Since Jim Tressel was forced to resign as head coach of the Ohio State football team on Memorial Day, two different camps have formed.
The biggest camp thinks Tressel should have lost his job, says Tressel is a liar, cheater, destroyed his own integrity, as well as the integrity of Ohio State, the Big Ten, and college football. This group has had a lot of prominent supporters in the media and has had no trouble getting their voice heard.
The second group is smaller, but just as passionate. They are mostly Ohio State fans. This group views Tressel as a great man who found himself in a bad situation, got in too deep trying to protect his players, and made some mistakes. They view the good that Tressel has done for The Ohio State University, Columbus, the State of Ohio, and America over the years as greater than the mistakes he made. This group thinks Tressel got a raw deal as Ohio State did not show the loyalty to Tressel that Tressel showed to his players.
Chances are you have heard mostly from the first group. They have a voice. They have sports reporters who can simply dismiss anyone from group two as being an OSU homer. The problem for group two was they lacked any real voice.
On Thursday in Chicago they found their voice, ironically coming from That State Up North.
No, not That School Up North, but the State.
“He becomes a tragic hero in my respect, in my view. Usually tragic heroes have the ability to rise above it all in the end and that's what I'll look for in the end,” said Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio using some of the strongest language of any public figure in support of Tressel.
“(Tressel’s) done a lot of good for college football. Every person he's come in contact with as a player and a coach, he's made a positive impact on their lives,” Dantonio said.
Dantonio called Tressel his mentor since 1983, when both were assistant coaches with the Buckeyes. Dantonio would go on to serve as a Defensive coordinator under Tressel at Youngstown State from 1986 to 1990 and at Ohio State from 2001 to 2003.
Dantonio described the Tressel situation as being, “Very heart wrenching for me and my family because we're close to Coach Tres.”
On Friday, Dantonio said he knew he would be criticized for his comments, but he had been criticized before so that was nothing new.
And Dantonio was criticized, perhaps most noticeably by University of Michigan football color analyst Jim Brandstatter who tweeted, “Sorry...but tragic hero remark about Tressel is wrong on a lot of levels.”
Brandstatter continued, “When is lying to your boss, to the NCAA heroic. Is it heroic to teach young men that wrong isn't wrong unless you get caught? Gimme a break.”
Dantonio responded by saying he did not know who Brandsatter was, but knew he had never been a head coach and had the relationship that a head coach has with his players.
Agree or not with Dantonio about Tressel, but we can all agree that Dantonio took a calculated risk in supporting Tressel and we should all be so lucky to have a friend like Mark Dantonio.
Aside from whatever personal reasons Dantonio had to publically support his friend, he needed to speak up for another reason. Someone needed to give a voice to the Tressel supporters who feel a good man has been done wrong.
Everyone deserves to have their voices heard and now supporters of Jim Tressel can have their voice heard.
All thanks to an old friend.
