Jim Tressel starts to get hang of retirement, enjoys moments with former players, coaches

When Mark Dantonio received word Monday afternoon that he’d been named to the College Football Hall of Fame, one of the first people he texted was his former Youngstown State and Ohio State boss, Jim Tressel.

Wintering in Florida, Tressel alerted ex-OSU and YSU offensive coordinator Jim Bollman, who lives 10 minutes away. Dantonio was 20 minutes away in the other direction. Soon, the three were toasting at the home of Dantonio — the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator before he left Columbus in 2004 for the head coaching job at the University of Cincinnati, followed by a 2007-19 stint at Michigan State.

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Tressel, 71, cited that spur-of-the-moment celebration as an example of his life 11 months into retirement.

“The beauty of not being the head coach or the president anymore is that I can spend time with all these kids and all these former coaches and select these things I’d like to see if I can add value to as opposed to being chained to an 80-hour, 90-hour week responsibility,” Tressel said by phone Tuesday. “We’ve enjoyed it. I retired Feb. 1. It’s an evolution, but we’re starting to get the hang of it.”

As he spoke, his wife, Ellen, was golfing, leaving early to tee off before an approaching storm. Tressel, who stepped down as president of Youngstown State in 2023, had two more scheduled chats that day with former players, one a 5:30 p.m. conference call about a project they’re working on.

He said he has about 4,000 contacts in his phone and usually doesn’t pick up when it’s an unknown number.

“It’s hilarious when the phone rings,” Tressel said. “Back when I was president, I used to tell them, ‘Look guys, I’ve got a job. I can’t just answer the phone at 10:30 in the morning because you have a question.’ We would laugh.

“That’s what’s been fun about being available, whether it’s available to your family or to your former players or coaches, that’s something I’ve not had. Everyone needs someone to talk to that’s not in the room just to bounce things off. That’s always fun.”

Tressel, who also has a home in Medina, said he’d just talked to former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett a few days ago.

“He’s doing lots of good things,” Tressel said. “We always say our greatest victories are what are these guys are doing when they’re 30, 35, 40, 45. Not just championship teams can have great victories. Every coach, every program, the value of sport is so good.”

Tressel has kept in touch with former receiver Anthony Gonzalez, who served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio’s 16th district. After Gonzalez was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach outgoing President Donald Trump for incitement of insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, Gonzalez was deluged with threats, fearing for the safety of his wife and two young children. In his retirement announcement, Gonzalez cited the “toxic dynamics” in his party.

Gonzalez invited Tressel as his one allotted guest to Trump’s State of the Union address in February 2019 and Tressel spent time with Gonzalez on Capitol Hill that day.

“I talk with him fairly regularly. I sat with him a week or so after his real tough situation and he’s going in a different direction,” Tressel said of Gonzalez. “He’s a great young man.”

Asked if he’s glad he’s out of the coaching and academic world, Tressel sighed. His reaction seemed prompted by the state of college football and his connections to those with Ohio State ties like Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck (a graduate assistant in 2006), Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman (a linebacker from 2004-08 and graduate assistant in 2010), Wisconsin’s Luke Fickell (a nose tackle from 1992-96, assistant from 2000-2011 and interim coach in 2011 after Tressel’s resignation) and current Buckeyes coach Ryan Day.

“In some ways, yeah. Where I feel bad, I’m watching all my guys that are still in it and spending time with Marcus Freeman on the phone or Luke Fickell or P.J. Fleck or Ryan Day, talking with those guys and listening to some of the stuff they have to go through which we never had to do,” Tressel said. “We had to live with the fact that our players couldn’t make anything and that didn’t sit well, either, so we had different problems.

“What I feel bad about is we’ve in some ways lost the value of why is it good to be a part of sport, which is handling adversity, learning how to be a part of a team, discipline, getting up at 6 a.m. You have to work hard if you want to get paid, too. Maybe (it's now) a little bit more of an individualistic … ‘I’m just going to use my skills to see what I can gain for myself.’”

When it was mentioned that even high school players seem more inclined to move around, Tressel considered the pros and cons and concluded, “I often remind myself, ‘Don’t act like a dinosaur.’”

In between the phone calls, Tressel and his wife are enjoying more time with their children — sons Zak and Eric and daughters Carlee and Whitney — and grandchildren.

“We have a grandson who is 6 months old who lives near us in Medina,” he said. “We have a son in Columbus, he’s been there forever. A daughter who has two grandkids in Indiana. The youngest, she’s in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We’ve been able to run around a little with that, too. I’m not bored.”

Through it all, Tressel was watching the College Football Playoffs, along with the Football Championship Subdivision title game as South Dakota State won its second consecutive championship, beating Montana 23-3.

“Missouri Valley has won 15 of the last 16, which is our conference,” Tressel said, referring to Youngstown State.

The Browns have also captivated Tressel, a Berea High School and Baldwin-Wallace graduate.

“Our Brownies are rolling,” Tressel said. “(Joe Flacco) has done a great job and Kevin (Stefanski) has done a great job of handling adversity. One guy goes out and he figures out how to plug someone else in and feature someone else.

“They’re a tough out. My opinion is the last person the Ravens want to face is the Browns. The Browns are tough. Defense travels, right?”

This article originally appeared on The Repository: College Football Hall of Fame coach Jim Tressel enjoying retirement