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Jim Tressel (National Champion, ex-President, Youngstown State University, CFB HOF)

MSNBC.COM

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Matt Hayes said:
With Tressel at helm, Ohio State isn’t losing

No. 1 Buckeyes have plenty of talent and won’t be outcoached

We were so giddy and giggly at the mere thought of it all. No clear leader, no one team to chase — pure pandemonium.

And Ohio State had to go and ruin it.

It took the Buckeyes all of three weeks to become the undisputed lead dog in a national title race that had looked deliciously crowded and convoluted. (As for our preseason pick, Notre Dame? Pfffffffft.) We're a quarter of the way into the season, and there's one thing even more unexpected than a male voice on The View: No one is beating Ohio State. At least not in the regular season.

"They have very few flaws," says Texas safety Michael Griffin.

Damn Buckeyes. Make that damn Big Ten. As September winds down and October brings key conference games, there is no more disappointing league. Forget about Michigan or anyone else in the Big Ten sideswiping this train. Not only is Ohio State clearly the elite of the league, the Buckeyes have one other key component to a championship run: a coach who knows how to win a big game.

This is a players game. But when the talent gap is minimal, when there is no real difference in speed and athleticism, you better have a guy in a headset who knows what he's doing.

One of the most overlooked factors in the game today: When all things are equal — and sometimes when they're not — no one is a better big-game coach than Jim Tressel.

Pete Carroll looks like a genius with all that talent at Southern California. Mack Brown validated his elite status riding Superman Vince Young. Tressel? He won a national title with Craig Freakin' Krenzel.

The guy can flat-out coach in big games — in games that matter. In five-plus seasons in Columbus, he's 3-0 in BCS bowl games and 4-1 against bitter rival Michigan. One of those BCS wins (Miami, 2002) was against the most talented college football team in the past two decades.

And now Tressel has superstar quarterback/Heisman Trophy front-runner Troy Smith. He has wideout Ted Ginn, the game's most exciting player. He has Gonzo and Beanie and Antonio Pittman and a "revamped" defense that 100-some other Division I teams would trade theirs for.

He also has — after winning yet another big game two weeks ago at Texas — an incredibly easy road to the national title game. The Big Ten schedule includes road tests at Iowa (did you watch the Iowa-Syracuse game?) and, and . . . that's it. The Buckeyes get Penn State in Columbus on Saturday, don't play occasional thorn Wisconsin and finish up at home against Michigan.

Don't even start, Blue Boy. For the Wolverines to win The Game, Lloyd Carr would have to outcoach Tressel. And that ain't happening.

"He's not a loud, look-at-me kind of coach," says Cincinnati coach Mark Dantonio, the Buckeyes' most recent victim, of Tressel. "What he has done there and what he can do kind of gets lost in that."

Until, that is, he ruins our party.
 
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official.site

5 Years of Champions
After five years at Ohio State, Jim Tressel has produced champions at every turn


Sept. 23, 2006 By Tim Stried


A shrill ring pierced the early morning darkness and the veteran coach awoke swiftly. With one blink he shook off the affects of a night's sleep and was ready for the day with the kind of energy one gets from the first day at a new job.

Only his job was as the head football coach at The Ohio State University.
He picked up the telephone, not quite sure what duty might present itself to the new leader of one of the most storied programs in all of college football.

"Good morning Mr. Tressel," the familiar but impersonal voice said from the other end of the connection. "This is the front desk with your 6 a.m. wake-up call."

And so it went for Tressel, who, for the first six weeks of his coaching tenure at Ohio State, resided at the Holiday Inn on Lane Avenue. He was a block away from where he would go to work everyday - The Woody Hayes Athletic Center - as well as the edifice he grew up dreaming about - Ohio Stadium.

Those six weeks at the Holiday Inn went quickly enough and, just the same, so did his first five years "in office." Last January when he ended his first five years, one might have guessed it was only natural for a time for reflecting. Though it might have been for some, it was not for Tressel.
"No, not in my mind anyway," Tressel said when asked if he had a five-year plan in mind when he began his work at Ohio State in January 2001. "I signed a five-year contract, though, so there might have been a five-year plan in the eyes of the university, but in our eyes it was just day to day."

Therein lies the method to his madness - focus on the daily details - that in the last five years has produced a period of success at Ohio State that ranks among the best in the program history. The Buckeyes won 50 games during Tressel's first five years, the most in any five-year period in the 116 years of OSU football.


"We had to focus on each day," Tressel said about his first few weeks on the job. "Our goal was to get as good as we could get everyday at everything, whether it was academics, football, strength and conditioning or being involved in the community. In that moment we were just thinking about getting better."

It was a process that, by design, began on day-one, Jan. 18, 2001, to be exact. That day Tressel drove to Columbus from Youngstown, Ohio, home of Youngstown State University, where he had just spent the last 15 years building a dynasty I-AA program that had won four national championships and been to the playoffs 10 times.

It was the day he was announced as Ohio State's 22nd head football coach and later addressed Buckeye fans at a men's basketball game, proclaiming in now legendary style OSU fans would be "proud of our young people in the classroom, in the community, and most especially in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Mich., on the football field."

The cheers inside Value City Arena were thunderous, but nothing like what Buckeye fans would bellow when the Buckeyes upset No. 11 Michigan that season, 26-20. Nor like how Ohio Stadium would roar when Ohio State won 14-9 in 2002 to win the Big Ten and earn a trip to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl for a showdown with No. 1 Miami to play for the National Championship. Insert highlight tape here.

And the winning did not stop. The Buckeyes won 37-21 in 2004 over that "team up north" and 25-21 in the final moments of the 2005 game at Michigan, giving Ohio State a share of the program's 30th Big Ten championship.

A promise given that cold, January night, which actually was not so much a promise as it was just an honest commitment. An easy one, at that, because it is the only method Tressel has known. Like an elementary teacher advocates, "if you never lie, you never have to try to remember what you said."

Truth be told, in December 2000, Tressel was not thinking about beating Michigan, or anyone else on Ohio State's 2001 schedule, at all.

"I was pretty engrossed in my own team and didn't have much time to follow the Buckeyes," Tressel said. "But I lived in Ohio, so I knew the scores and so forth and I would always catch the bowl game because even if we were in the playoffs we were done by then."

It just so happened Youngstown State's playoff run ended a bit earlier than normal that 2000 season.

"The thing I remember about December 2000 was being disappointed we had been knocked out of the playoffs," Tressel said. "It was my seventh year as athletics director and head football coach and I was really soul searching if that was the fairest thing to the football program. Perhaps I wasn't giving the team 100 percent. There are only so many hours in the day."

Meanwhile, 1,100 miles away in Tampa, Fla., the Buckeyes were handed a 24-7 loss by South Carolina in the Outback Bowl, capping a two-year span in which Ohio State went 14-10 and failed to beat Michigan or win a bowl game. For Tressel, a coaching search in Columbus meant the chance at a dream come true.

"In January of 2001, the first couple weeks were filled with optimism and anxiety," Tressel said. "I only came to Ohio State once during the interview process, but I also met with Andy (Geiger) and Archie (Griffin) in Youngstown and a week later I met with the search committee."

As could be expected, Tressel spent the afternoon of Jan. 17 with his squad in Youngstown. The day also included a phone call from Columbus.
"I had just met with my team a couple hours earlier," Tressel said. "I told them I didn't know if I would be offered the Ohio State job, but I probably wouldn't see them again if the offer was extended. We had already handed out our winter conditioning program so the team was already concentrating on that."

The same phase was underway at Ohio State when he took over the program. The foundation began to be set that winter and since then, the Buckeyes are 50-13 overall and 30-10 in the Big Ten with two league titles and a national championship. Since Tressel's first season in which the Buckeyes went 7-5, Ohio State is 43-8, 4-0 in bowl games and three times has finished in the Top 5 in the nation.


That kind of success is only generated by a leader who himself is successful. Jim Heacock, Ohio State's co-defensive coordinator, had just completed his fifth year at Ohio State when Tressel became head coach and knew the search committee had made the right choice.

"I knew Coach Tressel through my brother," Heacock said, referring to Jon Heacock who was Tressel's defensive coordinator at Youngstown State for seven years and took over as head coach at YSU when Tressel left for Ohio State. "I would get a chance to see a Youngstown State playoff game once in a while and Jim and I both recruited California so I'd occasionally run into him on the road. Through Jon, I heard all the good things about Jim and developed a great respect for him with the way he handled the program and his competitiveness."

Those traits were first instilled in Tressel by his father, Lee, a coaching legend himself in Ohio. In 23 seasons at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio, near Cleveland, Lee was 155-52-6 and led the Yellow Jackets to the 1978 NCAA Division III national championship. Lee's career, which was honored by enshrinement into the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame, not only fueled Jim's career, but also Lee's first son, Dick, who won a national championship as head coach at Hamline (Minn.) and now is Ohio State's running backs coach.

After playing for his father at Baldwin-Wallace, Jim Tressel began his coaching career, first as a graduate assistant at Akron and then with four stops as an assistant coach, including from 1983-85 at Ohio State under Earle Bruce, during which time the Buckeyes went 27-9 and won the 1984 Big Ten championship.

Tressel will be the first to point to his faith and family background as the cornerstones of his success. They both factored into his mode of operation when the morning of Jan. 19, 2001 arrived and his return to Ohio State was complete.

"There was so much to do," Tressel said of his first few months running the program. "And the most important thing was getting to know everyone who had any contact with the team."

First and foremost, Tressel's arrival signaled the rededication of the program to academics. In Tressel's five seasons at Ohio State, an average of 40 players have been named OSU Scholar-Athletes and the program has led the Big Ten in academic all-conference selections each year. At the conclusion of the 2005 season, 56 Buckeyes had a 3.0 grade point average or higher.

Match those numbers with what his teams have done on the field and the success is staggering. In 2002, Ohio State became the first Division I-A school to record a 14-0 campaign. Tressel is 4-1 in bowl games and 4-1 against Michigan, giving him an 8-2 combined record in the last two games of the season, a record unmatched by any coach in OSU history.

Tressel has coached 14 first-team All-Americans in his five seasons at Ohio State and has seen 41 of his players become NFL draft picks, most of any program in the Big Ten. Five Buckeyes were first-round picks in 2006, the most ever by a Big Ten school. The 14 OSU players drafted in 2004 are the most ever by one school.

It does not stop with winning games, graduating student-athletes and producing pro football players. The demands on his schedule are just as high in the offseason as they are during the season. There are never enough hours in the day.

"It's impossible to get everything done and see everyone," Tressel said, noting those demands do not just come from those who he has coached or coached with. "The only thing I wasn't as keenly aware of before I got here is that it isn't just OSU graduates who love their Buckeyes. There are people who maybe didn't go to college or went to another college, but their passion runs as deep. I should have known that, though, because I was one of those."

So while Ellen Tressel handled finding a house, Tressel and his staff set about the daily process of turning Ohio State into what it so often has been through the years - home of champions. Along the way, the journey has been the joy.

"What we have really set out to do is have an impact," Tressel said. "We want to impact the kids, impact the school, impact Central Ohio, the community and the state. I think we have done that, but it's an ongoing process. You're never finished. You have to do it the right way. It's exciting to know we're at an all-time high for student ticket requests and that the alumni association is at an all-time high to get tickets. It's a continual enhancement of an already great place. That's all you can do. We're working on it."

It is that kind of honest, matter-of-fact, roll-up-the-sleeves mentality which has endeared Tressel in the hearts of millions of Buckeye fans across the world. Win or lose, it is his genuine and sincere demeanor which is front and center.

"That's the thing," Heacock said. "He is so very consistent and remains calm through all the highs and lows and the ups and downs. He can handle the good and bad equally. When he was named head coach at Ohio State, I was pretty certain he would be very successful here and that he was exactly what Ohio State was looking for."
Turns out they were looking for each other. When that happens, the results speak for themselves.
 
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Link

Tressel won't run up score

After Ohio State defeated Penn State 28-6 Saturday at Ohio Stadium, Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel was asked if he subscribed to the theory of needing style points to maintain college football's number one ranking.
Tressel reflected for a second, then made everyone smile by saying, "I've never been accused of style."
Tressel went on to confirm that he doesn't buy into running up the score on weaker opponents to appear superior.
"No, I don't subscribe to the style points thing. I know when you get into your conference [games], there's nothing stylish about it, they're battles," Tressel said.
"And when you get a game where you play that team every year [and] there's no rotation off the schedule, it's a battle every time you play them," Tressel said. "You better not go out there with any thoughts of style points."
Saturday, when the top-ranked Buckeyes play unbeaten Iowa in Iowa City, style points aren't likely to be an issue.
But after that game ends, four of the Buckeyes' next six opponents will be fortunate to be competitive in the second half. Scoring should take care of itself against Bowling Green, Indiana, Illinois and Northwestern.
 
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Link

President Tressel a hit with mom

COLUMBUS -- Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel has always carried himself like a high-ranking politician, with the tiny American flag conspicuously pinned to the lapel of his tailored suits. That was Cynthia Robiskie's first impression, anyway.
Her son, Brian, was all set to play for the Miami Hurricanes until Tressel swooped in. He won over mom and landed the son, whose 37-yard touchdown catch in Saturday's 28-6 win over Penn State has been one of the biggest highlights of OSU's 4-0 start.
"The very first time coach Tressel came to my house, I wasn't even home," said Terry Robiskie, Brian's dad and Cleveland Browns receivers coach. "I was sitting in the office, and my wife called and said, 'Honey, there's a guy that just got out of the car in the driveway that looks like the President of the United States.' That was her first experience with coach Tressel.
"For three days, she was beaming because she couldn't believe this guy was a football coach ... with his scarlet and gray on, his white shirt on, his suit on, his American flag (lapel pin) on. She'd been married to a football coach all her life, but she was used to seeing (me) in a sweatshirt, blue jeans and tennis shoes. She didn't know football coaches could look like coach Tressel."So what better guy to look up to as a role model than that guy?"
Brian Robiskie, a first-time All-Ohio receiver at Chagrin Falls, remembers his mom having a long conversation with Tressel at school.
"She came out of there and said, 'Coach Tressel is a pretty cool guy, maybe you should talk to him,' " Robiskie said.
Chalk up another loss for the 'Canes.
 
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osugrad21;620751; said:
Link

President Tressel a hit with mom

COLUMBUS -- Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel has always carried himself like a high-ranking politician, with the tiny American flag conspicuously pinned to the lapel of his tailored suits. That was Cynthia Robiskie's first impression, anyway.
Her son, Brian, was all set to play for the Miami Hurricanes until Tressel swooped in. He won over mom and landed the son, whose 37-yard touchdown catch in Saturday's 28-6 win over Penn State has been one of the biggest highlights of OSU's 4-0 start.
"The very first time coach Tressel came to my house, I wasn't even home," said Terry Robiskie, Brian's dad and Cleveland Browns receivers coach. "I was sitting in the office, and my wife called and said, 'Honey, there's a guy that just got out of the car in the driveway that looks like the President of the United States.' That was her first experience with coach Tressel.
"For three days, she was beaming because she couldn't believe this guy was a football coach ... with his scarlet and gray on, his white shirt on, his suit on, his American flag (lapel pin) on. She'd been married to a football coach all her life, but she was used to seeing (me) in a sweatshirt, blue jeans and tennis shoes. She didn't know football coaches could look like coach Tressel."So what better guy to look up to as a role model than that guy?"
Brian Robiskie, a first-time All-Ohio receiver at Chagrin Falls, remembers his mom having a long conversation with Tressel at school.
"She came out of there and said, 'Coach Tressel is a pretty cool guy, maybe you should talk to him,' " Robiskie said.
Chalk up another loss for the 'Canes.

Beautiful...:biggrin:
 
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TheMorningJournal

Tressel has no time for an opinion on clock rule

JASON LLOYD, Morning Journal Writer
10/01/2006

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The new rule change in starting the clock sooner has succeeded in reducing the number of plays, ultimately shortening college football games. While notable coaches like Texas' Mack Brown and Michigan's Lloyd Carr have blasted it, Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel doesn't have much of an opinion, except for one caveat:


''The way the game is in 2006,'' Tressel said. ''Each play is more valuable.''

Under the new rules, the clock begins when the 25 second play clock starts on first down. Also, the clock begins with kickoffs, not when the opposing team touches the ball.

Tressel will hold off forming an opinion until after a full season is played and the data can be reviewed. Of course, entering last night's game at Iowa, Ohio State hadn't really been caught in a close game that went down to the final seconds.

''It will be interesting to study it after the season,'' Tressel said. ''My eyes aren't great, but I can see how much time is left and the score and I know what we've got to do.''

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany, in attendance last night, said the length of games is growing every week. The games were under three hours the first week, but have progressively gotten longer, to the point last week's games averaged 3:15.

Under the old rules, games typically took 3:30 or longer.

''The number of plays we've lost is getting smaller and smaller, so I think coaches are getting used to the tempo of the game,'' Delany said.

To save valuable seconds, offensive coaches are getting the plays into the huddles quicker, allowing plays to get started a little quicker than last year. Delany said most teams are losing, on average, about one possession per game.

The bigger picture in all of this is to offset the additional toll on the players for adding a 12th game.

By losing eight to 10 plays per game, the idea is to limit the physical toll on the players. Over 11 games, that adds up to between 88 and 110 plays, which nearly equals the number of plays in the additional game.

''People are adjusting to it,'' Delany said. ''And really, the time saved is modest.''

Running men?

Ohio State entered last night 10th in the Big Ten in rushing, averaging 139 yards a game on 31 carries. Tressel joked this week that the fact OSU is 10th in rushing has filled up his inbox.

''I got one saying ?Get rid of that shotgun and start running the ball down their throats,''' Tressel said. ''And the next one was, ?I can't believe you're running so much.''

Even though the offense is ranked 56th in the nation, Antonio Pittman is still among the best in the Big Ten. Tressel said the shorter games also play a factor in the running statistics. Over the last six minutes last week against Penn State, Ohio State did not have an offensive snap.

''We probably haven't run it enough,'' Tressel said. ''I wish we would have run it more, but that doesn't mean I wish we would have passed it less. That's just the way it is.''

Extra points

Chris Wells' 19-yard run in the second quarter was a career long. His previous high was a 12-yard run against Northern Illinois ... Former defensive back Shaun Gayle served as honorary captain last night. Gayle played safety and cornerback for the Buckeyes from 1980-83.

[email protected]
 
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I'm stealing this stat from Mr. Bucknuts Bucket of Bullets column. The Bucks have outscored their opponents 86-19 in the second half this season. What does that tell me? (1) JT and staff continue to make the necessary adjustments needed to not only win, but control the second half. (2) The substitution patterns have really paid off in terms of keeping key guys fresh during crunch time. (3) Adjusting the strength and conditioning program appears to have been the right call. (4) A tremendous job of developing the concept of playing your best when it counts the most. The Bucks are playing with poise and confidence. More challenges are ahead, but with the leadership and direction provided by JT and staff, this team should continue to grow.
 
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DDN

Ohio State's Tressel deserves every penny

By Mickey Zezzo
Contributing Writer

Monday, October 02, 2006
Never thought I'd see the day when I'd consider a million bucks a year a chinsy offering for anyone in the top dog sports world.
But that's exactly the feeling from here on the new contract that'll keep Ohio State's Jim Tressel around as the head man on the football front for that approximate amount. The base salary is a mere $450,000.
Actually, Tressel will earn $1.8 million this year. And that's not even the top coaching income in the Big Ten.
Tressel (I knew his father, Lee, when he was coaching track at Mentor High School way back when) has to be considered one of the greatest all-time grid chiefs in OSU annals ? right up there with Woody Hayes.
He may not be at legendary status yet, but he's closing in fast.
Buckeye basketball coach Thad Matta ? a remarkable recruiter who had a great career at Xavier and is well on the way to getting the Buck hoops program to the top of the Big Ten and probably the nation ? is earning less than Tressel. His base is $245,000.
Compare that with a few Reds players who can't hit their own weight and a pitcher (Eric Milton) who has been a major bust making millions a year.
Being a proud and prudent member of the we-love-our-job sportswriting fraternity, I can recall covering my first prep football game at age 13 or 14 and an editor handing me three bucks the next day.
I remember celebrating by drinking doubles (cherry Cokes) at the soda fountain.
And now I can brag about making as much as Jim Tressel. The only catch is it took me 55 years to accumulate said amount.
 
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