Former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel is set to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a member of the 2015 class, the National Football Foundation announced Friday morning.
Tressel, along with four other members of the 2015 induction class will be present for the coin toss at the first ever College Football Playoff National Championship Game between the Buckeyes and Oregon Ducks.
Tressel, who coached at OSU from 2001-10, compiled a record of 229-78-2 in 24 years as head coach of OSU and Youngstown State, the latter of which he is currently university president.
The Mentor, Ohio native’s 94 wins at OSU ranks him third in school history.
The height of Tressel’s coaching career came in the 2002 season, when OSU upset the University of Miami in the Fiesta Bowl to cap off a perfect 14-0 season and the Buckeyes’ seventh national championship and first since 1970.
OSU made two additional national championship appearances under Tressel but were defeated in back-to-back years by Urban Meyer’s Florida Gators, followed by a 38-24 loss to Louisiana State University. Overall, Tressel had a 6-4 record in bowl games at OSU. He also developed a reputation for dominating Michigan, going 9-1 against the Wolverines.
However, he resigned following the “Tattoo-Gate” scandal prior to the 2011 season. As a result of the violations, OSU vacated all 12 of its wins from the 2010 season including a Sugar Bowl win over Arkansas and a win over Michigan.
Tressel also enjoyed a great deal of success at Youngstown State prior to being hired by OSU. His Penguins won 135 games, including four Division I-AA championships, in 15 seasons with Tressel at the helm.
Tressel joins Kansas State coach Bill Snyder, as well as 15 players, including former Texas running back Ricky Williams, in the 2015 Hall of Fame class. He also joins his late father, former Baldwin-Wallace coach Lee Tressel, who was inducted in 1996.
