Wednesday's college football: Ex-Buckeyes coach Tressel is Ohio lieutenant governor

Wednesday’s college football: Ex-Buckeyes coach Tressel is Ohio lieutenant governor

Posted by author February 12, 2025 Football

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Associated Press
| Associated Press

Columbus, Ohio – Former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel was confirmed Wednesday as Ohio’s next lieutenant governor.

State senators and representatives affirmed Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s nomination of Tressel in separate floor votes Wednesday: 31-1 in the Senate, 68-27 in the House.

Tressel, 72, succeeds Republican Jon Husted, who was appointed last month to the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Vice President JD Vance. DeWine has said that Tressel will remain involved in education and workforce development as lieutenant governor.

Tressel retired in 2023 as president of Youngstown State University, a position he had held since 2014. He also worked previously as executive vice president for student success at the University of Akron.

In an Associated Press interview on Wednesday, Tressel confirmed his party identification – it’s Republican – and said he is a supporter of President Donald Trump inasmuch as he always supports the person who Americans elect to the nation’s highest office.

Though he’s not shared even those basic details publicly before, Tressel said he doesn’t view himself entirely as a newcomer.

“When people ask you haven’t been in politics, I say well I hope I’ve been in service my whole life,” he said. “I would like to believe that’s what I’ve done, and I know that’s what the folks that serve (in government) do.”

Tressel spent nearly a decade as head coach of Ohio State’s football team, leading the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2002 and six Big Ten championships. He was pressured to resign his post there in May 2011 after a memorabilia-for-cash scandal rocked the team.

He said he’s been involved in many projects since retiring from Youngstown State, including serving on the board of his alma mater, Baldwin Wallace University, and working to align education with Ohio’s workforce development efforts.

He’s also host of the podcast, “It’s all about the Team,” that he said has been “a blast.”

“I said, you know, there’s a million leadership podcasts, but I don’t know if we talk about being part of a team enough, and how to become a better teammate and how do you build teams,” he said.

UNLV offensive lineman dies

UNLV senior offensive lineman Ben Christman, who transferred after last season from Kentucky, has died, the university announced.

Christman, who was 21, was found dead in an off-campus apartment on Tuesday morning. The university said it didn’t have other details and a cause of death would later be determined by the Clark County Coroner’s Office.

“Our team’s heart is broken to hear of Ben’s passing,” UNLV coach Dan Mullen said in a statement. “Since the day Ben set foot on our campus a month ago, he made the Rebels a better program. Ben was an easy choice for our leadership committee as he had earned the immediate respect, admiration and friendship of all his teammates. Our prayers go out to his family and all who knew him. Ben made the world a better place and he will be missed.”

Christman began his college career at Ohio State as a highly ranked prospect in the 2021 recruiting class. He redshirted that season and played in one game in 2022 before transferring to Kentucky. Christman did not play in 2023 because of a knee injury, but appeared in all 12 games last season on special teams.

He then transferred to UNLV.

“There is little that can be said to lessen the pain of suddenly losing a member of our university family at such a young age, and my heart breaks for all who knew and loved him,” UNLV President Keith Whitfield said in a statement.

Flag football for women?

The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics has recommended that Divisions I, II and III sponsor legislation to add flag football to the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program.

The committee’s recommendation Wednesday gives all three divisions an opportunity to sponsor legislation that would move the fast-growing sport through NCAA governance structures.

A sport must have a minimum of 40 schools sponsoring the sport at the varsity level and meet minimum contest and participation requirements to be considered for championship status.

At least 65 NCAA schools are sponsoring women’s flag football at the club or varsity levels this year, with more slated to join in 2026. Flag football also has been added as a sport for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

The NAIA launched women’s flag football in 2020. The NAIA is the governing body of sports at more than 200 mostly private schools and has sponsored championships in the sport since 2021.

There are 14 states that have sanctioned girls flag football as a high school varsity sport. It was the 12th most popular girls sport in 2023-24 with 42,955 participants, according to the National Federation of High Schools, and almost a half million girls ages 6 to 17 played flag football in 2023, according to NFL FLAG.