ABJ
Posted on Wed, Nov. 15, 2006
Dennison still coaches Tressel
By Terry Pluto
This is the story of two Jims.
The first is the coach at Walsh University, the other at Ohio State.
The first is Jim Dennison, 68, whose Walsh Cavaliers are making the program's first trip to the NAIA playoffs.
The second is Jim Tressel, the Buckeyes' coach, whose team plays Michigan on Saturday.
Dennison gave Tressel his first coaching job -- as a graduate assistant at the University of Akron in 1975. Three decades later, Tressel still calls Dennison ``coach.''
It's like that with Tressel, the son of a coach who never forgets the men who have been his fathers in coaching. He spent four years with Dennison on the Zips' staff from 1975-78, and he learned something about PMA.
That's Positive Mental Attitude, the code that Dennison lives by.
It's also a part of Tressel's personality. He doesn't use the PMA code; he just remains forever upbeat, under control.
``I really believe in being even-keeled,'' Dennison said. ``Jim does, too.''
Dennison was telling this story Tuesday afternoon, sitting in his office looking like a guy whose biggest decision all week will be what to have for dinner.
``Don't kid yourself,'' he said. ``Right now, my stomach is in a knot.''
That's because his Walsh University football team is getting ready to meet University of St. Francis (Ind.), the top-ranked NAIA team, on Saturday.
``You can be sure that Jim (Tressel) feels the same way,'' Dennison said. ``He may not show it, but it's there, in your stomach. You feel it.''
At that moment, Tressel probably was sitting in a much bigger office in Columbus, thinking about what it would take to knock off Michigan.
Tressel is 4-1 against his major rival. He's 4-1 in bowl games, 8-2 against schools ranked in the Top 10.
``Jim knows how to prepare a team for a big game,'' Dennison said. ``He may lose, but they will be prepared. He'll have the kids in the right frame of mind. He'll know what game plan he wants to use. He'll be ready.''
Jim Tressel loves coaches such as Jim Dennison.
This spring, Tressel invited Dennison to speak to more than 1,000 Ohio high school coaches. It was the
OSU coaching clinic, and Tressel remembered history.
``Coach, 30 years ago, Woody Hayes had you and Bill Walsh talk to the high school coaches here,'' Tressel told Dennison. ``Now, I want you to come back. I want you to talk about football and life.''
Dennison did just that, discussing not only his favorite offensive strategies, but PMA and his other philosophies.
Once upon a time, it was a hot college coach named Jim Dennison who gave a blessing to a young coach fresh out of Baldwin-Wallace named Jim Tressel.
Now, Tressel was telling those high school coaches: See this man, he's important to me. Listen to what he has to say.
Tressel didn't have to say any of that. Bringing in Dennison was message enough.
Tressel graduated from Baldwin-Wallace in 1975. He had played for his father, the legendary small-college coach, Lee Tressel.
Jim Tressel grew up with an appreciation of small-college football and the men who coach it. He never thought big-name coaches had a monopoly on wisdom or teaching skills. A good coach could be found anywhere at any age; that was something that he learned from his father.
Joe Paterno had offered Jim Tressel a chance to be a graduate assistant at Penn State. Lee Tressel had other ideas. The coach from Baldwin-Wallace who always wore a bow tie wanted his son to really learn what it meant to be a college coach. He respected what Jim Dennison had accomplished at UA, and even more, appreciated Jim Dennison the man.
Jim Tressel interviewed with Dennison, and he was offered a chance to be a graduate assistant for the Zips, who then played in Division I-AA.
``Lee Tressel liked Akron for Jim because he knew we had a small staff and he'd get a chance to do a lot and learn quickly,'' Dennison said.
The bright lights and big time of Penn State tempted Jim Tressel, but he trusted his father. When it came to coaching, Lee Tressel knew best.
And Lee Tressel knew Jim Dennison.
``The first job I gave him was to drive a van with the coaches wives to our game in Delaware,'' Dennison said. ``The team and coaches flew; they drove. Jim had one tape, the Beach Boys. He played it over and over.''
BA-BA-BA-BA- BARBA
RA-ANN... As a couple of wives told Dennison, it was enough to make you hate the Beach Boys after 10 hours.
``Jim told me, `Coach, I don't know how much they liked the ride, but they got there safe and sound,' '' Dennison said. ``I told that story at the coaches clinic this spring.''
Within a few months, Tressel was tutoring UA's quarterbacks. After that first year, he was hired onto Dennison's staff and spent three more seasons with the Zips as an assistant.
``I told Jim to never change,'' Dennison said. ``He treats everyone well. That's why all the high school coaches like him so much.''
Lee Tressel coached at Baldwin-Wallace from 1958-80 with a 115-52-6 record and one Division III national championship. He died in 1981 at the age of 56 of lung cancer.
Jim Tressel will be 54 on Dec. 5.
He's much like his father and like Dennison. He never has coached with his eye on the next job.
Consider that Dennison worked at UA for 28 years, then at Walsh in North Canton for the past 12 years.
Jim Tressel spent 15 years at Youngstown State before taking the Ohio State job in 2001.
``If Ohio State hadn't come open, Jim would still be at Youngstown,'' Dennison said. ``That was the only job that he wanted. He turned down chances to go to other big schools. He never was caught up in being at the biggest school. He really is an old-fashioned coach; just do a good job where you are.''
Tressel won four I-AA national titles at Youngstown. Several Mid-American Conference schools, and Miami (Fla.) courted him. None could persuade him to leave Youngstown.
When Tressel was hired as the Buckeyes coach in 2001, one of the people whom he invited to attend the announcement was Dennison.
``I know some people don't believe when Jim talks about his team being a family and having an attitude of gratitude, but he's very sincere about that,'' Dennison said.
Jim Tressel has often said he learned this from his father: ``He cared about every player. He knew the most important thing the player was concerned with was if the coach cared about him.''
``That's Jim,'' Dennison said. ``Jim and I have a lot in common. Both of us know that the `Big Time' is where you are at the moment. You never look beyond that.''
And you always remember where you came from and who helped you along the way.
