Jim Tressel

James Patrick Tressel (born December 5, 1952) is the current head coach of The Ohio State University football team. He was hired in 2001 to replace John Cooper. Since becoming Ohio State's 22nd head football coach, his teams have won a National Championship, achieved the first 14-0 season record in College Football history, and have garnered an overall record of 61-13, including a 4-1 bowl record and a 4-1 record against arch-rival Michigan.

Tressel's 196 overall wins ranks third among active NCAA Division I coaches, behind only behind Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno. His 19-game winning streak during the 2002-2003 campaigns was the second longest in the history of Ohio State football. The team currently has a 18 game winning streak that started with the last 7 games of the 2005 season. His winning percentage of 82.4% is the second best in school history, behind only Carroll Widdoes' 16-2 (88.9%) mark in the 1944-1945 seasons.

His national championships at Youngstown State University gave him the distinction of being a part of the only father-son coaching combination to win a national championship (His father, Lee Tressel, won a Division III title at Baldwin-Wallace College in 1978). His 2002 national title victory at Ohio State gave him two more distinctions: He became the only coach to win national titles at two different schools (Youngstown State and Ohio State) and he won national titles at two different divisional levels of NCAA football (Ohio State is Division I-A, while Youngstown State is Division I-AA).

As head coach, Tressel is known for a conservative style of play calling, winning games with just enough scoring, strong defense, and "playing field position." Tressel often refers to the punt as the most important play in football. In most interviews, he credits the seniors on the team, foregoing praise for his buckeyes will win younger players, in an attempt to promote those who have dedicated themselves to The Ohio State University football program for a number of years. He is sometimes referred to as "The Senator," (Most notably by ESPN's Chris Fowler), because of his composure on the sidelines during play and his diplomatic way of interacting with representatives from the media.

Early life

Jim Tressel was born in Mentor, Ohio on December 5, 1952. His father, Lee Tressel, who hails from Ada, Ohio, was the coach at a local high school; after a 34-game winning streak, Lee was hired as head coach for the Baldwin-Wallace football team. He would go on to win the 1978 NCAA Division III National Championship. Jim attended many of his father's games and practices. After graduating from Berea High School in 1971, he played as quarterback under his father at Baldwin-Wallace. As quarterback, he earned four varsity letters and won all-conference honors as a senior in 1974. The next year, he graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor's degree in education. While at Baldwin-Wallace Jim was initiated into Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.

Early Coaching Career

After graduating from Baldwin-Wallace, Tressel became a Graduate Assistant at the University of Akron. He worked there coaching the quarterbacks, receivers, and running backs, while earning his Masters degree in education. In 1978, he left to become quarterbacks and receivers coach at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. By 1981, he had left to become the quarterbacks coach at Syracuse. In 1983, he returned to Ohio and became quarterbacks and receivers coach at Ohio State. That year, OSU had a 9-3 record, including a 28-23 victory over Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl; a 39-yard pass from quarterback Mike Tomczak to wide receiver Thad Jemison clinched the win with 39 seconds remaining in the game. In 1984, he was given the added responsibility of coaching the running backs. That year, the team became Big Ten champs, played in the Rose Bowl, and tailback Keith Byars finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting. In 1985, OSU defeated BYU in the Citrus Bowl.

Head Coach at Youngstown State

At the end of the 1985 season, Jim Tressel left OSU to become head coach at Youngstown State University. His first season as coach was one to forget, as Youngstown State finished the season with a 2-9 record. In his third year as head coach, the 1987 season showed an extreme turn of events for Tressel. Youngstown State finished the season with an 8-4 record and won the Ohio Valley Conference championship. From 1989-1994, Youngstown State would play in the Division I-AA National Championship game four times. In 1991, Tressel won his first National Championship, defeating Marshall; the victory made him and his father the only father-son duo to win National Championships in College Football. YSU won two more National Championships in the following three years: Against Marshall in 1993 (who had defeated them in 1992) and Boise State in 1994. 1997 brought Tressel his fourth National Championship with a tight 10-9 victory against McNeese State. He earned his 100th win against Indiana State. 1999 marked Tressel's 9th visit to the Division I-AA playoffs, but the team lost to Georgia Southern in the title game. 2000 presented Tressel with more success, leading Youngstown State to a 9-3 season and its 10th playoff appearance. During the 1990s, Youngstown State had a record of 103-27-2, the most wins by any Division I-AA team and fourth most of both Division I-A and I-AA combined. Tressel's overall record at Youngstown was 135-57-2.

Head Coach at Ohio State

After head coach John Cooper lost to unranked South Carolina in the 2000 Outback Bowl, the Buckeyes were looking for a new head coach to revive the program. After a lengthy search, Ohio State chose Tressel to replace Cooper as head football coach.

During Tressel's first year, Ohio State had a lackluster 7-5 record, with the main highlight coming in a road victory over Ohio State's arch-rival, the University of Michigan Wolverines. There were two things that made the road victory even more impressive. The first was that Tressel had suspended his starting quarterback, Steve Bellisari for the Illinois game following a DUI incident and was faced with playing a quarterback that had very little experience in Craig Krenzel. The second factor was that Tressel delivered a quasi-guarantee of victory the week he was hired. Speaking to a packed arena at halftime of an Ohio State-Michigan basketball game, he said, "I can assure you that you'll be proud of our young people, in the classroom, in the community and most especially in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan." Tressel lived up to the guarantee with a 26-20 victory in Ann Arbor. Ohio State returned to the Outback Bowl, where the Buckeyes once again fell to South Carolina. Though the Buckeyes lost on a last minute field goal, the game is notable for their coming back to tie the game 28-28 after being 28-0 down. Also Rod Gilmore of ESPN has this to say "The official made a terrible call late in the game when he gave Ohio State an unsportsmanlike penalty based on a celebration after the Buckeyes intercepted a pass. That changed the end of the game. It put Ohio State in the shadow of its own goal posts and prevented the Buckeyes from running their offense the way they would have."[1]

The following year was nothing short of magical, as Tressel and the Buckeyes went 14-0, defeating the heavily favored University of Miami Hurricanes in double overtime to win the 2003 Fiesta Bowl and the 2002 National Championship. It was Ohio State's first national championship in 34 years. That success made him the first coach in NCAA history to win the AFCA's Coach of the Year award twice while at different schools.

They were able to earn the national championship through close wins on a defensive-minded scheme that relied on field position. During the year, Tressel remarked that the punt "is the most important play in football." With a combination of senior leadership with Michael Doss and a freshman phenom in Maurice Clarett, Tressel was able to pull out many close games during the season. Seven of their 14 victories were within 7 points including one overtime game and a double overtime game coming in the Fiesta Bowl. His playcalling style of tough defense and conservative offense was dubbed "Tresselball" by the media.

Coming off the national title season, the Buckeyes earned an 11-2 record in 2003, including another victory at the Fiesta Bowl, this time against Kansas State. In 2004, the team finished 8-4, closing out the season with a 33-7 victory against Oklahoma State at the Alamo Bowl. During 2005, the Buckeyes had a 10-2 record which featured Tressel's fourth win over Michigan in five years and a 34-20 win against the University of Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. The 2006 Ohio State Buckeyes football team is currently ranked #1 with a 11-0 record.

Awards

References

Ohio State Football Profile: Jim Tressel
CNN: "Ohio State Cans Cooper"
ESPN: [2]

External links

Personal site

Preceded by Bill Narduzzi	Youngstown State Head Football Coach 1985–2000	Succeeded by Jon Heacock
Preceded by John Cooper	Ohio State Head Football Coach 2001–	Succeeded by Current