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If you have ever seen a picture of Jim Tressel sitting at his desk in
He could be your neighbor, teacher or coworker. Perhaps he comes from another place and time. For those old enough -- or at least those who get the TV Land channel on cable or satellite -- he looks like Robert Young’s character Jim Anderson in the 1950s TV show “Father Knows Best.”
Old school. Does the right thing. Thinks things through. Acts calmly. Keeps his emotions to himself.
Tressel is normally clad in his 1950s-style sweater vest. His personality is as buttoned-down as his wardrobe. He is the head football coach at
Juxtapose the calm demeanor of Tressel with the explosive attitude of the late Hall of Famer Woody Hayes in his latter years as
Throughout the years, Tressel’s players have played off of his inner strength and anxiety-free demeanor.
"Coach Tressel has a large part in it, when you have such a calming influence on that sideline," former Buckeye tight end Ben Hartsock said. "We were in lots of tense situations during our run to the national title (2001 season). But no matter what, there was still focus and there was never a sense of despair of what we had gotten ourselves into.
"It was just a matter of figuring out how are we going to get ourselves out of this and what are we going to do to get it done. I think that started at the top and trickles down."
Tressel grew up in a football environment and coaching was the main theme. His father Lee was a small-college coach at Baldwin-Wallace for 23 years. He was good enough to win a Division III national championship in 1978.
Jim hung around his dad at practices, chasing footballs and watching intently. He did nothing but eat, breathe and drink football. His parents frequently invited homesick players over for spaghetti dinners.
In many ways, Jim Tressel has built his program on old-fashioned values such as family and decency.
"Jim is very, very much a throwback, a straightforward person," said former athletic director Andy Geiger. "It is an extremely values-oriented presentation and it is utterly and completely consistent.
As a youngster, former Cleveland Brown Lou “The Toe” Groza lived down the street. Tressel was more than happy to shag balls for the Hall of Famer whenever he wanted. After high school, Tressel played four years at quarterback for his father at Baldwin-Wallace, then went off to become a coach on his own.
He made stops at Akron, Miami of Ohio and Syracuse and spent three years at Ohio State as a quarterbacks coach under Earle Bruce before becoming the head coach at Youngstown State in 1986.
After a tough first season in which Youngstown State went 2-9, his teams won four national championships and finished second two other times. He built a reputation as an excellent strategist and a coach who understood the big picture of what was best for his players.
Then came the big break at Ohio State. John Cooper was fired in January 2001, largely because his program was little more than a pipeline to the NFL for the top individual players. The idea of playing for the school and building a team atmosphere seemed to take a backseat to professional development. The Buckeyes won under Cooper, but not the way their supporters expected.
Tressel brought with him his father's work ethic.
"We work hard every day," Tressel explained. "We thought if we did certain things we could be successful. The key is working hard all the time. We know the results will come.”
That philosophy has led to a 73-15 record at Ohio State as his seventh season comes to an end in yet another national championship game.
Tressel’s brother Dick also inherited his father’s love of coaching and his capacity for hard work. After playing for his father and graduating from Baldwin-Wallace in 1970, Dick worked as an assistant for his father before becoming head coach at Hamline University in St. Paul in 1978.
He guided the Pipers to 124 wins in his 23 seasons (the same amount his father spent at B-W), before joining Jim’s staff at Ohio State in 2001. He also spent 21 seasons as Hamline's athletic director. Dick coaches Buckeye running backs and has done so for the last seven years.
Dick’s son Mike Tressel is a first-year special teams/linebackers coach at Michigan State, coming to East Lansing with head coach Mark Dantonio from Cincinnati. Tressel coached with the Bearcats from 2004 through 2006.
Prior to joining Dantonio's staff at Cincinnati, Tressel spent two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at Ohio State (2002-03), where he contributed to the Buckeyes' National Championship team in 2002. He previously coached at Wartburg (Iowa) College for four seasons (1998-01), helping the school to a combined record of 36-4 including one conference title. At Wartburg, he served as offensive line coach for three years before assuming the role of offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the 2001 season.
Tressel was a four-year starter as a defensive back at Cornell (Iowa) College and he was a two-time Academic All-American. He earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Cornell in 1996 and received a master's degree in sports administration from South Dakota in 1998.
Not surprisingly, 33-year-old Mike Tressel is thought of as one of the top up-and-coming young coaches in college football.
His sights are set high, because all he has to do is look at what his father, grandfather and uncle have accomplished and try to emulate them.
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Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.