With 218 career wins, five Big Ten titles, eight bowl appearances, and five national championships – including the 2002 BCS National Championship – Jim Tressel is a living legend among college football coaches. Coach Tressel's charitable endeavors and fundraising for the James Cancer Center at Ohio State are equally impressive.
Learn more about the man behind the sweater-vest in Coach Insider.
You have been a significant supporter of the James Cancer Center at the Ohio State University Medical Center. What would you want fans to know about the work of the James Cancer Center?
What's exceptional is their passion to take care of those who have been struck by the disease, their passion in supporting those who support a loved one with the disease, and their passion on finding a cure.
What coach did you most admire growing up and why?
My dad.
Ohio State boasts the most academic all-Big Ten selections in the conference each year under your guidance. How do you encourage players to balance athletics and academics?
Time management is the most important thing we can teach toward their overall success.
What are the top three things you demand from your student-athletes?
Accountability, dependability and playing to the best of their ability.
Do you require your football players to volunteer in the community?
We don't require it – we embrace it as a part of the Ohio State tradition. Woody Hayes encouraged his players to "Pay It Forward" and we honor that tradition today. Our guys really grow when they find that because they are Buckeyes, they can influence and help so many people and causes that are dear to them and their families. Instituting a habit of service to others is a great gift to give any college-age person.
What values and principles are your players learning through football?
Discipline, hard work, teamwork and the contributions of all to the team goal, abiding by the rules.
If you were evaluating game film of yourself as a high school senior, would that player be recruited to play for Ohio State today?
I would not have been recruited by Ohio State then or now – I was very fortunate that my dad was the head coach at Baldwin-Wallace!
Fill in the blank. If I weren't coaching football, I'd be ________.
Teaching – of course, that's what I feel like what I do as a coach as well.
Outside of the Horseshoe, what is the most electric atmosphere you've played in?
Nothing compares to the Horseshoe!
Vacations for a head coach are probably few and far between, but where does Jim Tressel go to relax in the off-season?
Whenever and wherever my wife Ellen decides!
What is your favorite guilty pleasure junk food?
Licorice.
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