Posted on 03/08/2003 10:59:45 AM PST by anncoulteriscool
Tressel shares credit for national coaching award Dodd Award officials: We’ve never had a more worthy winner
By Doug Harris
e-mail address: doug_harris@coxohio.com
Dayton Daily News
COLUMBUS | When a selection panel thumbed through the list of candidates for the Bobby Dodd national coach of the year award last December, one profile jumped out.
A check into the backgrounds of all the nominees revealed that Ohio State had 46 players sporting grade-point averages of 3.0 or better. The stout effort in the classroom — coupled with a glittering 13-0 regular-season record — made coach Jim Tressel an easy choice even before the Fiesta Bowl victory.
"If you go back and look at Miami and some of the previous national champions, only a handful have that kind of (academic) record," said Bobby Dodd Foundation board member Kim King, who presented Tressel with the trophy at a luncheon here Wednesday.
King was a quarterback at Georgia Tech in the 1960s under the late Dodd, who was a beloved father figure to his players and is one of college football's all-time greatest coaches.
The Atlanta-based organization has been handing out awards for 27 years, but King said: "I don't think we've had a more worthy winner. . . . He embodies the values that coach Dodd was all about."
Tressel, though, doesn't think he deserves to take all the bows.
"If Craig Krenzel doesn't make that throw or Matt Wilhelm doesn't make that tackle or (assistant coach) Mark Dantonio doesn't make that adjustment or (athletics director) Andy Geiger doesn't give me a chance to be here or my wife doesn't give me a chance to work 18 hours a day — there are so many realities in having an opportunity to be seated next to (the Dodd trophy)," he said.
Awards banquets and speaking engagements have filled Tressel's schedule since the Jan. 3 Fiesta Bowl. He's been too busy even to watch a tape of the game.
The time away from coaching has left him a little uneasy.
"Those 12 teams Mr. Geiger scheduled for next year don't care who the Bobby Dodd coach of the year was," Tressel said. "They're going to come after us."
Tressel took a coaching class as a student at Baldwin-Wallace and studied Dodd. But the conservative Tressel admitted he hasn't applied everything the old master preached about quarterback play.
"One of the things he said was, ‘Don't run a line plunge on 3rd-and-15,’ ” Tressel recalled. "I think I've violated that a couple times and then turned around and punted."
Keeping his pledge
Tressel said he plans to keep a promise to his players to wear his hair in braids, but he isn't saying when.
"It's like, when are we going to throw?" he said coyly. "I'm not going to tell you when we're going to throw or when we're going to fake a field goal. But the commitment will be kept."
Asked if the public will see the new look, he said: "No, it wasn't a public commitment."
Large crowd expected
General-admission tickets for the April 26 OSU spring game cost $5 and go on sale Monday at the Schottenstein Center and via the Web at www.hangonsloopy.com.
The contest never has drawn more than about 55,000 fans, but OSU has printed 80,000 tickets this year. "I'll be stunned if we don't get 65,000," sports information director Steve Snapp said.
Contact Doug Harris at 225-2125 or doug_harris@coxohio.com
Thats oretty impressive...i know that the more cynical will say oh i bet they took hip-hop appreciation 101 or something like that. Still, having almost half your team with a B average is pretty good.
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