JIM TRESSEL

Age:  56

School:  Ohio State

Alma Mater:  Baldwin-Wallace, 1974

Conference:  Big Ten

Salary:  $2,600,000

Official Bio:   www.coachtressel.com

Years Coaching:  22

Career Record:  208 - 73 - 2  .735

Years at School:  7

Record at Ohio State:  73 - 16   .820

2007 Record:  12 - 1   .923

2007 Cost per Win:  $215,182

Attorney/Agent:   John Gelekta

Contract: 

December 2008 Buyout:  $1,500,000

Coaches Hot Seat Analysis

Jim Tressel is one of those rare football coaches that one could drop into almost any company into America as the CEO, and after a month or so on the job Tressel would find the levers that would make that company go.  That is a very rare commodity both among football coaches and among anyone in the general public, and that ability to manage a very complex organization is why Tressel has returned Ohio State to the top of college football.  Ohio State football should be a perennial top 10 football team, but it takes a great football coach to keep a team at that lofty level, and Tressel must be recognized for putting the Buckeyes into a place in the game where no argument about who is the best can begin without mentioning Ohio State.  Watching Ohio State practice, move in and out of their hotels, warm-up before games, or damn near anything else we can think of is to watch a well-oiled machine perform at its maximum amount of efficiency.  Even in environments that are foreign to the Ohio State players and coaches (like in Seattle last fall to play Washington) Tressel's team is incredibly well organized and prepared for almost any eventually.  We have on over a dozen occasions watched Jim Tressel close-up at Ohio State practices, pre-game warmups, and during games, and there is no doubt he has total control over his football team, and sometimes the opponent's team as well.  As good, no make that great, of a football coach Tressel is, does he and his team have a weakness?  As the last two BCS championship games have revealed, there is indeed a weakness at Ohio State under Tressel and that weakness is a by-product of being coached by a guy that always acts with class and has his team organized at such a high level.  Watching the Ohio State players, especially compared with players at other top schools (Oklahoma, LSU, Georgia, Florida, USC, etc.) there is something missing, and that something is a nastiness, a determined look that they can whip the guy across from him on the line of scrimmage, and the fire that burns deep within teams that not only want to win the national championship, but they cannot imagine not winning the title.  It is an attitude that is missing, and a few times last year Ohio State was almost tripped against teams with much less talent.  The game that we got to see this close-up where Ohio State went wobbly was against Washington on the road.  Washington, a team with about half the talent of OSU, had a 7-3 lead at halftime and was driving for another touchdown at the beginning of the 2nd half, and the Buckeyes were on the verge being in some real trouble.  Ohio State with all its talent rose up and stopped Washington and as we looked down the sideline we saw Jim Tressel almost jumping out of his rainsuit cheering for his team.  Yes, Ohio State got by Washington, but a weakness in the Buckeyes was exposed in that game and as we discussed that game among ourselves at the hotel that night, we thought that the top SEC, Big 12, or Pac-10 teams would be able to out-muscle OSU if they got an opportunity to play them in the post-season.  As we all saw, even when Ohio State got 10 points up on LSU in the championship game, there was little doubt among the people watching the line of scrimmages, who was going to win that game.

Yes, Jim Tressel is one of the best head football coaches of this generation and what he has already accomplished at Ohio State is the stuff of legends.  We are very confident that Tressel is working very hard to address the problems that he sees with his team and that he recognizes that the Big Ten he found when he first arrived at Ohio State in 2001, is a lot different than what he will face in the coming years.  Ron Zook at Illinois, Bret Bielema continuing what Barry Alvarez started at Wisconsin, Mark Dantonio at Michigan State, and surely what Rich Rodriguez will build at Michigan, will be huge challenges for Ohio State going forward.  The Buckeyes are not going away anytime soon, but they are going to find that winning the Big Ten conference is going to be much more difficult in the next 10 years, and the parity that the SEC is dealing with now and that the Big 12 is increasingly seeing, is going to be a fact in the Big Ten as well.  Tressel will find ways to adapt to the increasing competition, but for the immediate future that is the 2008 season, we would recommend that someone at OSU make sure that the Buckeye players understand the importance of meeting force with force, nastiness with nastiness, and that there is nothing wrong with being mean on the football field.  If a bunch of 30 to 40-somethings at Coaches Hot Seat are not scared of your offensive and defensive lines, then you have a real problem on your hands, and OSU has a real problem on their hands.

Coaches Hot Seat Bottom Line

We predict that Jim Tressel and Ohio State will have a 10-2 record in 2008.  The Big Ten is right in the middle of a major shake-up with new coaches arriving and starting to have an impact upon their teams, but as the conference moves into this new era, Tressel and OSU have a chance to ring up another Big Ten title in '08.  The season starts off against Tressel's old team with Youngstown State traveling to Columbus.  This is the type of game that Ohio State will win, but not blowout their opponent, so OSU is 1-0 after one game.  Week 2 brings Frank Solich and his Ohio team to Columbus, and Ohio might not have much more talent than I-AA Youngstown State.  Another solid performance, and the Buckeyes are 2-0.  The next game will be one of the most anticipated of the year as Ohio State travels to Los Angeles to play the USC Trojans.  There is little like the LA Coliseum when it is in all its glory with the USC fans in full-throat and the Trojan band striking up "Fight-On."  It will be a tremendous scene to be a part of, and we see this as being a very close football game.  USC will not be able to throw the ball around like they have in the past with Mark Sanchez under center, but the Trojans should have enough talent to win this game by keeping the ball primarily on the ground, if they do not have too many turnovers.  USC beats OSU by a touchdown or so, and the Buckeyes are 2-1 after three games.  In week 4 Troy comes to Columbus, and although Larry Blakeney's team will play very hard, OSU's depth will be way to much for these men of Troy.  After four games, OSU is 3-1.  The Big Ten begins in week 5 with the Minnesota Gophers traveling to Columbus.  Tim Brewster is recruiting hard at Minnesota, but there is not a chance in the world the Gophers can match up with Ohio State, which means OSU is 4-1 after five games.  The next game is a trip to Madison to play what we think will be a very tough Wisconsin team in '08, and we see in a very close game the Badgers beating the Buckeyes.  In 2007 Wisconsin played the Buckeyes very tough well into the 3rd quarter, before giving up a few big plays, and Bielema will no doubt see that Ohio State traveling to Madison in '08 will give Wisconsin a great chance to make a run at the Big Ten title.  That is, if Wisconsin can beat the Buckeyes, which we see them doing by a field goal or so.  After six games, OSU is 4-2.  Returning home, and probably out of the national title chase, OSU hosts Purdue.  In Joe Tiller's last season at Purdue he no doubt would love to beat Tressel and the Buckeyes, but we don't see that happening.  OSU beats Purdue to run their record to 5-2 after seven games.  Week 8 will be a very tough game as Ohio State travels to East Lansing to play Michigan State and a former Tressel assistant in Mark Dantonio.  In what should be a very close game, we see the Buckeyes coming out with the win to run their record to 6-2 after eight games.  Penn State is up next at home for OSU, and what may be one of Joe Paterno's last games as a head coach, and the Nittany Lion players will be playing all out down the stretch of the season.  Ohio State should be able to handle Penn State which will run their record to 7-2 after nine games.  A trip to Evanston to play Northwestern is next, and this is not the type of game that Jim Tressel ever loses, so OSU is 8-2 after 10 games.  Week 11 brings a rematch of one of the best games of last season, as OSU travels to Champaign to play Ron Zook and the Illini.  We believe this will be a very close game, with Ohio State finding a way to win it in the 4th quarter, avenging the loss to Illinois at home in '07.  After eleven games, Ohio State is 9-2.  The final game of the season will be the first of what should be 12 or so match-ups between Jim Tressel and Rich Rodriguez in the coming years.  The Tressel-Rodriguez battles in the coming seasons could be as good at the Hayes-Schembechler of years past, and in year one the storyline will be all about the talent difference between the two programs.  Tressel and the Buckeyes will not run it up on Michigan, but they will beat them with plenty of authority, and Rodriguez will no doubt leave the game with a new realization of just what he has gotten himself into at Michigan.  After the win over the Wolverines, Ohio State finishes the regular season at 10-2.

10-2 is a very good record, but it is not up to the standard that Tressel has set at Ohio State in recent years, which is one of those problems that you don't mind having.  Whether Ohio State will win the Big Ten in '08 will depend up how Wisconsin plays against Michigan State on the road and Illinois at home, but if Wisconsin can end up with only 1 loss, then their head-to-head win over the Buckeyes would make them the Big Ten champions.  Not winning the Big Ten will be a disappointment to Tressel and Company, and no doubt they will just work that much harder in '09 to return the Buckeyes to the top of the conference.

2008 Coaches Hot Seat Prediction:        10-2

Will Jim Tressel be back for the 2009 season?      YES