Sports Illustrated Story on Jim Tressel Adds to Allegations for Former Ohio State Coach

There was plenty of anticipation for a new Sports Illustrated article on Jim Tressel after the head coach resigned as Ohio State football coach on Monday. On Monday night, that article was published on the magazine's website, adding to the list of allegations against the now former Buckeyes head man.

SI's George Dohrmann did a substantial amount of reporting and revealed some new information on the head coach in his report.

While it was known that Tressel's players were trading memorabilia for tattoos — something Tressel initially denied knowing about before admitting the opposite — the SI article details how deep that situation went.

According to the story, the memorabilia-for-tattoos scheme goes all the way back to 2002, Tressel's second year in Columbus. While six players have been suspended for part of the 2011 season for their roles, the report also says that almost 30 players had been involved over the years.

The majority of the dealings happened at a tattoo parlor named Dudley'z Tattoos & Body Piercing. That parlor eventually closed down, and the Buckeyes took their business to Fine Line Ink instead. A good portion of the information in the SI article comes from an employee who actually worked at both establishments.

That man, Dustin Halko, explained to SI how the deals went down, saying that the more elaborate the tattoo, the more the players would give up. He even said that one player traded a jacket with 15 or so autographs on it, including that of Tressel.

Another former employee, who used a pseudonym for the SI story, shed some light on the involvement of quarterback Terrell Pryor.

The employee said that Pryor "alone brought in more than 20 items," and when the employee asked Pryor how he got all of the equipment he did (shoulder pads, helmets, cleats, jerseys), the quarterback reportedly responded, "I get whatever I want."

There's also a story about how Tressel, while working as an assistant at Ohio State, would rig raffles at a summer football camp so that prized recruits would win. A former fellow assistant with Tressel explained the situation with perhaps the most damning and insightful quote of the entire story.

"In the morning he would read the Bible with another coach," the source recalled. "Then, in the afternoon, he would go out and cheat kids who had probably saved up money from mowing lawns to buy those raffle tickets. That's Jim Tressel."

Not surprisingly, a number of players mentioned in the story either denied the allegations or weren't able to be reached for comment.