Jim Tressel (official thread)

[ScarletInMyVeins]

Originally Posted by cincibuck

Jwins, I have NO problem with Tressel. I believe I said so. My issue is how big sports have become at the college level and what, in turn, it does to education.

BTW, mods, I went to search, put in Jim Tressel's new contract, and nothing popped up. So I posted. If you want to move this to the JT thread it's fine by me.

No biggie. I merged the two

[DaddyBigBucks]

Those who are among the 5 best individuals in their profession on planet earth are well compensated. If they are teachers, they are published and widely read in some form. If they are researchers, they have Nobel Prizes or Fields Medals and pull down huge speaking fees. If they are writers, they have Pulitzers. If they are engineers they have patents. etc. etc. etc.

Don't get me started about talented people you know who aren't making that much. This is about being among the 5 best at whatever you do of all the people on earth. When you're that good, you may not make 2.4 million, but you're going to be very, very comfortable. Comfortable enough that envy is unseemly at best.

And don't tell me about teachers who "don't care about getting published". When someone is talented enough to be among the best 5 on the planet, and they don't endeavor to share what they know on a wider scale, then this betrayal of their gift knocks them out of consideration for the true top 5.

JT is top 5 by every category of valuing a coach.

W-o-r-t-h e-v-e-r-y p-e-n-n-y

[cincibuck]

I'll agree and respectfully disagree. A Nobel does a hell of alot more for humanity than a superb football coach and for no where near the reward. But then Madonna makes big bucks too and so does fifty cent. Go figure.

[zincfinger]

Originally Posted by jwinslow

The senior tenured professors aren't bringing in 50 million a year for the school like tressel

Of course Tressel is worth the money, in the sense that he brings even more money, directly and indirectly, to the University than the massive sums he's paid. But that's really just a reflection of the priorities that I believe Cincibuck was referring to.

As far as the five most talented in their profession, that's really not a valid comparison since there are hundreds of college professors (for example) for every football coach, but even if it were, a highly paid coach makes far more money than any professor anywhere; even a Nobel Prize winner. Again, it's priorites of the public at large. I'm sure as hell not sitting around during the day reading about what talented researchers may be coming to OSU. And at the end of the day, a lot more people care deeply about what OSU does on the gridiron than about any academic issues.

[NightmaresDad]

Originally Posted by cincibuck

I'll agree and respectfully disagree. A Nobel does a hell of alot more for humanity than a superb football coach and for no where near the reward. But then Madonna makes big bucks too and so does fifty cent. Go figure.

yeah, that Arafat sure did alot of good for humanity.
Sorry, couldn't resist.

My 2 cents - some of the greatest people on the planet are people you will never hear about, but positively influence the lives of a multitude of people in their own way. Being famous or rich has absolutely nothing to do with greatness in most cases.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Canton

5/21/06

TRESSEL’S CONTRACT

Ohio State’s Jim Tressel received a well-deserved raised when he signed a seven-year contract that will keep him in Columbus through 2012. Tressel will average $2.45 million a season under the new deal and top out at nearly $2.7 million in the final year.

Southern Cal Head Coach Pete Carroll is believed to have the highest-paying contract in college football. He makes about $3 million a season.

Texas’ Mack Brown is next at $2.96 million, and Tressel is third at $2.45 million.

One of the reasons Tressel received the new contract — aside from winning — is the team’s improved academic standards. The football team has a 2.84 grade-point average. This past winter quarter, 51 players had a GPA of 3.0 or higher, and three were at 4.0.
“Ellen (Tressel’s wife) and I understand that to whom much is given, much is expected,” Tressel said. “I am certainly proud to be the football coach here and will continue to do everything I can to help prepare our student-athletes for the next step in their lives once their football careers have ended.”

[osugrad21]

Link

Tressel plays numbers game during OSU-Lima visit
By JIM NAVEAU
419-993-2087
05/26/2006
jnaveau@limanews.com

LIMA — The NFL turned down Reggie Bush’s request to wear No. 5, but Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel is willing to listen if a player wants to ask for a special number.
“We have guys campaign all the time and they campaign for the single digits. I haven’t had too many guys campaign for No. 62 or something like that,” Tressel said, with a smile, before he spoke at The Ohio State University at Lima’s Spring for Scholarships dinner Thursday night.
“The single digits, guys kind of wait in line for those,” he said. “We’ve got some guys battling over some single digits. All the things are a part of that — how they did in the spring, what their spring grades are.
“It’s an incentive. Any carrot you can use to help, we do,” he said.
Two other numbers have been prominently attached to Ohio State football lately. The first is, No. 1, as in the Buckeyes being rated the leader in ESPN’s “post-spring” Top 25.
The other is $17 million, which is what Tressel will be paid the next seven seasons after reaching an agreement to sweeten his contract. That is believed to have made him the third-highest paid college football coach after Southern California’s Pete Carroll and Texas’ Mack Brown.
Tressel was quick to point to another number, the nine Buckeyes who were selected in the NFL draft, when the ESPN rankings came up.
“We all know better than that. We saw all those guys who were drafted. There is nobody in our building that has any preconceived notions that we don’t have a lot of work to do,” he said.
Ohio State has seven returning starters on offense from last season’s 10-2 team, but only two starters back on defense.
“We’re young but I think we’re talented. We need some experience fast,” Tressel said.
Tressel addressed several other topics, including the prospects for some area players in 2006, hiring a new strength coach to replace Allan Johnson and his salary.
He said Van Wert’s Joel Penton “needs to be a leader for us because he’s a fifth-year player” and that Penton and his defensive line mates will have to lead OSU’s defense. “Those are the guys who have been in the game,” he said.
One of the defensive players who made a big impression in spring practice was linebacker Ross Homan, who enrolled at Ohio State in January after helping Coldwater win the Division IV state title last fall.
“I know what Ross Homan’s goal is; he wants to be in there starting that first game,” Tressel said.
The departure of Johnson, who had been OSU’s strength coach since 2001, came as somewhat of a surprise.
Johnson is under contract until August, but a new strength coach could be on board before that. “I think somewhere around the middle of next week they’ll bring a couple of candidates in and I’m hoping by the end of next week we’ll have a good feel for what we’re going to do,” Tressel said.
About the attention his salary increase has received, he said, “That’s just the way it is. When you’re a public employee, it’s public knowledge. I think back to why I went into this profession and it wasn’t for salary needs. It was because I love to teach and coach. I think my dad, who was a better coach than I am, was a coach for 20 years before he made $20,000 a year.”