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Ex-Buckeyes coach Tressel enjoys timing of Hall of Fame honor

 
Published Jan. 13, 2015

ARLINGTON, Texas — Jim Tressel certainly appreciated the coincidence of being honored as a member of the College Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2015 on the same day that Ohio State was playing Oregon for the national championship.

Tressel was one of five inductees who participated in Monday night's pregame coin toss for the college football playoff title game at AT&T Stadium. He was joined by coach Bill Snyder (Kansas State), Brian Bosworth (Oklahoma), Bob Breunig (Arizona State) and Thom Gatewood (Notre Dame).

Tressel coached Ohio State to its last national championship in 2002 and led the Buckeyes to BCS title game appearances in 2006 and '07.

"Here I am in the hall of fame, the Buckeyes are playing, we have a third-string quarterback, even (you) couldn't have written that story," Tressel said. "Yeah, it makes it more special. But that's not the only thing that makes it special. It's kind of like the cherry on top."

Forced out at OSU by an NCAA investigation into his players' receiving improper benefits in May 2011, Tressel said he hasn't seen every minute of every Buckeye game this year. Now the president at Youngstown State, where he coached for 15 years, he wore a YSU tie and a red Ohio State sweater vest under his charcoal grey suit coat.

Asked if his heart pounded during OSU games like the old days, Tressel said, "Does it pound like it was when I was coaching? Probably not quite that. But you twinge and all that.

"Like everyone I run into from out of state, they think I've never been anywhere but Ohio. And you know what, my heart probably hasn't been. My heart does pound, but it's a lot easier watching it on TV or watching it in a suite than it is walking up and down the sideline."

Tressel lauded coach Urban Meyer and his 13-1 team for what it endured to get to the first CFP national championship.

"The kids have been through a staff transition, didn't get to play in a bowl game, lost a game early in the year, everyone didn't think they were that good, lost some key players, lost their quarterback, that's what makes you great," he said. "You have to admire the staff and the team because adversity strikes down some people. But adversity doesn't strike down the great ones. This is a great one.

"They've handled everything that's come their way. That probably means they're going to handle what comes their way in the course of the game. It won't all be perfect in the game, but they'll handle it."

Tressel said he felt "very connected" to the 2014 Buckeyes because he recruited some of them. Others were high school sophomores or juniors whom he was getting ready to offer scholarships.

But after spending two years at the University of Akron, leaving with a title of executive vice president for student success, and moving back to Youngstown, Tressel, 62, said he didn't miss coaching.

"I texted one of my coaching buddies on the way over on the bus and I said, 'I'm on the bus on the way to the stadium and I'm not nervous at all,' " he said. "I'm enjoying what I'm doing. It's very important and you want to be a part of something important. I've had no inkling to get back into coaching whatsoever and I don't foresee it."

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Tressel expects the inaugural four-team playoff to eventually expand, despite the toll it takes on the players. OSU and Oregon played their 15th game Monday.

"I'm not sure logic will have much to do with it," he said. "The popularity, you saw the cable ratings, the interest is going to drive it. What we have to think through is, 'Do we need as long of a regular season? Are we robbing some of these kids of some other things, some of these great players who have a future at the next level, are we taking some miles off their treads by having so many of these kind of ballgames?' It's going to be an interesting discussion. I think there will be a day where it will be expanded."