As he begins his seventh year at Ohio State, Jim Tressel has elevated an already storied program to even greater heights. Since taking over the reins of the Ohio State football team in 2001, Tressel has guided the Buckeyes to an overall record of 62-14, six bowl appearances, including four BCS games, four 10-win seasons, three Big Ten titles and one national championship.

Four of Tressel’s teams have finished their seasons in the top five in the national polls, including the 2006 team which posted a 12-1 record and finished second. He is 4-2 in bowl games and has a 3-1 record in BCS games. On two separate occasions Tressel’s teams have recorded 19-consecutive victories. He is 5-1 against Michigan in one of the most storied rivalries in college football.

Since coming to Ohio State, Tressel, who celebrated his 54th birthday on Dec. 5, has fashioned a record of 25-8 against ranked teams and an 8-3 mark against top 10 teams. He is a master in close games, posting a 4-1 record in overtime at OSU and going 19-9 in games decided by a touchdown or less. He is 30-10 in Big Ten play, including a perfect 8-0 mark in 2006 when the Buckeyes captured their first outright conference title since 1984.

Tressel, who owns an overall record of 197-71-2 in 21 years as a head coach, was named as the Buckeyes’ 22nd head coach on Jan. 18, 2001. His original five-year contract was extended through 2008 following the 2002 season, and he was given a new five-year contract at the end of the 2005 campaign that runs through 2012.

Tressel led his first Ohio State squad to a 7-5 record that included a dramatic road win over Michigan in the regular-season finale.

In 2002, Ohio State literally came from out of nowhere to capture the Big Ten’s first consensus national title since 1968. The Buckeyes achieved the elusive title by posting a 13-0 regular-season record and then upsetting top-ranked Miami in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in a 31-24 double-overtime thriller, becoming the first Division I-A school to record a 14-0 campaign. The win snapped the Hurricane’s 34-game winning streak.

Tressel was showered with accolades following the 2002 campaign. He was named National Coach of the Year by the America Football Coaches Association (an award he won three times at Division I-AA Youngstown State), thus becoming the first person in the history of the AFCA to win that honor at two different schools. He also received the Eddie Robinson National Coach 0f the Year Award from the Football Writers Association of America. Tressel was selected as the Bobby Dodd and the Paul “Bear” Bryant National Coach of the Year. He also waa the choice of the Touchdown Club of Columbus and the Pigskin Club of Washington D.C. as National Coach of the Year.

During the 2003 season, Tressel led the Buckeyes to an 11-2 record and the second consecutive appeatance in a BCS bowl game, where OSU defeated Big XII champion Kansas State in a return visit to the desert and the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

Despite the loss of 28 seniors and a record 14 players who were drafted by the NFL at the end of the 2003 campaign, Tressel guided the 2004 Buckeyes to an 8-4 record that included a win over Michigan in the regular-season finale and a victory over Oklahoma State in the MasterCard Alamo Bowl.

With the win over Oklahoma State (the Buckeyes’ third consecutive bowl victory), Tressel recorded his fortieth victory at Ohio State, becoming just the fifth Buckeye coach to reach that plateau.

In 2005, the Buckeyes posted a 10-2 mark and tied for the Big Ten title with a 7-1 slate. They closed out the season with back- to-back wins over Michigan and Notre Dame and were fourth in the final polls.

In 2006, Ohio State opened the season at No. 1 in both the Associated Press and the USA Today/Coaches polls and held that ranking throughout the course of the year. In posting a 12-0 record during the regular season, Ohio State recorded wins over Texas and Michigan, both of which were ranked No. 2 at the time they played the Buckeyes. Ohio State was the first team in history to achieve a perfect score in the BCS rankings and the first team to go wire-to-wire at the top spot each week.

Seventeen of Tressel’s players have won first-team All-American honors and seven — center LeCharles Bentley (2001 Rimington Trophy), punter B.J. Sander (2003 Ray Guy Award), placekicker Mike Nugent (2004 Lou Groza Award), linebacker A. J. Hawk (2005 Lombardi Award), linebacker James Laurinaitis (2006 Nagurski Award), defensive lineman Joel Penton (200fi Wuerffel Award) and quarterback Troy Smith (Heisman Trophy, Davey O’Brien Award and Walter Camp Award in 2006) - have won major individual awards.

Tressel’s players also have fared well in the classroom, annually leading the Big Ten in academic all-conference picks. At the conclusion of the 2003 season, quarterback Craig Krenzel — a molecular geoteries major — was named as the Academic All-American of the Year and received the prestigious Draddy Award from the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame. Three Ohio State players were named so the 2006 CoSIDA Academic All-America team.

Prior to coming to Ohio State, Tressel spent 15 seasons as the head coach at Youngstown State, where he also served for a period of time as Athletics Director, Tressel was one of the most respected Division I-AA coaches in America. His years there were ripe with success, the Penguins winning four national championships and qualifying for the Division I-AA playoffs a remarkable 10 times. During his stay at YSU, he compiled an overall record of 135-57-2 and was a four-time pick as the Division I-AA National Coach of the Year.

But making the jump to Ohio State was not a difficult decision for Tressel. His Buckeye roots run deep.

His father, the late Lee Tressel, played, albeit briefly, at Ohio State before his promising collegiate career was cut short by World War II. As a youth, Jim grew up shagging balls for Cleveland Browns’ great Lou “The Toe” Groza who also attended Ohio Stare. Both the elder Tressel, who would go on to become a coaching legend at Baldwin Wallace College in northeastern Ohio, and Groza, a family friend and neighbor, were lifelong Ohio State fans, a feeling not lost on the younger Tressel.

That bond grew even stronger in 1983 when Jim, in the infancy of his own coaching career, was named quarterbacks and receivers coach at Ohio State. During a memorable three-year stay in Columbus, the Buckeyes won 27 games, captured the 1984 Big Ten Championship and played in the Fiesta, Rose and Citrus bowls.

Following the 1985 season, Tressel, at age 33, left Ohio State to become head coach at Youngstown State. In addition to capturing four national titles, the Penguins also appeared in two other championship games.

Five of Tressel’s teams won 12 or more games in a season, including his 1994 championship squad, which fashioned a 14-0-1 record. His 1991, ‘92, ‘93 and ‘94 teams all played in the national championship tilt, becoming just the second Division I-AA school to make four-consecutive appearances in the title game.

Tressel was selected as the I-AA National Coach of the Year in 1991,93,94 and ‘97. ‘When he left Youngstown State, he was the second-most successful coach in school history, trailing only Dwight “Dike” Beede, who amassed 147 wins in a 32-year span.

Tressel also was deeply involved in the Youngstown community taking an active leadership role in a number of key civic issues and working extensively with Ronald McDonald’s Children’s Charities and the Salvation Army. His genuine concern for the people of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley area made him a community icon.

Tressel’s coaching staff reflects his personality and shares his believe and values. It is a diverse group with a wide range of coaching experience and expertise. More than anything else, however, it is a group dedicated to the well-being of Ohio State’s student-athletes.

Tressel was born in Mentor, Ohio, where his father reeled off 34-consecutive wins as a high school coach before becoming the head coach at Massillon High School. But he spent most of his childhood in Berea, more often than not accompanying his father to football practices and games at Baldwin Wallace.

Tressel graduated from Berea High School in 1971. He played for his father at Baldwin Wallace, earning four letters at quarterback and winning all-conference honors as a senior in 1974. He graduated cum laude in 1975 with a degree in education.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Jim embarked upon his coaching career in the fall of 1975 as a graduate assistant at Akron. He remained at Akron through the 1978 season, serving in a full-time capacity his last three years as coach of the quarterbacks, receivers and running backs. While at Akron, he earned his master’s degree.

Tressel spent the 1979 and ‘80 seasons as quarterbacks and receivers coach at Miami of Ohio. He left the “Cradle of Coaches” in 1981 to become the quarterbacks coach at Syracuse, where he remained for two years before returning to his home state in 1983 as a member of Earle Bruce’s Ohio State staff.

In Tressel’s first year at Ohio State, the Buckeyes posted a 9-3 record and defeated Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl. OSU scored the winning touchdown on a 39-yard pass from quarterback Mike Tomczak to split end Thad Jemison with 39 seconds left in the game. Nor a bad way for the Buckeyes’ new quarterbacks and receivers coach to begin his stay in Columbus.

In 1984 and ‘85, Tressel was given the added responsibility of coaching the Buckeyes’ running backs. The ‘84 team won the Big Ten and played in the Rose Bowl, and Tressel protégé, junior tailback Keith Byars, finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting. In 1985, the Buckeyes defeated BYIJ in the Florida Citrus Bowl.

Tressel’s departure for Youngstown State at the end of the 1985 campaign came as no surprise. Widely regarded as one of the up-and-coming young assistant coaches in college football, he had paid his dues and was ready for the next step. Still, the transition to head coach was not easy. Tressel’s first team lost its first four games and finished with a 2-9 record. His first win as a college coach came against Tennessee Tech, Oct. 11, in Youngstown. The score was 30-6.

But from that humble beginning, Tressel built a powerhouse.

In 1987, the second-year coach guided the Penguins to an 8-4 record and their first appearance in the Division I-AA playoffs. YSU won the Ohio Valley Conference tide this year and Tressel was named OVC Coach of the Year.

In 1989, the Penguins began an incredible run of six-consecutive playoff appearances, winning three national championships and playing in four-consecutive tide games between 1991 and 1994.

Tressel’s first national crown came in 1991, when the Penguins defeated Marshall, 25-17, in the championship game. As a result of that victory, Jim and his dad (who died in 1981) became the only father-sod-son combination in college football to win national championships (Lee Tressel woo the 1978 Division III crown at Baldwin Wallace).

The Penguins lost a rematch with Marshall the following year, but won the rubber game with the Thundering Herd in 1993 for their second I-AA title in three years. They then made it three-out-of-four in 1994 with a 28-14 win over Boise State. Tressel’s fourth national title came in 1997, when the Penguins defeated McNeese State, 10-9, in the championship game. Youngstown State also played for the title in 1999, but lost to Georgia Southern in the finals.

In 2000, Tressel kicked off the millennium on a successful note by guiding his team to a 9-3 record and its 10th appearance in the playoffa. As it turned out, that was his last season atYoungstown State. But because of the positive impact he had on the school and the community; his many fans in Youngstown continue to follow his career at Ohio State.

Tressel’s list of accolades includes being selected as the Chevrolet National Coach of the Year in 1993, ‘94 and ‘97; the American R,nehnil Conche5 Asnociasion National Coach of the Year in 1991, ‘94 and 2002; and the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year in 1994 and 2002. He also was the AFCAs Regional Coach of the Year in 1987 and ‘93 and a seven-time pick as Ohio Coach of the Year. He was selected as the latter in 2006.

In a career filled with highlights, Tressel recorded his 100th career victory against Indiana State in 1997. He is the third member of his family to reach that plateau, joining his father and his older brother, Dick (currendy the OSU running backs coach), who coached at Hamline University in Minnesota. Jim recorded his 150th win when Ohio State defeated Wisconsin in 2002. With the win over Michigan in 2002, he equaled his father’s total at Baldwin-Wallace. As a family, Lee, Jim and Dick have won 476 games.

Jim is actively involved with the American Football Coaches Association, the Fellowship of ChristiaisAdsletes, AlphaTau Omega and The Ohio State University Medical Center, particularly the RichardM. Ross Heart Hospital; and the William Oxley Thompson Library.

He and his wife, Ellen, who is a graduate of Youngstown State, live in nearby Upper Arlington. They are the parents of four children: Zak, Carlee, Eric and Whitney.