Bobby Knight is quite the hot head, but the man's graduation rate says a lot about his character.
That's the key, isn't it? Back in the day, athletics were used as tool to enrich the academic experience in America's institutions of higher learning. Today, at most big-time schools, it's the athletes that are used to enrich the schools They have it ass-backwards.
I'm sure Tressel and OSU would defend the practice of giving scholarships to academically inadequate "students" as something of a benevolent gesture - giving an opportunity to the less fortunate. The problem is these students rarely graduate in their programs. The fact of the matter is OSU and the less-fortunate would be better served if those scholarships actually went to people who took advantage of their intended purpose - to enrich their lives intellectually - rather than using them as a one or two year audition for the NFL.
OSU is a massive school. I bet that they could recruit well-performing students from their existing student-body to replace some of the highly-athletic but academically unfit players, and still have a very good team. Would they compete for the BCS every year? Probably not. But, the academic experience of actual students would be enriched. Shouldn't that be the primary and singular goal of any athletic program?