Ohio State plans to hold a pep rally for the 2002 national champion Buckeye football team at Ohio Stadium on Jan. 18 at 1 p.m., according to local media.
“I can confirm nothing at this point. Nothing has been finalized, I cannot stress that enough,” said Mike Brown, spokesman for Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman, at 6 p.m. yesterday.
Coleman met with members of the university yesterday to announce the rally at the Horseshoe, according to local media. Plans for any sort of celebration were slow, as both football coach Jim Tressel and athletics director Andy Geiger were out of town.
Initial plans have the team running out of the tunnel — as they do for home games — and showing video clips of the Buckeyes’ 31-24 double overtime win over the Miami Hurricanes on Friday.
The Schottenstein Center — because it is indoors and warm — was mentioned as a possible site for the celebration, but those plans were scrapped because it will not have enough room for the expected number of fans.
Members of University Relations did not respond to Lantern phone calls.
This most recent national championship was the first consensus title for the Buckeyes since 1968. OSU started this season on Aug. 24 with a win over Texas Tech. The squad went on to an unprecendented 14-0, record including a 14-9 wins over archrival Michigan and the double overtime against the Hurricanes.
Tressel, who is in his second year as the Buckeyes’ head coach, is up for the Eddie Robinson Award, which is given to the nation’s best college football coach. That awards ceremony will take place on Jan. 9 in Tempe, Ariz. — the site of the Buckeyes championship-clinching win.
