YSU president recalls his first championship team as Penguins head back to final contest

YOUNGSTOWN

When the Youngstown State football team returned to the city after its national championship win in 1991, Jim Tressel, the team’s coach, remembers 10,000 people greeting the team at the airport in Vienna.

After that victory, Tressel led YSU to three more national championships – in 1993, 1994 and 1997. He also coached Ohio State to a national title in 2002.

Still, the community reaction to his first victory at YSU stands out.

“I never saw anything like it before,” Tressel said. “And I never saw anything like it after. ... That reaction was something special.”

The Penguins will play James Madison University in the FCS national championship game in Frisco, Texas, on Saturday.

A month or two before the 1991 victory, nobody was expecting much from the team. Tressel coached YSU to an undefeated season in 1990, but they lost in the first round of the playoffs. They started the 1991 season with a 4-3 record. He recalled traveling to Georgia Southern University for the eighth game of the season.

“We were against the wall and [facing] the defending champs knowing we had to win or there were no playoffs this year,” he said.

Tressel sees some similarities between the 1991 national championship team and this year’s team. YSU also began this season 4-3.

“It didn’t look like a shoo-in, and now we’re here playing for the national championship,” said Tressel, who is in the midst of his third year as YSU president. “We’re at the point where we can play with anyone and we can handle anything.”

Read more of his memories in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.