COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- However many opinions there are relating to the reputation of Jim Tressel, you can't deny his impact on the Ohio State football program.
Tressel, 62, was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame Friday. The former coach was also honored by the Ohio State student section 'Block O' during Saturday's game against Northern Illinois.
Tressel, known for his signature sweater vest, coached for 10 seasons in Columbus. He led Ohio State to a 2002 national championship, but was forced to resign in May 2011 for breaking NCAA rules.
"He's one of the best people I ever worked with," Ohio State's athletic director Gene Smith told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "I just enjoyed every moment I had an opportunity to work with him. "I have the highest respect for him and what he did, and it's unfortunate how it ended," Smith said. "But that does not tarnish a whole person's body of work. That's what I look at in the end. When you talk about his legacy, his legacy is not that moment in time. His legacy is the hundreds of guys he impacted in a positive way."
Tressel is also a member of this year's College Football Hall of Fame induction class.
"You reflect about all 10 teams, all of the people who make up the entire fabric of what Ohio State athletics is about, specifically in our case, Ohio State football," Tressel told the Columbus Dispatch.
"But what's most important...is the people you intimately worked with and you were trying to make a difference with – what's most important is how they feel about it," Tressel told the Dispatch. "I guess that's what's so thrilling about something like this weekend, and the college hall of fame and all that, that's the people you worked with."
"It's humbling that the Varsity 'O' and the (College Football) hall of fame think this era (of Ohio State football) should be recognized."
Tressel tallied a 106-22 record, winning more than 82 percent of his games at Ohio State. After the NCAA sanctions, his record stands at 94-21. Tressel coached three Fiesta Bowl victories, a Rose Bowl victory, Sugar Bowl victory and Alamo Bowl victory.
