Thursday, January 18, 2001
Tressel may help Bucks in Ohio
Local coach: He won't let in-state talent get away
By Dave Schutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Count Hamilton High School coach Ed Mignery among the supporters of Jim Tressel, who accepted Ohio State's football coaching job Wednesday.
“I know Jim real well and have attended his summer clinics,” Mignery said of the former Youngstown State coach. “I'm tickled to death, because he's an Ohio guy who won't let the Ohio kids get away and go out of state.”
Mignery, whose son, Andy, plays at Michigan after he was not recruited by fired OSU coach John Cooper, said Cincinnati-area coaches who know Tressel will be excited.
“He's a first-class guy who relates well with kids,” Mignery said.
Buckeyes linebacker Jason Ott, an Elder graduate, was surprised Cooper hadn't been fired earlier by Ohio State.
“It was almost like Coach Cooper didn't have his heart in it the past couple years,” he said. “The assistants did all the coaching, and I wasn't surprised when he was let go.”
Ott won't be able to play for Tressel, despite having a year of eligibility remaining. He will skip next season because of a neck injury that will require surgery.
B.J. Sander, a sophomore kicker and punter at Ohio State and a Roger Bacon graduate, greeted the hiring of Tressel with uncertainty.
“Coach Tressel was at school today, but I didn't get to meet him,” Sander said. “I haven't heard a lot about him, and I don't know what to expect.”
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