Osu Coach Almost Toiled For Paterno But Many Years Ago, Jim Tressel’s Dad Persuaded Him To Take A Graduate Assistant’s Job At Akron Instead, So He Would Have More Responsibility.
By JERRY KELLAR [email protected]
Friday, October 26, 2001 Page: 1B
Jim Tressel confessed he was caught off-guard when Joe Paterno asked him to
speak first at the annual Big Ten Coaches’ meetings in Orlando last winter.
Little did he know the Penn State coach was being less than sincere.
“Joe gets up there, calls me up and says that as the new coach in the
league I have to go into detail what we’re going to do at Ohio State,”
Tressel, 48, said. “I had no idea I was supposed to do that. I really wasn’t
prepared.”
As the new Buckeyes’ coach started his speech, the room broke up in
laughter.
It was Paterno’s way of welcoming the rookie into the league.
“We had a lot of fun,” said Tressel, who is 4-2 at Ohio State heading
into tomorrow’s game at Beaver Stadium (12:10 p.m., ESPN). “I have a
tremendous respect for coach Paterno and the Penn State program.”
Tressel, a former Buckeye assistant who returned to OSU from Division I-AA
Youngstown State, almost worked for Paterno many years ago. But Tressel’s dad,
Baldwin-Wallace football coach Dr. Lee Tressel, convinced his son to take a
graduate assistant’s job at Akron.
“I said, `This is big time,’ ” Tressel recalled. “He said, `You won’t
get to do as much. If you go to Akron, you’ll be one of the position coaches;
you’ll have more responsibility. Penn State is an extraordinary place, and
Coach Paterno is awesome, but responsibility is something you can’t
underevaluate.’ ”
Tressel, whose early coaching career took him to Miami (Ohio) and Syracuse
before coming to Ohio State in 1983 as a member of Earle Bruce’s staff, said
he has no regrets about his path in life.
“You never know why things happen, or you never really look back
afterwards and say, `Boy, I should’ve, could’ve.’ You just make decisions and
you go 100 miles per hour in the direction of your decisions. I’m happy with
the way that it’s gone.”
And why not?
In 15 seasons at Youngstown State, Tressel led the Penguins to four
Division I-AA national championships, six trips to the title game (including
an unprecedented four in a row) and 10 appearances in the playoffs.
He was the Division I-AA National Coach of the Year four times, winning the
honor in 1991, ’93, ’94 and ’97. He also was a six-time pick as Ohio Coach of
the Year.
Tressel, who replaced the fired John Cooper at OSU, is well respected in
the coaching fraternity, according to Paterno.
“Jim Tressel knows what Ohio State football is all about,” said the
Jim. In fact, as I have told him and a lot of people, Lee Tressel is one of
the great coaches that ever coached. I remember being in a clinic with Jimmy’s
dad. I think Jimmy might have been 11 or 12.”
Even though Paterno is close friends with Minnesota’s Glen Mason, who
applied for the Ohio State post, the Penn State boss was delighted when
Tressel got the job.
“I have known Glen longer and I was hoping that Glen would have gotten the
Ohio State job because he was an Ohio State graduate, but when Jimmy got it, I
thought they made a great choice,” he said. “Jim has done a great job there
and not only on the football field. He has done a tremendous job in that
state. He has done all of the right things. I don’t see much difference
(between him and Cooper). They play good hard-nosed football.”
Tressel was happy Paterno finally tied Bear Bryant for Division I-A
all-time victories last week. The good feelings stopped there.
“My interaction with him has always been very pleasant,” he said. “That
will change at kickoff.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
