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Tressel brings spirit of optimism to Austintown Optimist’s Club event
By Justin Wier
AUSTINTOWN
Youngstown State University President Jim Tressel was optimistic about the Mahoning Valley’s future at an event hosted by the Austintown Optimist’s Club.
When asked if he had exceeded expectations as university president, Tressel said, “I think about the opportunities here, and I don’t think we’ve scratched the surface.”
Wednesday night’s event was billed as “A Night with Jim” and took place at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish Center. Bob Hannon, president of United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, served as moderator for the town-hall style discussion.
While it was advertised as a college-planning event, the wide-ranging discussion touched on Tressel’s career coaching football and the region’s future.
Hannon, who provides play-by-play commentary for YSU football games, asked Tressel about the similarities between coaching a football team and running a university. “The university is just so much larger,” Tressel said. “And it’s just impossible to develop the relationships you can when it’s 150 people [involved with a football team].”
He said he spends more time engaging with the community and visiting high schools than the typical university president, but he’s drawing on skills developed recruiting players at YSU and Ohio State University.
“You have to do what you know how to do,” Tressel said. “It’s so much fun to be out with students.”
He also found time to reminisce about the first key win in his coaching career. He said YSU was 1-9 heading into a game at the University of Akron during his first season in 1989. They ended up “killing” Akron in a 40-39 victory, Tressel joked. The players responded by carrying him off the field.
“Do you know how embarrassing that is, being carried off the field when you’re 2-9?” he said. “I said, ‘Could you please put me down? I don’t want anyone to see me.’”
It’s important to find proof that something good can happen, he said.
Now, as president, Tressel sees even more opportunity for success at YSU. He said Youngstown is the “belt buckle of the tech belt” running from Cleveland to Pittsburgh, and there are 6.3 million people living within an hour’s radius of YSU’s campus – more than at any other state university.
He stressed the need for cooperation between Warren and Youngstown and said educators, businesses and the government need to find ways to work together.
He used the potential Mahoning Valley Innovation and Commercialization Center as an example of the type of development he would like to see.
“We can do spectacular things,” he said.