Jim Tressel to Enter College Football Hall of Fame – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Jan. 9, 2015
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Football Hall of Fame today announced that former Ohio State and Youngstown State football coach Jim Tressel will be one of two coaches and 15 players to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame Class of 2015.
A formal announcement of the class took place at a press conference from the Renaissance Hotel in Dallas, Texas, in conjunction with the 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship weekend. The official induction will take place Dec. 8, 2015 at the NFF Annual Awards Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. Tressel also will be one of five members of the 2015 class participating in the pregame coin toss at the national title game on Monday.
Tressel, who coached at Ohio State from 2001-10, guided the Buckeyes to an overall record of 94-21 with nine bowl appearances (including seven BCS games), six 10-win seasons, six Big Ten titles and a national championship while posting an 8-1 record against rival Michigan.
Tressel, who owned an overall record of 229-78-2 after his 24 years as a head coach, was named as the Buckeyes’ 22nd head coach Jan. 18, 2001. His first Ohio State squad earned a 7-5 record with a dramatic road win over Michigan in the regular-season finale. In 2002, Ohio State came from out of nowhere to capture the Big Ten’s first consensus national title since 1968, posting a 13-0 regular-season record and then defeating top-ranked Miami in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in a 31-24 double-overtime thriller, becoming the first Division I-A school to record a 14-0 campaign.
Tressel led the Buckeyes to an 11-2 record in 2003 and their second consecutive BCS bowl appearance, where OSU defeated Kansas State in a return visit to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. The 2004 Buckeyes attained an 8-4 record that included wins over Michigan in the regular-season finale and Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl. In 2005, the 10-2 Buckeyes tied for the Big Ten title (7-1) and closed the season with back-to-back wins over Michigan and Notre Dame.
In 2006, Ohio State opened the season at No. 1 in the polls and held that ranking throughout the course of the regular season, becoming the first team to go wire-to-wire at the top spot. Posting a 12-0 record during the regular season, Ohio State recorded wins over Texas and Michigan, both of which were ranked No. 2 at the time they played the Buckeyes, and played Florida in the BCS championship game in Arizona. In 2007, 11-2 Ohio State won another outright Big Ten title and carried the No. 1 ranking in the polls for five weeks, again advancing to the BCS title game, facing LSU in New Orleans. In 2008, the Buckeyes again won a share of the Big Ten title, polished off Michigan (42-7) for an OSU record fifth straight time, and faced Texas in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
The 2009 season was another memorable year for Ohio State as the team won a sixth consecutive Big Ten crown, became the first school to defeat five 10-win teams in one season and capped the 11-2 campaign with a win over Oregon in the Rose Bowl.
A total of 133 players at Ohio State earned degrees during his tenure with the most academic all-Big Ten selections in the conference each of his years as coach.
Prior to coming to Ohio State, Tressel spent 15 seasons as head coach at Youngstown State, where he also served for a time as athletics director and now serves as university president. His years there were ripe with success, with the Penguins winning four national championships and qualifying for the Division I-AA playoffs a remarkable 10 times. During his stay at YSU, he compiled an overall record of 135-57-2 and was a four-time pick as the Division I-AA National Coach of the Year.
