think that matters<\/a> in the state, well, plan a visit next November and see for yourself.<\/p>\nHe also held two positions of prestige after his coaching days were over, first as a vice president at Akron, and then president at Youngstown State \u2014 where he had previously won four Division I-AA national championships as football coach before taking the job at Ohio State. Tressel made workforce development a primary focus in the former manufacturing hub of eastern Ohio, where he worked with politicians from both major parties to boost funding and opportunities for job training.<\/p>\n
But if he were to enter the Ohio\u2019s Republican primary race for governor and become a candidate for office, opponents would have a clear angle to attack the \u201ctrust\u201d Tressel said he must earn from his constituents. The it<\/em> comes up.<\/p>\nNearly 14 years ago, Tressel resigned from Ohio State, where he had been head coach since 2001, embroiled in scandal. Today, the ordeal is called \u201cTattoogate,\u201d in which five football players were suspended for violating NCAA rules by trading things of value, such as Big Ten championship rings, their Buckeyes jerseys and the golden trinkets each player gets after beating Michigan in exchange for free tattoos.<\/p>\n
The players were caught because the owner of the tattoo parlor was under a federal investigation for drug trafficking. Tressel was notified of the investigation in an email in April 2010, and as investigations by the FBI and NCAA dragged on, he was eventually accused of intentionally lying to keep the ineligible players (including quarterback Terrelle Pryor, considered one of the best players in the country) on the field for the 2010 season.<\/p>\n
In April 2011, one year after Tressel was first notified of his players being swept up in \u201cTattoogate,\u201d the NCAA said Tressel\u2019s actions in the cover up were \u201cpotential major violations.\u201d A month later, Sports Illustrated reported that Tressel\u2019s players were trading memorabilia for tattoos as far back as 2002. Tressel resigned at the end of May, and in July of that year the school vacated all of its wins from the 2010 season and placed itself on two years\u2019 probation.<\/p>\n
The NCAA added a third year of probation for the school, barred the Buckeyes from playing in any bowl game in the 2012 season, and issued perhaps the stiffest penalty for Tressel \u2014 a five-year \u201cshow cause\u201d penalty, which would have required any school that hired him to show why it shouldn\u2019t be penalized for doing so.<\/p>\n
The entire world of college sports has changed since then.<\/p>\n
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\n Tressel has been a major presence in the state of Ohio for a long time, as both a college football coach and university administrator. (Photo: Kevork Djansezian \/ Getty)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAs of July 2021, athletes can earn millions of dollars for use of their name, image and likeness. Really, it simply means football players like the ones at Ohio State who used to play for Tressel can get paid. There would be no such thing as \u201cTattoogate\u201d today, and since the scandal mushroomed in Columbus all those years ago, two state universities have hired Tressel for high-level jobs.<\/p>\n
But now that he will hold public office, and could, in less than two years, run for the highest elected office in the state, Tressel was asked what he would say about the NCAA violations and his resignation from Ohio State.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way our time ended at Ohio State was disappointing, on a lot of levels,\u201d said Tressel. \u201cMy number one care and concern was for our student-athletes and then the program itself. We know that the world of college athletics has changed dramatically, and as you reflect back on it, maybe some of the decisions that some of our guys made, obviously during the rules of engagement at the moment, were not appropriate and there had to be sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pressed for his reflection on his own involvement, and subsequent punishment, for his role in the scandal, Tressel said, \u201cWell, the decision I made was to sign the NCAA form that all of our players were doing appropriate things \u2014 and that wasn\u2019t the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tressel said he should have been more forceful in questioning his players when he was originally notified of their potential wrongdoing, but was trying to maintain the confidentiality of an ongoing federal investigation, and said he should have hired a lawyer.<\/p>\n
Tressel, conceding that it was a dark time in his life, recalled hearing from his mentor, a retired English professor, who told him: \u201cI hope you know that your greatest impact is ahead of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I wasn\u2019t feeling that at the moment,\u201d Tressel said. \u201cI was disappointed that we were at the moment we were in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tressel held dozens of meetings with state lawmakers this week following DeWine\u2019s appointment, and operatives who work for those legislators said Tressel\u2019s resignation from Ohio State did not come up in their conversations.<\/p>\n
Tressel was at his home in Medina, Ohio, about a half hour south of Cleveland, on Feb. 1 when DeWine asked if he and his wife could stop by for a visit. Tressel\u2019s wife, Ellen, was not home at the time, and at first Tressel thought DeWine and the governor\u2019s wife, Fran, were simply stopping by. It soon became clear to Tressel that DeWine would ask him to take over as lieutenant governor for Jon Husted, whom DeWine had already named to replace U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance as a U.S. Senator.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wanted to look me in the eye, because if I was going to be interested he probably wanted to measure me a little bit,\u201d Tressel said. \u201cHe thought I had what it takes. I felt a little bit like it was the head coach coming in for a home (recruiting) visit, which I did a million times.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Tressel\u2019s political future, he insisted it\u2019s not something he is thinking about now. He would either have to change his thinking, or hire someone to do it for him, because he would need to raise money in preparation for a likely expensive, crowded Republican primary. Current Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has already announced his candidacy, and Vivek Ramaswamy, a tech titan and former adviser to President Donald J. Trump is among those expected to join the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to try to hold extremely true to the fact that I\u2019m not worried about anything other than what I can learn today,\u201d Tressel said. \u201cI don\u2019t even know fully what the governor does on a day-to-day basis, and I just watched him for like two days. But I have given no thought to any sequence or timeline. Any of that kind of thing. I\u2019m just trying to get through today.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Top photo: Brent N. Clarke \/ Getty)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n