I just read this in today's
Dispatch and I thought it was really good. I'm disappointed that the coach is not a golfer, but I'm glad to see he enjoys an occasional cigar.
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One-on-one
a conversation with a central Ohio newsmaker
Friday, September 02, 2005
Editor’s note: Two years ago, The Dispatch introduced a weekly feature in which a reporter met with a high-school student-athlete for a wide-ranging discussion about any and all topics. ‘‘Going To School’’ has become one our most popular features. So popular, in fact, that it occurred to us: Why not publish similar conversations with some other prominent sports personalities in central Ohio? Thus was born ‘‘One on one,’’ an occasional and highly informal question-and-answer chat with a local sports figure. The first installment follows.
Name: Jim Tressel
Age: 52
Occupation: Football coach, Ohio State University
Family: Wife, Ellen; children, Zak, Carlee, Eric, Whitney
Question: This may seem an odd place to start, but my wife says one of the most important things you can learn about someone is whether they have pets. Are you a pet person?
Answer: We have a 10-pound Maltese named Cuddles. Does that fit a football coach’s M.O.?
Q: Who named this dog?
A: Ellen did.
Q: Is this her dog or your dog?
A: If she’s not home, it’s my dog. But if she’s home, Cuddles is with her.
Q: Does the dog like you?
A: Yeah, especially when I’m eating meat and giving away goodies and things like that.
Q: How many of your kids are home?
A: None. We are empty-nesters. We have two at college: The youngest (Whitney) is in her second year at college (at Rochester Institute of Technology). There’s one (Eric) at Youngstown State and two out of college and on their own.
Q: How do you like that?
A: Well, neither of them are living back at home. You know, you read about kids moving back in after college after you’ve paid all those tuition bills and Mom and Dad are left scratching their head. But so far we’re two for two.
Q: Obviously, you choose what you do. But do you wish there were more than a few weeks out of the year when you can just relax?
A: Yes and no. Because I do enjoy our free time, like if we can slip out town or something. But inevitably, Ellen always tells me any more than five days and I’m out of control. I’ve got to get back and see what’s going on at the Woody Hayes Center. So, yes, I would like more time, but I don’t know what I’d do with it.
Q: What was this summer like at home?
A: This year we built a little workshop. My oldest son is a woodworker. In fact, when he was a senior in high school he built a pool table — solid oak. It took him the whole year in industrial arts class.
Q: It’s level? That would be the hard thing, right?
A: Yeah, it’s level. Gorgeous. So this summer we put a little extension on our garage and did a little work in there building some cabinets. It’s kind of our escape. It’s fun to escape.
Q: What other ways do you relax? Do you watch television, go to movies, read?
A: I enjoy reading quite a bit. I enjoy, unfortunately, eating.
Q: Do you cook?
A: I grill. I am the grill master. No one does ribs in America like I do.
Q: What kind? Baby backs?
A: No, country style; you know those? Those are the ones I do best. I marinate them all night and the whole deal.
Q: What do you read — books, novels, magazines?
A: I read a lot of magazines, a lot of articles. Often in the summer I’ll read a book that we’re going to use as a team. One of the best books I read this summer was A Season of Life. Have you read that one? I’ll give you a copy. I liked it so much I got a hundred copies. I had some of our guys do book reports on it, for various reasons.
Q: With your lifestyle being what it is, how do you get your reading done?
A: I like to read at my own pace. You know how the novel reader has to go finish their 600 pages? That would take me 12 years. I was a math person, not a verbal skills person.
Q: So when you relax — and I mean no disrespect at all here, but you are a rather neat person, the tie on and the hair right and all. But are you ever a slob?
A: Oh, yeah. When I’m home in the summer, I’m not a fan of shaving. And I like to get on my John Deere and chew on a cigar and go.
Q: How about Ellen, is she an Oscar or a Felix?
A: I’m not sure which is which.
Q: Felix is the neat one.
A: She’s neat. She’s right there with me. We have Felix and Felix.
Q: What’s a way that you’re different?
A: She’s a golfer. I always tell her that I’m a golf widow. She plays in a lot of charity events, she plays a lot with a group of golf friends, she even went to golf school in spring of ’04 down at Pinehurst (N.C.).
Q: You don’t golf?
A: I don’t golf at all.
Q: You’ve played before, right?
A: Yeah, I did nine holes last year.
Q: Where’d you play, and don’t say with Gov. Taft?
A: I played at Scioto. Usually I get in about nine holes a year. This year, I escaped without having to play, which was a good thing. My biggest problem is that after about two holes — it’s beautiful out and I’ve seen the leaves and the trees — and I’ve had enough. Let me go do something else.
Q: Do you fish? If patience is a problem, then that may not work, either.
A: Every once in a while. Ellen’s dad likes to fish, so usually once a year or so when we’re visiting him I’ll throw a line in with him.
Q: Let’s talk about your dad (Lee) for a minute. You have a lot of pictures and such of him here, and it’s obvious he was a big part in your life.
A: Oh, yeah. You know, our house was right next door to the stadium. At those small schools like Baldwin-Wallace, they didn’t pay you anything but they gave you a house. So I grew up every day with football practice and watching him. He enjoyed work, and it made perfect sense to me that I wanted to be happy, because he was happy.
Q: What about your sons, do they have any interest in coaching?
A: Nope, but that’s not by design. I did tell Zak that I wanted him to learn to do two things, way back, that I never learned: one was golf, because you can do that forever, and two was to work with wood. So now here we are, 25 years later, enjoying what time we can get together, and he can still pound the nail and I can still hold the other end of the board. I have no skills, but I can hold the other end.
Q: Do you have a memory of a favorite gift growing up?
A: I have one that I remember the most, so I guess that makes it my favorite. When my dad was studying to get his doctorate, he had to take about eight months off without pay to do a residency, so we were broke. He didn’t make any money to start with. The Christmas I remember the most, my oldest brother, Dick, was in high school at Berea, and he got a Berea Braves pin. Probably cost 75 cents or something back then. My brother Dave got a book of the 50 states which he already had. And I got a pair of kids’ football pants that I’m sure my dad was given by a sporting goods dealer. I remember that more than anything else because we were OK with that, because we knew we were sacrificing for the family. All the other Christmases where there were umpteen boxes, I hardly remember them.
Q: What kind of driver are you?
A: My wife says I’m terrible, but I think I’m excellent. So there’s a little conflict in the answer to that question.
Q: What doesn’t she like about your driving?
A: She thinks I’m busy doing other things, not paying attention, thinking and talking about other things. But I think I’m all right.
Q: Any nicknames stick to you over the years? Tress is sort of obvious, just shortening your name.
A: Well, in college I was J.T.
Q: How about Senator? Do you hear that ever?
A: I’ve heard it once or twice, but not as a nickname. More as a shot.
Q: Does it bother you?
A: No, not at all. You know, I don’t take myself too seriously. I get a lot of
attention because I’m the Ohio State football coach; it has nothing to do with me. It’s part of the deal. I know what I’m not, trying to be what I am and what I want to be.
—
Ray Stein
