'Nothing else like that game': Jim Tressel pumps up OSU alumni ahead of Michigan game

Ohio State football players and fans need to avoid the distractions associated with the Michigan football team and focus on playing hard at noon on Nov. 25.

"Don't get pulled into that trap," former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel told the nearly 400 attendees Monday during the Buckeye Bash for Richland County Alumni.

Although that will be the biggest game of the season, the Minnesota game at 4 p.m. Saturday should still be everyone's focus.

The beloved coach told Buckeye faithful that the team cannot stop getting better all this week. The players have to keep learning.

"You might win, but you have to improve," Tressel said.

42nd year for the Buckeye Bash

Buckeye Bash brings in more than $5,000 each year that can be used for future scholarships, explained Judy Villard-Overocker, the alumni club's chair for the event.

"Our main purpose with this is to raise money for scholarships," Villard-Overocker said. "We're probably helping at least 6 to 10 kids every year with pretty good sized scholarships."

Ohio State Football History vs University of Michigan

The fundraiser is normally held at the Mansfield Liederkranz, but was moved to the fairgrounds this year to accommodate the huge crowd that bought tickets to see Tressel and members of the Ohio State marching band.

The event came a week earlier than normal to accommodate scheduling with the marching band.

This was the 42nd year for the Buckeye Bash.

"The first one we had was a joint event with the Ohio State alumni and the Michigan alumni clubs," Villard-Overocker said. "That was before my time, but we decided here in Ohio we didn't want to have Michigan at our party."

'We all love Ohio State'

Tressel is an Ohio native, he reminded the audience Monday night. He grew up in Mentor and began his coaching career while he was a graduate assistant at the University of Akron.

His first head coaching job was at Youngstown State, where served from 1986 to 2000. He was head coach of the Buckeyes from 2001 to 2010.

Tressel said that, before taking the Ohio State job, his mom asked him why he would want to coach in what she feared could be a harsh environment.

"I said: 'Mom, they're nice, as long as you win,'" Tressel said.

Then he considered her question seriously and decided it was because of what the land-grant university means to the more than 11 million residents of Ohio.

"We love our other schools," Tressel said. "But when it comes to the big time, we all love Ohio State."

'We knew the importance of that game'

His first experience with The Game was in 1983. He was an assistant coach for Ohio State at the time, working with wide receivers. They played at The Big House.

"I remember hyperventilating through the whole first quarter," Tressel said. "You could feel that game was different."

Nearly two decades later when he interviewed for OSU's head job, most of the discussion was about the team's failures against the Wolverines through much of the '80s and '90s.

"It wasn't rocket science that everybody knew we wanted to get that flipped," Tressel said.

By November of 2001, he was preparing for his first Michigan game as head coach. The Game that year was in the state up north.

He said that during the bus ride through rural Ohio to get to Ann Arbor, he and the players saw farms decorated with Buckeyes flags and signs. In every village, people stopped to wave at the bus and cheer on the team.

"Growing up in Ohio, like most of us here, we knew the importance of that game," Tressel said.

'A moment in the rivalry that I will never forget'

Physicality and mental toughness on the field are key aspects of The Game, but Tressel said there's a lot of sentiment involved with the Michigan rivalry.

He remembers hearing the sad news on Nov. 17, 2006, that Bo Schembechler had died.

Schembechler played for Woody Hayes at Miami of Ohio before coaching under him at Ohio State.

"Bo was an Ohio guy," Tressel said. "He was an assistant to Woody. He was family."

He went on to be a legendary coach and athletic director for the University of Michigan.

Schembechler had been excited about the 2006 meeting of the two schools because they were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the nation. It was called "The Game of the Century."

The Wednesday before The Game, Schembechler addressed the Michigan football team. The next day, he died.

Both schools mourned.

"That is a moment in the rivalry that I will never forget," Tressel said.

'There's nothing else like that game'

There are other memories he holds close, like the day that he and his dad, Lee Tressel, became the only father-son duo inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

There's the sigh of relief he breathed after knocking off the Wolverines in 2001 during his first year at the Buckeye helm.

And then every home game, walking through the marching band's Skull Session during warmups, then singing "Carmen Ohio" with fans afterward.

This time of year, though, is when the best memories in college football are born.

Next Thursday, a group of young men will march into practice for senior tackle day.

"Each of your seniors, one last time, will run down and hit a tackle dummy," Tressel explained.

That will be the ceremonial end to their training as a Buckeye. They will tell the team what Ohio State has meant to them, and the underclassmen will tell that senior what they've learned from watching them. It's a time for reminiscing that they will remember forever.

Then, they play Michigan.

"There's nothing else like that game," Tressel said. "It's the hardest hitting game you play all year. It means so much for both teams."

And, so much to both programs and states. The rivalry has fueled growth both places since 1897.

"Like it or not, Ohio State wouldn't be Ohio State without Michigan," Tressel said. "That game is so important."

ztuggle@gannett.com

419-564-3508

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: 400 Richland County OSU Alumni attend Buckeye Bash with Jim Tressel