly played ineligible players during the 2010 season. Investigators discovered he found out in April 2010 that players were receiving cash and discounted tattoos from the owner of a local tattoo parlor in exchange for OSU football memorabilia, but he did not report them to his superiors or NCAA compliance officers — and didn't even acknowledge he had known of the problem until confronted in January.

Ohio State, which has vacated the 2010 season including its share of the Big Ten championship, and has issued itself a two-year probation, is now facing an Aug. 12 meeting before the NCAA's committee on infractions.