Jim
Tressel is in his sixth season as the head football coach at Ohio
State. His stellar resume with the Buckeyes includes an overall
record of 50-13, a National Championship, two Big Ten
co-championships, a 19-game winning streak, National Coach of the
Year honors, five bowl appearances, three victories in as many tries
in BCS games and three top-five finishes in the national polls.
Tressel's 2005 Buckeyes posted a 10-2 record and closed out the
season with seven consecutive victories, including back-to-back wins
over Michigan and Notre Dame. The win over the Irish in the Tostitos
Fiesta Bowl was the fourth bowl victory in as many years for the
Buckeyes, who finished a solid fourth in the final polls.
In addition to a 4-1 Bowl record, Tressel is also 4-1 against
Michigan. No coach in Ohio State annals can match his 8-2 start in
those two areas.
Tressel, who owns an overall record of 185-70-2 in 20 years as a
head coach, was named as the Buckeyes' 22nd head coach on Jan. 18,
2001. His original five-year contract was extended through 2008
following the 2002 season, and he was given a new five-year contract
at the end of the 2005 campaign that runs through 2012.
Tressel led his first Ohio State squad to a 7-5 record that
included a dramatic road win over Michigan in the regular-season
finale.
In 2002, Ohio State literally came from out of nowhere to capture
the Big Ten's, first consensus national title since 1968. The
Buckeyes achieved the elusive title by posting a 13-0 regular-season
record and then upsetting top-ranked Miami in the Tostitos Fiesta
Bowl in a 31-24 double-overtime thriller, becoming the first
Division I-A school to record a 14-0 campaign.
Tressel was showered with accolades following the 2002 campaign.
He was named National Coach of the Year by the America Football
Coaches Association (an award he won three times at Division I-AA
Youngstown State), thus becoming the first person in the history of
the AFCA to win that honor at two different schools. He also
received the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year Award from
the Football Writers Association of America. Additionally, Tressel
was selected as the Bobby Dodd and the Paul "Bear" Bryant National
Coach of the Year. He also was the choice of the Touchdown Club of
Columbus and the Pigskin Club of Washington D.C. as National Coach
of the Year.
During the 2003 season, Tressel led the Buckeyes to an 11-2
record and their second consecutive appearance in a BCS bowl game,
where OSU defeated Big XII champion Kansas State in a return visit
to the desert and the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. The Buckeyes began the
2003 campaign by winning their first five games and stretching their
winning streak to 19 games, the second longest streak in school
history.
Despite the loss of 28 seniors and a record 14 players who were
drafted by the NFL at the end of the 2004 campaign, Tressel guided
the 2004 Buckeyes to an 8-4 record that included a win over Michigan
in the regular-season finale and a victory over Oklahoma State in
the MasterCard Alamo Bowl.
With the win over Oklahoma State (the Buckeyes' third consecutive
bowl victory), Tressel recorded his fortieth victory at Ohio State,
becoming just the fifth Buckeye coach to reach that plateau.
Tressel spent 15 seasons as the head coach at Youngstown State
prior to coming to Ohio State. His record at Ohio State includes a
30-10 ledger in Big Ten play. With a 35-6 win at Indiana in 2003,
Tressel went 100 games over .500 in terms of wins and losses.
Since coming to Ohio State, Tressel has posted an impressive
record of 21-7 against Top 25 teams, including a 7-2 mark against
Top 10 squads. And if the sign of a good coach is winning the close
ones, Tressel - with a 17-9 record in games decided by a touchdown
or less while at Ohio State - has few peers.
Fourteen of Tressel's players have won first-team All-American
honors and four - center LeCharles Bentley, placekicker Mike Nugent,
Punter B.J. Sander and linebacker A. J. Hawk have won major
individual awards. Hawk is the latest individual honoree, claiming
the Lombardi Award in 2005 as the nation's best defensive lineman or
linebacker.
Tressel's teams also have fared well in the classroom, annually
leading the Big Ten in academic all-conference picks. At the
conclusion of the 2003 season, quarterback Craig Krenzel - a
molecular gentetics major - was named as the Academic All-American
of the Year and received the prestigious Draddy Award from the
National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame. This past fall, a
record 56 Buckeyes recorded grade point averages of 3.00 or better
and the football team as a whole sports an overall GPA of 2.81.
At Youngstown State, where he also served for a period of time as
Athletics Director, Tressel was one of the most respected Division
I-AA coaches in America. His years there were ripe with success, the
Penguins winning four national championships and qualifying for the
Division I-AA playoffs a remarkable 10 times. During his stay at YSU,
he compiled an overall record of 135-57-2 and was a four-time pick
as the Division I-AA National Coach of the Year.
But making the jump to Ohio State was not a difficult decision
for Tressel. His Buckeye roots run deep.
His father, the late Lee Tressel, played, albeit briefly, at Ohio
State before his promising collegiate career was cut short by World
War II. As a youth, Jim grew up shagging balls for Cleveland Browns'
great Lou "The Toe" Groza who also attended Ohio State. Both the
elder Tressel, who would go on to become a coaching legend at
Baldwin Wallace College in northeastern Ohio, and Groza, a family
friend and neighbor, were lifelong Ohio State fans, a feeling not
lost on the younger Tressel.
That bond grew even stronger in 1983 when Jim, in the infancy of
his own coaching career, was named quarterbacks and receivers coach
at Ohio State. During a memorable three-year stay in Columbus, the
Buckeyes won 27 games, captured the 1984 Big Ten Championship and
played in the Fiesta, Rose and Citrus bowls.
Following the 1985 season, Tressel, at age 33, left Ohio State to
become head coach at Youngstown State. In addition to capturing four
national titles, the Penguins also appeared in two other
championship games.
Additionally, five of Tressel's teams won 12 or more games in a
season, including his 1994 championship squad, which fashioned a
14-0-1 record. His 1991, '92, '93 and '94 teams all played in the
national championship tilt, becoming just the second Division I-AA
school to make four-consecutive appearances in the title game.
Tressel was selected as National Coach of the Year in 1991, '93,
'94 and '97. When he left Youngstown State, he was the second-most
successful coach in school history, trailing only Dwight "Dike"
Beede, who amassed 147 wins in a 32-year span.
Equally impressive was the showing of the Youngstown State team
in the classroom, where during his last two years a total of 67
players achieved a grade point average of 3.00 or better during the
fall semester.
Tressel also was deeply involved in the Youngstown community,
taking an active leadership role in a number of key civic issues and
working extensively with Ronald McDonald's Children's Charities and
the Salvation Army. His genuine concern for the people of Youngstown
and the Mahoning Valley area made him a community icon.
Tressel's coaching staff reflects his personality and shares his
beliefs and values. It is a diverse group with a wide range of
coaching experience and expertise. More than anything else, however,
it is a group dedicated to the well-being of Ohio State's
student-athletes.
Tressel was born in Mentor, Ohio, where his father reeled off
34-consecutive wins as a high school coach before becoming the head
coach at Massillon High School. But he spent most of his childhood
in Berea, more often than not accompanying his father to football
practices and games at Baldwin Wallace.
Tressel graduated from Berea High School in 1971. He played for
his father at Baldwin Wallace, earning four letters at quarterback
and winning all-conference honors as a senior in 1974. He graduated
cum laude in 1975 with a degree in education.
Following in his father's footsteps, Jim embarked upon his
coaching career in the fall of 1975 as a graduate assistant at
Akron. He remained at Akron through the 1978 season, serving in a
full-time capacity his last three years as coach of the
quarterbacks, receivers and running backs. While at Akron, he earned
his master's degree.
Tressel spent the 1979 and '80 seasons as quarterbacks and
receivers coach at Miami of Ohio. He left the "Cradle of Coaches" in
1981 to become the quarterbacks coach at Syracuse, where he remained
for two years before returning to his home state in 1983 as a member
of Earle Bruce's Ohio State staff.
In Tressel's first year at Ohio State, the Buckeyes posted a 9-3
record and defeated Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl. OSU scored the
winning touchdown on a 39-yard pass from quarterback Mike Tomczak to
split end Thad Jemison with 39 seconds left in the game. Not a bad
way for the Buckeyes' new quarterbacks and receivers coach to begin
his stay in Columbus.
In 1984 and '85, Tressel was given the added responsibility of
coaching the Buckeyes' running backs. The '84 team won the Big Ten
and played in the Rose Bowl, and Tressel protégé, junior tailback
Keith Byars, finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting. In 1985,
the Buckeyes defeated BYU in the Florida Citrus Bowl.
Tressel's departure for Youngstown State at the end of the 1985
campaign came as no surprise. Widely regarded as one of the
up-and-coming young assistant coaches in college football, he had
paid his dues and was ready for the next step.
Still, the transition to head coach was not easy. Tressel's first
team lost its first four games and finished with a 2-9 record. His
first win as a college coach came against Tennessee Tech, Oct. 11,
in Youngstown. The score was 30-6.
But from that humble beginning, Tressel built a powerhouse.
In 1987, the second-year coach guided the Penguins to an 8-4
record and their first appearance in the Division I-AA playoffs. YSU
won the Ohio Valley Conference title that year and Tressel was named
OVC Coach of the Year.
In 1989, the Penguins began an incredible run of six-consecutive
playoff appearances, winning three national championships and
playing in four-consecutive title games between 1991 and 1994.
Tressel's first national crown came in 1991, when the Penguins
defeated Marshall, 25-17, in the championship game. As a result of
that victory, Jim and his dad (who died in 1981) became the only
father-and-son combination in college football to win national
championships (Lee Tressel won the 1978 Division III crown at
Baldwin Wallace).
The Penguins lost a rematch with Marshall the following year, but
won the rubber game with the Thundering Herd in 1993 for their
second I-AA title in three years. They then made it
three-out-of-four in 1994 with a 28-14 win over Boise State.
Tressel's fourth national title came in 1997, when the Penguins
defeated McNeese State, 10-9, in the championship game. Youngstown
State also played for the title in 1999, but lost to Georgia
Southern in the finals.
During the decade of the 1990s, Youngstown State had a combined
record of 103-27-2, the most wins by any Division I-AA team and the
fourth most by any program in the country.
In 2000, Tressel kicked off the millennium on a successful note
by guiding his team to a 9-3 record and its 10th appearance in the
playoffs. As it turned out, that was his last season at Youngstown
State. But because of the positive impact he had on the school and
the community, his many fans in Youngstown continue to follow his
career at Ohio State.
Tressel's list of accolades includes being selected as the
Chevrolet National Coach of the Year in 1993, '94 and '97; the
American Football Coaches Association National Coach of the Year in
1991, '94 and 2002; and the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the
Year in 1994 and 2002. He also was the AFCA's Regional Coach of the
Year in 1987 and '93 and a six-time pick as Ohio Coach of the Year.
In a career filled with highlights, Tressel recorded his 100th
career victory against Indiana State in 1997. He is the third member
of his family to reach that plateau, joining his father and his
older brother, Dick (currently the OSU running backs coach), who
coached at Hamline University in Minnesota. Jim recorded his 150th
win when Ohio State defeated Wisconsin in 2002. With the win over
Michigan in 2002, he equaled his father's total at Baldwin Wallace.
As a family, Lee, Jim and Dick have won 464 games.
Jim is actively involved with the American Football Coaches
Association, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and The Ohio State
University Medical Center, particularly the Richard M. Ross Heart
Hospital; and the William Oxley Thompson Library
He and his wife, Ellen, who is a graduate of Youngstown State,
live in nearby Upper Arlington. They are the parents of four
children: Zak (7/28/79), Carlee (11/23/82), Eric (9/18/83) and
Whitney (8/1/85).
Zak graduated from Ohio State in 2003 and Carlee from the
University of Chicago in 2004. Eric attends Youngstown State and
Whitney is a junior at the Rochester Institute of Technology.