Ohio State Football Coach Jim Tressel: Rationalizing the Praise and Criticism

In his tenure as coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, Jim Tressel has accomplished much. Under his watch, Ohio State has won six consecutive Big Ten titles and is a perennial national championship contender. In big games, Tressel wins; 5-3 BCS Bowl record and 9-1 against arch-rival Michigan. His success restored pride lost after a series of devastating defeats to Michigan in the John Cooper era.

Tressel is arguably the best college football coach in the nation today.

One would think that this impressive track record would earn the universal admiration of the Buckeye faithful. That is not the case.

A sizable portion of the Ohio State fan base are not thrilled with Tressel at the helm. Some even want to see him fired.

While these people are absolutely nuts (pun unintended), they have a point.

For one, Tressel-led teams come out flat more often then they should. The 2009 Purdue and 2010 Wisconsin games best illustrate this. Ohio State also came out flat against Penn State this year, losing 3-14 at halftime. Thankfully that game ended on a happier note.

Of course, coaches and players can't be expected to perform flawlessly. Sometimes letdown performances occur. The problem in Tressel's case is that these clunkers are becoming yearly occurrences.

Though disconcerting, this problem is negligible in comparison to the one posed by Tresselball.

Tresselball is Tressel's Achilles' heel. Though successful in 2002, his continued devotion to the philosophy is more hindrance than help.

Make no mistake, Tressel is adequate at game-planning; the 2010 Rose Bowl and 2011 Sugar Bowl attest to that. It's the Tresselball-driven in-game decisions which are the problem.

The most poignant example of this is the 2009 game against USC. Despite what the final score said, Ohio State was the better team. However, Tressel risked nothing on offense and bet everything on defense, a gambit which ultimately failed.

The Sugar Bowl had the potential of ending the same way and very nearly did. After an impressive first half performance, Tressel attempted nothing creative on offense and allowed the game to deteriorate to the point where Arkansas could have picked up a blocked punt and run unopposed for a game-winning score.

Ultimately, the problem with Tresselball is that it neuters a team of killer instinct. Since the offensive emphasis is on not making mistakes instead of gaining yards, opponents will never receive a death blow. Despite all his accomplishments, this is the single biggest reason why Tressel is not universally recognized as the best coach in college football; he does not know when to go for the throat.

An attractive option would be to pursue an offensive specialist to call the plays. Despite consistently fielding good teams, Ohio State has not featured highly-ranked offenses. A specialist would bring the most out of the offense while preventing Tresselball-inflicted suicide.

This proposal would assuage the concerns of Tressel's critics while serving as a reasonable compromise for his worshippers.

The best part about this idea is that Jim Tressel would remain head coach. He has his flaws as does any coach but is a winner and true to the program. There is no doubt that he is still the right person to lead the Ohio State Buckeyes.