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Hello and welcome to another edition of Cus Words Sports!
Today we have the third edition of a series looking back at Jim Tressel’s first season as head coach of Ohio State football.
In case you missed it, we reviewed the day he was hired in the first edition then set the scene for his first spring football practice last week.
This time around, we’re taking a closer look at the process of installing Tressel’s offense in the spring of 2001.
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The headline of Buckeye Sports Bulletin for April 14, 2021 was, “Offense Heads in New Direction.”
But what direction would that be?
It wasn’t initially clear.
Some dared to dream big. Would the small-school coach come in and shake things up significantly?
After all, Northwestern and Purdue shared the 2000 Big Ten title with Michigan thanks to very different strains of the spread offense under coaches Randy Walker and Joe Tiller, respectively.
While Drew Brees set records as the quarterback for the Boilermakers’ “Basketball on Grass” passing attack, running back Damien Anderson carried the Wildcats to wins via a ground attack that relied on spreading out teams and slicing through the gaps that were created in their fronts.
Meanwhile, Ohio State was 40th in the country at 29.5 points per game, and that figure was inflated by seven non-offensive touchdowns.
The unit returned senior quarterback Steve Bellisari (for better or for worse), but the receiving corps would be all new (perhaps not a bad thing), as would the starting tailback. The offensive line would have some new faces, but it wasn’t very good in 2000 anyway.
So perhaps this was a good time to try something different?
Cue the head man:
“I’ve never been much of a revolutionary guy. There are certain fundamentals that are longstanding that have stood the test of time.”
OK, so that’s not a yes but not quite a no, either.
The quote, taken from the aforementioned issue of BSB, continues with another Tressel talking point that would be consistent throughout his tenure.
“Your offense has got to be in concert with your defense and special teams. It cannot be an entity of itself.”
OK, let’s put a pin in that one.
What about the running game?
“Certainly we have to run the football. The guys told me a statistic the other day. In the last 20 years or so, if we run the ball for 200 yards or more we’ve won 97 percent of the time. I like those odds.”
So that settles it. Welcome back, young Woody! Three yards and a cloud of dust is ready to make its return!
Well, not so fast.
“But in this day and age if you don’t throw the ball well, you’re not going to run it. You can forget about those 200 yards. If you’re not a good passing team, there will be a hundred guys up there in the box.”
Of course, we know now Tressel wouldn’t say it out loud even if he was planning to make big changes, but those were some potential useful cues…
Jim Tressel answers questions about his first spring practice at Ohio State (Photo courtesy Buckeye Sports Bulletin)
Early glimpses of Tressel’s OSU offense
The folks covering the 2001 Ohio State football team did have an advantage we do not today: All the spring practices were open not only to the media but even the general public.
What did they see? One-back sets, split backs, empty backfields and the shotgun (oh my!), though that did not mean the conversion to Purdue or Northwestern was underway.
A fullback remained part of the offense, as did the tight end, of course, but that did not mean everything would be the same as it was in the Cooper years, either.
The son of a successful college football coach in Northeast Ohio, Tressel grew up admiring Woody Hayes, and he was an assistant coach for Hayes’ successor, Earle Bruce, in the early 1980s.
One of Bruce’s quarterbacks once told me Bruce transitioned the offense “from the Ice Age to the Stone Age” after Hayes was fired in 1978, but Tressel had no intention of returning to a less advanced brand of offensive football: He just had to figure out what his personnel could do.
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Preliminary depth chart notes
Steve Bellisari returned after two years as the starting quarterback for Cooper, but would the inconsistent southpaw have to win the job all over again for a new coach?
Tressel wouldn’t say:
“The person that can make great decisions for this team, eliminates turnovers and makes plays will be our quarterback.”
Although two of those things had not really seemed like strengths for Bellisari in his first two seasons, Tressel noted his experience gave him an advantage over youngsters Craig Krenzel and Scott McMullen.
The coach also liked the leadership he saw from his senior signal-caller.
“He’s out in front of every pack. He’s there early and he stays late. He cares. He respects his teammates. He doesn’t try to step out into the limelight. He wants to stay in the shadows with the rest of the guys. From what I’ve seen so far, it’s been a joy to work with Steve Bellisari.”
What about the rest of the offense?
At tailback, senior Jonathan Wells was the heir apparent to Derek Combs, but he had to hold off sophomores Sammy Maldonado, one of the most highly-touted members of the recruiting class of 2000, and Jesse Kline, who starred at nearby Upper Arlington High School.
Maldonado was also to get a look at fullback, where Jamar Martin returned as a starter and Nate Stead and Branden Joe were also in the mix.
Receiver was a blank slate essentially for coach Joe Daniels after the departure of Ken-Yon Rambo and Reggie Germany. That allowed a newcomer — junior college transfer Chris Vance — to step to the forefront. The 6-2 Florida native made several impressive plays during early open practices. Also in the mix were sophomores Michael Jenkins, Drew Carter, Maurice Lee and Ricky Bryant along with redshirt freshman John Hollins.
On the flip side, tight end was a position with experience but little depth. Darnell Sanders was a returning starter with sophomore Ben Hartsock and redshirt freshman Jason Caldwell vying for time behind him.
What about the offensive line? Standout LeCharles Bentley returned at center with Adrien Clarke back at left tackle. Tyson Walter hoped to jump back into the mix after starting at left tackle in 1998 and ’99 but missing the 2000 season with a hip infection. The rest was to be determined, but sophomores Shane Olivea, Bryce Bishop, Ivan Douglas and Alex Stepanovich and seniors Mike Jacobs and Jim Massey were among the candidates.
And what can we conclude from all this?
If you followed the Tressel years, you likely remember what happened next.
The Buckeyes did open it up at times under Tressel — particularly 2006 — but they were certainly more prone to leaning on the defense and special teams when push came to shove.
“Tresselball” became a term for Ohio State’s style of play in those years, a practice defined by running the ball, playing it safe with the passing game, embracing the kicking game and playing sound defense for a reason: That’s what they did.
And it brings us back to those quotes from the beginning of this newsletter.
Tressel was not “a revolutionary,” but he was rigidly devoted to following this principle: “Your offense has got to be in concert with your defense and special teams. It cannot be an entity of itself.”
That is actually what would go on to determine how his teams played. Whatever his team’s strengths were, he was happy to lean on them.
Was it coincidence they were typically better on defense?
That is a debate for another day and something I’m sure we will further explore in future newsletters, but the bottom line is that is how it worked out.
Tressel was not one to go against the tide if he didn’t have to.
Fortunately, Ohio State provides many advantages and resources that allow a coach to do what he wants to do and craft the type of team he wants to have.
