Jim Tressel on Ohio State tenure: "That wasn't the way we wanted to end it"
Former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel spoke about his time at the school on the one-year anniversary of his resignation. (Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)
On the one-year anniversary of his resignation from Ohio State, former Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel told The Plain Dealer's Doug Lesmerises that he has no regrets about his tenure in Columbus.
His 10-year run as coach ended on Memorial Day 2011 because of major NCAA violations.
"It was going to end one day, in one way or another, and that wasn't the way we wanted to end it," Tressel said.
"Wow, a lot happens in a year, a lot that you don't know is going to happen. But I don't feel scarred or disappointed or mad. I just don't feel that way. The people at Ohio State have always been great to me, and things end up the way they do, and you go on to the next play or the next day, and that's always been the way I look at things."
Tressel spent last football season working for the Indianapolis Colts. In February, he was hired by the University of Akron as its Vice President of Strategic Engagement.
Despite the uncertainty over the past year, Tressel said he always knew he and the Ohio State program would be fine.
"We talked a million times to our young people about the fact that Ohio State is bigger than you, or Youngstown State is bigger than you, and it's going to move forward," Tressel said. "So do the best you can while you're there and know that it's a part of your life forever, but that there's a moment when it's not the every day part of your life. "I suppose it was disappointing to some. They thought we would do that forever, but it took a strange turn. But I think when you step back, at least I do, I think of all the good times and the excellent I people I worked with and got to meet."
"The people I run into want to talk about the fond memories, and I'm sure that's not unlike when you lose a loved one and you think back on all those wonderful times, and that's absolutely the way I feel.
