In Defense of Jim Tressel

I'm a little late on this post but I figured now is as a good time as any to address coach expectations at the big programs. I just wish I had written this last week before USC lost to Washington.

After Ohio State blew a winnable game against USC last Saturday, there was a lot of criticism of Jim Tressel. I expect irrational fan outbursts after a disappointing loss but even some of my favorite bloggers were rather quick to pick up their pitchforks and torches. Now I'm not saying that Tressel doesn't deserve criticism for the loss. Tressel was conservative when he should have been aggressive (not going for it on 4th and 1 at the goal line, punting to USC from the USC 37 prior to USC's game-winning TD drive) and aggressive when he should have been conservative (passing near the end of the first half), and although Chris Brown's sentiment was extreme, his analysis was spot-on.

All that said, what Jim Tressel has done throughout his tenure at Ohio State is remarkable. He is 85-20 in 8 years and has won or tied for 5 Big 10 titles in that span. And oh yeah, he won a national title too. The problem for Tressel is that he is a victim of his own success. Because OSU has lost a lot of high-profile games, too many are quick to dismiss the fact that Tressel never loses the little games, barring a home loss to Illinois in 2007. And as witnessed by USC's seemingly annual loss in a game in which they are heavily favored, this feat is not as easy as it might seem. We like to think that the favorites should always win, but for various reasons, they don't.

The best coaching comparison for Tressel is Bob Stoops. When Bob Stoops took over in Oklahoma, the team had gone just 12-22 in the previous 3 seasons under John Blake. Yet in just his second year, Stoops won a national title. But with some recent bowl losses and two national championship game defeats including one embarrassing blowout, a la Tressel, Stoops has been subject to a lot of undue criticism while not properly being praised for getting his teams into the position to win national championships in the first place. If it was that easy to win at Oklahoma, why did John Blake fail so miserably? The same questions could be asked of Ron Zook at Florida, Paul Hackett at USC, John Mackovic at Texas, or John Cooper at Ohio State, for while these coaches experienced varying degrees of success, they never made it look as easy as their successors have.

My ultimate point is this: by any standards of success, what Tressel has done this decade ranks only behind Pete Carroll at USC and Urban Meyer at Florida, with Mack Brown at Texas and Bob Stoops at Oklahoma as his peers. I'm not saying that Tressel should be above criticism. But his accomplishments over the last eight years are remarkable and should be seen in that light, whatever disappointments there have been along the way.