Tressel’s departure will overshadow his legacy
The fact that Jim Tressel lasted as the Ohio State football coach until Memorial Day Weekend proves just how secure his job used to be.
It shows how powerful and influential and respected he was until another side of him emerged from beneath his sweater vest.
And it shows how much leverage the head football coach at Ohio State has when his record is 9-1 against hated-rival Michigan.
Ohio State would have cut ties with a lesser coach much sooner under the same circumstances or even without as much evidence of wrongdoing. Just ask John Cooper or Earle Bruce or Jim O’Brien on the basketball side.
Heck, the only thing Bruce did wrong was not dominate enough.
Had somebody told me a year ago that a Big Ten head football coach was headed for a disgraceful demise, Tressel would not have been my first, second or third choice.
I guess I just trusted the soft-spoken, sweater-vest wearing and outwardly religious man – he has written two books about faith and integrity – and figured why would the head football coach at Ohio State have to resort to cheating with all the built-in advantages that come with the job?
What’s sad about this scandal is that its origin wasn’t really that big of a deal in the big scheme of things.
Had Tressel just been forthright and honest when the NCAA questioned him in December about the five players that received improper benefits, there would have been consequences, but not of this magnitude.
If any Big Ten team could withstand losing five key players for five games, including a star quarterback, it’s the talent-rich Buckeyes.
Some of the preseason magazines had Ohio State winning the conference title despite the distractions hanging over the program.
This basically came down to a school of superpower status trying to desperately hang on to a highly successful coach until it became impossible to do so.
Somewhat lost in the scandal is that Ohio State will be shooting for a record seventh consecutive Big Ten title this fall.
Tressel, with a 106-22-0 record in 10 seasons at Ohio State, had more job security than a dictator, but he threw it all away.
Perhaps we should’ve seen this coming, considering Tressel got into trouble with the NCAA while he was the head coach at Youngstown State. The school received scholarship and recruiting restrictions for violations involving a former star quarterback.
Tressel’s reign in Columbus also was tainted by players getting into trouble and by persistent rumors that maybe he wasn’t as trustworthy as he seemed.
Now we have our answer.
Cooper, who was Tressel’s predecessor at Ohio State, was largely successful as the Buckeye head coach, but Cooper’s record was just 2-10-1 against Michigan and 3-8 in bowl games.
When off-the-field issues became a concern under Cooper, he didn’t have enough respect among the fans or enough leverage among school officials that was needed to survive.
It’s unlikely that we’ve seen the last of the 58-year old Tressel as a head coach, but he’ll probably never land a gig as good as the one he just had.
He could be headed to the NFL because his past would go away there much sooner than it would at another college.
As for Tressel’s successor at Ohio State, Urban Meyer’s name keeps popping up even though he is only a few months removed from being the head football coach at Florida, which is one of the few jobs in college football equal to the Ohio State job.
Meyer, who is a native of Ohio, resigned for health reasons and to spend more time with his family. You just figured by more time that he meant more than a couple months before he would consider taking another high-pressure job.
Bob Stoops and Bo Pelini also will be considered candidates because of where they are now as head coaches at Oklahoma and Nebraska, respectively, and because they both grew up in Ohio. That combination should be enough to please the fans.
Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio also could get a look, with him being a former Buckeye assistant. But moving within in a conference is never easy.
Former Buckeye and current assistant Luke Fickell has been promoted to head coach for the 2011 season on an interim basis.
He’ll have a full season to audition for the job, but the Buckeye faithful likely will demand a bigger name.
The job was great when Tressel took over and he then he made it even better with his success.
Unfortunately, now that’ll just be a small part of his legacy.
Category: Iowa Hawkeyes Football
Stoops or Pelini aren’t going to leave great destination jobs at Oklahoma and Nebraska to go to a school under sanctions. Pelini would be making a lateral move within the same conference, and Stoops has an easier path in the Big 12 now with Nebraska gone.
Meyer is probably their first and only target.
It all depends on how they do this year – if Fickell leads them to a 10 win season it will be hard to dismiss him.
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“…Ohio State will be shooting for a record seventh consecutive Big Ten title this fall…”
You’re assuming that OSU will still have those titles after the NCAA and the league get done with them.
According to the expose’ in Sports Illustrated, the cheating has been going on at OSU since 2002.
The NCAA has a statute of limitations of four years for violations. I know of no such contrainst for the conference.
Of course, vacating those championships would probably just make the rings that OSU players have been selling more valuable as memorabilia.
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Easier path to a B1G championship for Nebraska and Iowa!
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Can’t agree with you on a couple points here, Pat. I don’t think if Tressel was honest with the NCAA in December this would have gone away. There has been indications of cheating since Maurice Claret played there. Tressel couldn’t be honest because this is probably just the tip of the iceberg showing now.
The success that OSU had in taking good players from other states wasn’t just because Tressel is a good reruiter or had a good program. We’ll find out some reasons why in the next few weeks.
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How much of a “legacy” will he actually have if he’s been cheating for years. I think cheating would be his legacy. He’ll join Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds, etc..
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