Former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel last coached a college football game more than a decade ago, and in that time the NCAA landscape — not just in football — has changed more often than Oregon’s uniforms.
Of particular note is that student-athletes can be paid for their name, image and likeness (NIL) and can change schools as often (or more often) as they change their underwear.
Sometimes it stinks.
Tressel, who coached the Buckeyes to the 2002 national championship and Youngstown State to four I-AA titles, supports NIL and player transfers, but worries the transfer portal could negatively impact a player’s future.
“Going through tough times is what builds you up,” Tressel said recently in a conversation with Cameron Heyward of the Pittsburgh Steelers in an episode of Tressel’s For Jim Tressel it’s all about the TEAM Podcasts.
Heyward nodded in agreement when Tressel suggested (correctly) that players had left schools and would continue to do so if they did not show up on the field immediately.
This was rarely the case when Tressel was on the bench. Players could transfer but had to sit out a season before being allowed to play for a new team unless they moved to a lower league.
Want to move from Nebraska to Oklahoma? See you next year. From Nebraska to Southern Illinois? See you in the fall!
COLUMBUS, OH – NOVEMBER 20: Head coach Jim Tressel talks with wide receiver Santonio Holmes #4 of the Ohio State Buckeyes during a break in play against the Michigan Wolverines on November 20, 2004 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State defeated Michigan 37-21. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Ohio State hired Tressel as head coach in 2001
Brian Hartline, Ohio State’s current co-offensive coordinator and recruiting expert who played under Coach Tress, is one player Tressel believes has benefited from the tough times. not have the option of the transfer portal.
“I remember Brian (Hartline) coming into my office and saying, ‘Coach, I should play. You can’t give me a redshirt,'” Tressel Heyward said of the then-freshman receiver at Ohio State.
Tressel continued: “I said, ‘No, Brian. You missed your senior year (of high school), you had a broken leg. But you’re going to be a really good player.’ ‘No, coach, I’m better than those (other guys on the roster),'” Tressel recalled Hartline saying.
“You’re better than (future Super Bowl-winning wide receiver) Santonio Holmes,” Tressel asked Hartline. “You’re better than Teddy Ginn? You’re better than Anthony Gonzalez? You’re better than Brian Robiskie?”
Hartline, who played seven NFL seasons, insisted he was better than any of the players Tressel mentioned.
Jim Tressel worries about the NCAA transfer portal
“If there had been a transfer portal back then,” Tressel told Heyward, “B-Hart would have left.”
With the portal not an option, Tressel did what he felt was best for both Hartline and the program, giving the confident freshman a redshirt while encouraging him to continue working hard and getting better.
In the end it paid off.
“He became a great receiver and played in the NFL. Now he’s the offensive coordinator,” Tressel added.
The former coach, along with Heyward, questioned whether Hartline would have developed into the receiver he is today if he had been able to move from school to school every time he was unhappy with the number of targets or playing time in a week or season, like today’s college athletes. He also noted that Hartline was not selfish, but simply confident.
“I worry that we’re not going to give the kids the opportunity to grow,” added Coach Tressel. “Through hardship. Through tough times. But I’m glad the players are finally getting the opportunity to share in the accomplishments that college football has produced.”
13 years after we left Columbus, it is still obvious that the West knows best.
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