The long-awaited announcement of Dick Tressel as Ohio State's new running backs coach came down from the university this afternoon. Here is the release:
Dick Tressel is changing hats again. After three years as the associate director of football operations at Ohio State, Tressel will return to the coaching ranks as mentor of the Buckeyes’ running backs.
Tressel is certainly no stranger to the coaching ranks. Prior to coming to Ohio State, he spent 23 years as the head coach of Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn. During his tenure there, he compiled an overall record of 124-102-2 with the Pipers and was the Division III National Coach of the Year in 1984.
At Hamline, Tressel also served as director of athletics for 21 years. He left coaching following the 2000 season to concentrate on his administrative duties with that growing program. Tressel returned to his native Ohio in 2001 to become associate director of football operations at Ohio State. In that capacity, he oversaw community relations and academics.
“I never thought I was done being a football coach,” said Tressel. “When this opportunity presented itself, I realized how much I missed the challenge of preparing players to perform at their highest level, and then seeing them perform on game day.
“I enjoy the teaching part of coaching, and through that process the ability to help student-athletes better understand what it takes to be successful on the football field and later on in whatever profession they choose to follow.”
Tressel will work directly under the supervision of offensive coordinator Jim Bollman. And Bollman could not be more thrilled with his new lieutenant.
“To be able to add a person of his experience and expertise to our staff is just sensational,” said Bollman. “He has coached at every level, he has been a coordinator on both sides of the ball, he has been a successful head coach, a very successful head coach, and he knows us and we all know him, including the players.
“He jumped out in the search process from the very beginning. You just don’t find guys with his kind of experience.”
Tressel is looking forward to the start of the Buckeyes’ spring practice, which gets underway April 1.
“My hope is that I will be a successful communicator and help our guys develop their talent,” he said. “We have some guys on this team who have proven they can make big plays for us.”
Tressel is the older brother of Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel and the son of former Baldwin Wallace College coach Lee Tressel. As a family, that trio has won 446 games.