Jim Tressel Named President at Youngstown State University in Unanimous Trustee Vote

Former Ohio State University head football coach Jim Tressel was voted unanimously to be the next president at Youngstown State University (YSU).

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the YSU Board of Trustees voted unanimously in favor of Tressel, who accepted the job in principle. Before being named president, Tressel was the executive vice president for student success at the University of Akron (UA).

"After fully examining each and every candidate and reviewing the input from hundreds of individuals across the campus and the community, the Board of Trustees believes Mr. Tressel is the right individual at the right time to lead Youngstown State University," BoT chair Sudershan Garg said in a press release. "Mr. Tressel has the personality and leadership skills, in addition to widespread community support, to dramatically raise YSU's profile and prominence across Ohio and the nation."

Tressel was also a finalist for the vacant president position at UA, but that job was given Thursday to Scott Scarborough, the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Toledo. It is unclear if Tressel withdrew his name from consideration or not.

YSU was the last head football coaching job Tressel had before heading to Ohio State. He coached at YSU from 1986 to 2000 and at Ohio State from 2001 to 2010 before becoming a consultant to the Indianapolis Colts in 2011. He has since indicated he does not plan to coach football again.

Tressel resigned from his head coaching job at Ohio State amid major NCAA rule violations which he lied about having knowledge of.
YSU's previous president, Randy Dunn, resigned after seven months to take the same position at Southern Illinois University. After a fast tracked search, Tressel's name was immediately accepted in the YSU community and he accepted the nomination.

Tressel wrote in his application letter, "While admittedly this is a very busy time in my professional life, it seems only right to see if the time and fit is right for the Tressels at Youngstown State."