Jim Tressel Sugar Bowl Press Conference – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
2011 ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL QUOTES
OHIO STATE HEAD COACH JIM TRESSEL
Opening Statement: “Thanks so much. We (Ohio State) are excited to be here in New Orleans, as all of you are to get the opportunity to cover it. You talk about goals and so forth as you go into a season and to end at the Allstate Sugar Bowl is a pretty special thing and on behalf of all of us we’d like to thank the Sugar Bowl Committee. We are excited to compete against a great Arkansas team. I had a chance to talk to Bobby (Petrino) the other day and I know they are excited as well. Our kids are looking forward to a lot of fun and a great experience and they’ve already gotten a chance to taste New Orleans a bit, I hope we don’t eat too much but this food is awfully good and I know you folks will experience the same.”
On if all five players involved in NCAA decision pledged to come back for next season…
“They would not be here if that weren’t the case.”
On if all five players involved in NCAA decision will play in the game on Tuesday…
“The guys will play as to what they deserve to play from a football standpoint. We will be evaluated as it relates to football.”
On how big of a distraction this has been for the Ohio State team and for himself as well…
“Anytime you spend time on anything that’s a little bit of a distraction, but we are fortunate in this particular case playing in the Sugar Bowl against a well-coached team like Arkansas. All you have to do is turn that film on and think about your good fortune to be in a BCS game and so forth. You can try to make up that time, but you know just like anything else you invest your time in certain things and wish you had more time for others. But with a little bit later game being January 4th it has given us an opportunity to take care of what we need to and when things come up you take care of them. When game time hits on January 4th we will be ready.”
On Coach Tressel’s history with Coach Bobby Petrino and the Southeastern Conference…
“I know personally I have lost three in-a-row against the SEC. I’m not tired of hearing about it, it’s a reminder to me of just how good the SEC is in football. We are playing another great one in Arkansas. As far as Petrino, he was at Louisville when I was at Ohio. I don’t think we’ve ever played against each other unless we were assistants somewhere. Now with John L. (Smith), we know him well. We’ve coached against him when he was at Idaho and Michigan State and so forth. But I’ve always been impressed with Coach Petrino. We used to send assistants down there at Louisville because it was close and they did a lot of great things. He’s doing a great job at Arkansas.”
On who was involved in crafting the final decision (allowing players to play) on the five players involved in NCAA decision and the difficulty of dealing with the situation…
“I think every decision we make is by committee, whether it be the people above you or next to you or the people you serve. You don’t wake up one morning and say this is what we are going to do, that’s not how football coach’s work. You get in meeting rooms and you argue and decide you’re going to do this on third down. Every situation that doesn’t go the way you’d like it is disappointing as a coach. That’s just the way it is. Whether they (distractions) are the ones on the field, or off the field. That’s why you are there. You are there to serve and handle the good times and the bad times.”
On rumors of Tressel retiring from Ohio State…
“Apparently it was somebody on a website using their freedom of speech. It’s not true at all but that too is kind of a waste of time. Recruits are calling asking if it’s true or not. Other coaches (from other schools) keep calling saying this is true to our recruits. The rumor is a waste of time but this world is an ever-evolving waste of time. I don’t know when people have time to spend so much time reading all this stuff. It’s amazing how much stuff is out there. The rumor is not true but its part of the deal. It’s better than the alternative, the day they fire you.”
On not winning Big Ten Coach of the Year award and the history of both he and Petrino’s fathers having coached football…
“That’s the blessing that both Bobby and I have had. When you get a chance to grow up around coaching and see the impact your father had, it becomes a blessing for you. It gets in your blood. I think it also gets in your confidence that it becomes something you think you can do because you’ve seen it being done before. I am sure I got my first opportunity in coaching as a graduate assistant not solely on my coaching merits. We (Petrino and Tressel) were fortunate to have dads as coaches. As far as the coach of the year award, I’ve got many of plaques and trophies in my office so that doesn’t blow my mind.”
On his reaction to the type of memorabilia the players sold…
“It’s disappointing. A number of people reached out as we’ve been dealing with this thing maybe to calm my thinking or whatever and one the thing said was, ‘Keep in mind coach you’re dealing with a different generation. Back when you were growing up one guy got a trophy, maybe, and now you’re dealing with a generation that if you were on the team and you were seven years old everyone got a trophy. Maybe this generation doesn’t understand the value of awards like we did.’ I understand the argument. Not sure I justify the deal, but it does make it disappointing.”
“Our kids all went out and visited Archie Griffin, because they said, ‘Coach, how can we let the former players know that we feel terrible about what we did?’ and I said, ‘Gosh, I don’t know. Archie Griffin is the head of our alumni association, the CEO, and his office is across the street. Go see if he’ll take a visit.’ He wasn’t in the office that day, but he said, ‘You know what, come out to my house.’ He said the kids might get a different perspective when they look at my basement and see how important some of those things are to me. Like most things, a valuable lesson. I’ve said many times in adversity, lives are changed. It really dawned on me this morning with our players as some of them conceivably couldn’t have been here if we made that decision.”
On any injuries…
“Chad Hagan, you haven’t seen him all season at all. He’s been medically out, but he’s been here. He’s been in the yellow jersey at practice. He’s got a situation where he’s had to have some surgery, but he’s here in New Orleans. Knock on wood; we didn’t have anybody we lost [due to injury].”
On if he’s ever considered being an NFL coach…
“No, I really haven’t. It kind of goes back to the question about Bobby [Petrino]; we both had a college football coach dad. It kind of gives you an opportunity to learn some things, and maybe some confidence that you can do that. I’ve never even been measured by the pros. I don’t know that I have the confidence that I could go and pretend that I know exactly what they should do. I don’t know that I would be the right person for that. Does that mean that everyone who’s a pro coach has got to have been a former NFL player or anything like that? No, but I don’t think I have the right training, background for that. I’m not sure that I would do a very good job.”
On whether the quarterback race will heat up with Terrelle Pryor out for five games next season…
“Not leading up to this bowl. I’m sure in the spring and so forth. Again, one of the things we’ve asked everyone involved to do is because of the decisions everyone has made, what we all know about – there are 24 guys who aren’t going to be here anymore – let’s make sure we commit ourselves to Ohio State versus Arkansas through January 4, and I’m sure the answer to your question is that of course, in the spring that would heat it up.”
On what effect the suspensions will have on the team’s play in the Sugar Bowl…
“Gosh, I hope none. I think the thing that will have an impact on how we play in the Sugar Bowl will be how we play. Will we take care of the ball? Will we knock it loose? Will we cover our lanes on the kickoff coverage? So, will those things have an effect? I would sure like to think they wouldn’t.”
On doing anything different to prepare for Arkansas…
“You do have a little bit more time. I think you have to be a little bit more careful, because so do they. So, if all of a sudden you get too glued into, ‘Hey, I know they’re going to do this when they line up this way,’ they’ve had a chance to change some things. I think you have to work on your fundamentals first, figure out what you need to do better, figure out what you do best, and then just prepare like crazy. In my mind it won’t be the Xs and Os. It’ll be the execution. It’ll be the how long and how hard and who will go the longest, because they’re a good football team. I said to the guys as we were getting ready once we knew we were playing them that this is the quickest team I’ve seen us play since Oregon. These guys are quick. They’re not X and O-wise similar at all, but quickness, which is the key to this game, they’re quick.”
