So, Jim Tressel, one of the winningest coaches in Ohio State Buckeyes' history, is going to be the new lieutenant governor of Ohio.
Assuming the Ohio Senate confirms him, which it likely will.
Now the question is this: Could the 72-year-old Republican be a candidate next year to replace Gov. Mike DeWine, the term-limited governor who appointed him?
I would not be surprised, even though Tressel has passed on running for office in the past — specifically, for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat in 2018.
On Monday, in his Statehouse press conference with DeWine, he described himself as something of a babe-in-the-woods in the land of politics and government.
"I don't know this world,” Tressel told reporters. “Fortunately, I believe in our governor and what he believes in. And my first job is to go to school on that."
But he did not and likely will not rule out the idea of running for governor.
It would make no sense for him to do so. Why slam a door shut that is just opening?
Who else is running for Ohio governor?
The picture for Ohio’s 2026 gubernatorial election is somewhat muddled right now.
On the Republican side, there is Attorney General Dave Yost, who has already announced his candidacy. The number of emails coming from his official office have gone through the roof since he announced.
Then there is billionaire entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. He was passed over by DeWine for appointment to JD Vance’s Senate seat in favor of Jon Husted, DeWine’s former lieutenant governor (which is how Tressel got the job).
Now, Ramaswamy, a very far right-wing figure who, during his short-lived presidential campaign suggested the FBI be abolished and that the voting age should be raised, is saying he may run for governor of Ohio.
Ramaswamy’s short-lived 2023 presidential campaign was a blip — after netting 7.7% of the Iowa caucus vote, he dropped out and endorsed Trump.
In short, there may be room for another candidate in the 2026 GOP gubernatorial primary.
Why Tressel?
DeWine said he choose Tressel because he's previously consulted Tressel about universities and educational matters. “I want someone who would focus on education, someone who would focus on workforce," DeWine said Monday.
But, there is another draw for Tressel.
There is no way to overestimate the power of Ohio State Buckeyes football in the dozens of small rural counties of Ohio — counties that are fire engine red to the core.
From Coshocton County in the east to Van Wert County in the west and every little county in between, college football fans bleed the Buckeyes’ scarlet and gray.
Way back during the 1976 presidential campaign, when I was just a young pup of a reporter, I witnessed just how strong a pull Ohio State football has in the world of Ohio politics, on the tarmac of Port Columbus Airport.
President Gerald Ford, locked in a tough race for the presidency with Jimmy Carter, flew into Port Columbus on Air Force One for an event.
Standing at the bottom of the Air Force One stairway to greet Ford were three people, in this order: then-Ohio Gov. Jim Rhodes, Columbus Mayor Tom Moody and, finally, the most legendary Ohio State football coach of them all, Woody Hayes.
Ford — a former football player at Ohio State’s arch-rival, the Michigan Wolverines — came down the steps and brushed past Rhodes and Moody with nary a howdy-do and embraced Woody, slapping him on the back and pumping his hand.
Woody was the only one who really mattered to Jerry Ford.
During his long tenure as coach of the Buckeyes, Hayes’ teams beat the hated Michiganders 16 times — a record that cemented his place as an Ohio State football god.
And seated at the right hand of Woody Hayes in Buckeye lore is Tressel, who had a 9-1 record against the Wolverines.
Tressel’s tenure at Ohio State, which ran from 2001 to 2011, came to a bad end when he resigned after a scandal involving players who received free tattoos from a booster.
In an age of college players receiving NIL money, it may seem quaint, but in those days receiving money or gifts was against NCAA rules.
Tressel left Columbus, and after a brief stint working for the Indianapolis Colts, became president of Youngstown State University where he coached football before Ohio State. He retired from Youngstown State in 2023.
Buckeye fans didn’t seem to care a whit about the tattoo scandal.
What they did care about was his 14-0 national title run in 2002 and that 9-1 record against Michigan.
I can remember a time when Woody Hayes would have been elected governor of Ohio by a landslide.
Maybe Jim Tressel will do what Woody chose not to do. But only if he decides that he wants it; and that’s anyone’s guess now.
Times have changed, but Buckeye Country remains the same. And more red than ever.
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