Former Head Coach Jim Tressel - Page 38 - ScarletBuckeye

OSUBasketballJunkie · 02-02-2012, 09:38 PM

Dispatch

Quote:

Tressel named vice president at Akron

Jim Tressel took a position today with the University of Akron as a vice president for strategic engagement and in the process indicated that his football-coaching career likely is over.

University president Luis Proenza made the announcement at a news conference at the school in which the former Ohio State coach was introduced to Akron administrators and students.

“Jim Tressel will be an asset to our leadership,” Proenza said. “He and his wife Ellen are looking forward to reaching out to alumni and collaborating with university, community and region to have an influence and impact on our students.”

In a statement released by Akron last night, the school said, “When Jim Tressel and other alumni assisted us in our search for a football coach last December, we began to engage in dynamic conversations about Jim’s professional goals outside of athletics. We share a common interest in innovative programs for student success.”

Akron hired Terry Bowden as football coach on Dec. 22 to replace Rob Ianello, who had a 2-22 record in two seasons with the Zips.

Tressel, 59, began his coaching career at Akron, serving as a graduate assistant for coach Jim Dennison in 1975, then served as an offensive assistant coach from 1976-78. He earned his master’s degree from Akron in 1977.

“It’s truly an honor to be here,” Tressel said. “I look forward to doing whatever I’m asked to do. I’m excited about being a Zip. ... I’m going to learn all I possibly can (about the university) in the next short while and see where I can help best.”

It appears that NCAA sanctions against Tressel will not impact his position with Akron. He was forced to resign on May 30 in the midst of an NCAA investigation of the Ohio State program related to players receiving tattoos and cash in exchange for OSU memorabilia.

Tressel ultimately was judged by the NCAA to have not been forthright at the beginning of the investigation and was hit with a five-year “show cause” penalty in December.

In essence, the penalty means that if a school tries to hire him in its athletic department during that period, it must show the NCAA why and monitor his actions. It also puts restrictions on what he can do in terms of recruiting and other duties. But it likely would have little or no effect on a job outside athletics.

Tressel acknowledged in the news conference that the “on-field part” of his career “was probably over.”

“I cannot have day-to-day contact with the football team,” he said. “But they don’t need another coach. I’ll have my hands full getting excited with the visions we have here.”

He added that he has no interest in coaching an NFL team. Tressel served as a replay-review consultant for the Indianapolis Colts this season. He was rumored to be a candidate for the Colts’ head-coaching position after Jim Caldwell was fired, but it is unclear whether he ever interviewed for the job.

Tressel was clear that his current position with Akron would not be based on the Zips’ athletics fortunes.

“My intent was to broaden myself beyond athletics,” he said. “I really have the passion to transfer my skill sets to outside of that.”

Arapahoe · 02-12-2012, 08:50 PM

Anchorman · 02-12-2012, 10:02 PM

Still seems sureal that he is not our coach!

SanDiegoBuckeye · 02-12-2012, 10:04 PM

You can tell it's something he doesn't really want to talk about.

McKraut · 02-12-2012, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anchorman

Still seems sureal that he is not our coach!

I agree man. It is weird to know Tress is likely done with coaching forever given the dynamic of his new job at Akron. And while I know we all enjoyed the excellent decade Tress gave to Buckeye Nation, despite a frustrating season with all the turmoil surrounding the program, I'm still even in more disbelief that we have Urban Meyer as our Head Coach now.

As you all can probably tell from the thread I started about the Tressel Era and my favorite memories of it, I'll always have a spot in my heart full of love and respect for Tress. He's a great man, was a great coach, and gave Buckeye Nation one of the most memorable decades we've ever been privileged enough to enjoy. Tress laid down an excellent foundation and benchmark for the future of Buckeye football. And the fact that we had one down season and have come of it of smelling with the future smelling like Crystal Balls and Roses is incredibly fortunate for us. I think in a few more years the sting of TatGate will be mostly forgotten by Buckeye Nation and instead we will remember Tress's legacy at Ohio State as a decade loaded with 10+ win seasons, total dominance of tTUN, B1G championships and the NC.

I wish nothing but the best for Coach through the remainder of his career as an administrator at Akron and hope that someday he'll be able to return to coaching somewhere and build another program into a winner. God bless and Godspeed, Coach Tressel.

Killer Nut91 · 02-12-2012, 11:44 PM

I guess It won't hit me that he's not our coach anymore is when I see Meyer standing on that sideline instead of Tressel.

OSUBasketballJunkie · 04-06-2012, 11:22 PM

Akron

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Jim Tressel on the move at University of Akron

By Carol Biliczky
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published: April 6, 2012 - 12:14 AM | Updated: April 6, 2012 - 11:42 AM

Jim Tressel won’t start his new job at the University of Akron until May 1, but he showed up this week for what he cheerfully called “fact-finding.”

On Thursday, he wanted to get the lay of the land, literally, and toured campus at the side of four enthusiastic student orientation leaders under postcard-blue skies.

“I couldn’t have envisioned this,” he said at one point as he struggled to orient himself to the new campus, which has undergone more than $600 million in improvements over the past decade. “This is unbelievable.”

The former Ohio State football coach already had some familiarity with campus: He earned a master’s degree from UA in 1977 and was an assistant football coach and physical education instructor from 1975 to 1978.

Those were the olden days, Tressel recollected to his tour guides, when dinosaurs seemingly roamed the earth.

UA’s new vice president of strategic engagements shared many stories with his guides.

How he and the other coaches treated prospective players and their parents to a deluxe spread of glazed doughnuts, orange juice and milk.

How he lived at the Buchtel Field House because he couldn’t afford more.

How his father ordered him to go to UA for his graduate degree when he already had an offer from Penn State’s Joe Paterno and really, really wanted to go there.

“He said I’d have more opportunities here, and I did,” Tressel told the students.

He led his tour guides on an impromptu walk off campus to the old field house on Wheeler Street — once home base to the university’s football team. After 35 years, not surprisingly, he couldn’t quite remember which streets to turn on.

But Tressel did remember that they didn’t have much equipment to train with, dumbfounding students used to rock-climbing walls and lazy rivers.

Times were tough in those days, he told them.

“The only excuse you had for missing class was a death in the family,” he said. “Your own.”

At the Student Center, he remembered teaching bowling (he was awful) and at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center, swimming (again, awful).

“I was going to be a high school math teacher, but one thing led to another,” he said. “All of a sudden life took a different turn.”

It could happen to them, too, he suggested.

He peppered the students with questions — the hours for the rec center, where they sat at soccer games, if parking is still a problem.

Matt Garvin of Cuyahoga Falls, sophomore Rana Barghouty, originally of Lebanon, and freshmen Markel Croston of Columbus and Mallory Kennedy of Kent had the answers.

Other students seemed to recognize the ex-coach in their midst and smiled broadly at him.

But only one student had the temerity to walk up to Tressel and introduce himself.

Andrew Kurt, a freshman finance major from Toledo, shook his hand, not once but twice. The two shared stories about the guidance counselor at Kurt’s high school.

Tressel was wearing his trademark vest — this one with a UA insignia — and tie with, you guessed it, a UA insignia. During a tour of the UA bookstore, he said he just stocked up on other UA gear — one sweatshirt and two hoodies — and said his wife has ordered gear from there as well.

Tressel spread his “wow-has-this-changed” message at President Luis Proenza’s regular meeting for vice presidents Thursday.

“I told him, you have to go away to appreciate this,” Tressel said.

Carol Biliczky can be reached at cbilizcky@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3729.

OSUBasketballJunkie · 04-25-2012, 08:29 PM

Dispatch

Quote:

Tressel returns, but says zip about football

Kyle Robertson | Dispatch
Jim Tressel introduces Akron students Jason King, center, and Margaret Brass, right center, to state government officials James Zehringer, left, and Rick Simmers.

By Joe Vardon

The Columbus Dispatch
Wednesday April 25, 2012 5:29 AM

Jim Tressel was back in Columbus yesterday, but his visit had nothing to do with football.

Instead, the former Ohio State coach, who resigned under pressure last year after it was learned he lied to the NCAA, was chaperoning a trip to the Statehouse for two University of Akron students. Tressel is now the vice president of strategic engagement at Akron.

The students, Jason King of North Canton and Margaret Brass of Buffalo, N.Y., recently won an entrepreneurial competition for students from colleges in northeast Ohio, and traveled with Tressel to Columbus to meet some lawmakers and state government officials.

“We’re bragging about these guys, these are two stars,” Tressel said of King and Brass, when asked what brought him back to the city where he rose to the top of college football only to come crashing down last May.

He said he and his wife, Ellen, were living in “temporary quarters” in the Akron area and were looking to buy a home.

When The Dispatch spotted Tressel at the Statehouse, he stood with the two students as lawmakers and lobbyists bounced from hearing to hearing. No one asked for autographs.

Tressel was warm and welcoming when approached, but it was clear he didn’t want to talk football.

For instance, when asked if he had a chance to watch the Buckeyes’ spring game last weekend, he said: “I’ve moved to Akron, so, no, I didn’t have the chance.”

Continued............

OSUBasketballJunkie · 05-01-2012, 06:50 PM

Link

Quote:

Jim Tressel Begins New Job at University of Akron

Posted on: 3:05 pm, April 30, 2012, by Dave Nethers, updated on: 12:16pm, May 1, 2012

AKRON, Ohio – Former Ohio State Buckeyes Head Football Coach Jim Tressel sits at his desk in Buchtel Hall at the University of Akron and jokes about having a window for the first time in 37 years.

Although Tressel was not yet supposed to start as the University’s Vice President of Strategic Engagement until May 1st, he says he has already been on the job for the past three weeks meeting and welcoming students and learning how he will fit in.

Tressel’s new job description involved student recruiting and fundraising, both of which he says were responsibilities he became very familiar with as a head football coach.

“As an assistant coach it was simply football and recruiting,” said Tressel on Monday. “Well then I became a head coach 27 years ago all of a sudden leadership and management, fundraising and academics and football as well became part of the picture. And then the longer you are somewhere the more responsibilities they give you. That’s just the way it is.”

Tressel, who was forced to leave Ohio State after a scandal involving players trading memorabilia for tattoos, is forbidden from walking the sidelines at the University of Akron.

Continued............

Block "O" · 05-01-2012, 06:53 PM

Good luck Tress...seems like a good fit!!!!