TRESSEL RECALLS YSU's GLORY OF ’90s

By JUSTIN WIER

jwier@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Tressel reflects on YSU championships

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YSU President Jim Tressel sat down to reflect on his national championships during the 90's.

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 5-2 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.

“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.”

MEASURED REACTIONS

People have commented on the lack of attendance at YSU playoff games this year, but Tressel said that was the case in 1991 as well.

“We didn’t quite get the crowd that we thought being in the playoffs would warrant,” Tressel said.

Fewer than 100 people traveled to that year’s championship game, Tressel said. This year, YSU allotted 1,000 tickets for the fans – a number Tressel said seemed reasonable based on playoff attendance – and they went fast.

An additional 125 tickets obtained for student travel packages sold out in 45 minutes. The university has 1,600 people registered for a tailgate before Saturday’s game, which Tressel plans to attend.

Later in the ’90s, attendance increased for Tressel’s teams as the Penguins kept winning, he said. He thinks the excitement around this year’s championship game offers an opportunity to get some of that enthusiasm back.

“Consistency of excellence is what it’s all about,” Tressel said.

It’s been 10 years – 2006 – since YSU last qualified for the playoffs. “That’s an entire generation,” Tressel said.

People get excited when teams are winning and getting headlines, he said, and it’s not as natural to be enthusiastic for a team that continually misses out on the playoffs.

Back in the ’90s, the city had suffered tremendous loss in the decade before the championship. Steel mills shut down and people began leaving Youngstown in droves. Tressel said it was wonderful to bring something positive to the city.

“The town sorely wanted something to grab onto,” he said. “And it was a good time for YSU football to really grab a hold of the hearts of the community.”

the ’90s again?

Tressel said the sweatshirts, T-shirts and talk surrounding the team remind him of the ’90s, but he’s hesitant to predict another run like the team experienced under his leadership.

“I think the worst thing we can do would be to say, ‘OK, this is going to be just like the ’90s.’ That’s hard, especially if you’re not thinking about today.” Tressel said.

He said the current team has a confidence and resolve under coach Bo Pelini, whom he praised for building on what previous coaches Jon Heacock and Eric Wolford had established. Tressel said James Madison is very good as well, which has him anticipating a good game.

But if the team wants to recapture the magic from the ’90s, Tressel said it’s imperative it focus on one game at a time.

“If we focus on the moment for a decade, someday we might be able to say, ‘this was just like the ’90s,’” Tressel said. “But we have to do it moment by moment.”