Jim Tressel will fill the void left by former Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who was tapped by Gov. Mike DeWine to replace Vice President JD Vance in the U.S. Senate.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Former Ohio State football coach and Youngstown State University president Jim Tressel is scheduled to be sworn in as the state’s next lieutenant governor on Friday morning in Columbus.
3News plans to stream the swearing-in ceremony at the Ohio Statehouse at 11 a.m. You can watch in the video above or on our YouTube channel.
The 72-year-old Tressel was nominated by Gov. Mike DeWine on Monday to fill the void left by former Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who was tapped by DeWine to replace Vice President JD Vance in the United States Senate.
Tressel was confirmed by the Ohio Senate on Wednesday by a vote of 31-1, while the Ohio House approved his nomination by a 68-27 margin.
“I wanted someone who shared my values, Ohio’s values. Someone who can pull people together. I want someone who shares my vision for the state of Ohio and that is we want everyone to live up to their God-given potential,” DeWine explained in his reasoning for choosing Tressel.
While Tressel comes to his new post with no political experience, the 72-year-old native of Northeast Ohio did serve as the president at Youngstown State from 2014 to 2023. During his presidency at YSU, he was rumored to have interest in running for the U.S. Senate in 2018, then also after Rob Portman announced his retirement in 2021.
“Too busy here at YSU to run for the Senate,” Tressel told BuzzFeed News in 2021. “It is time for the young guys to step up.”
DeWine said that Tressel will be involved directly with education and workforce development during the last two years of his administration.
Tressel was born in Mentor and graduated from Berea High School and Baldwin Wallace University, playing quarterback for his father, BW head coach Lee Tressel. In 1986, Tressel became the head football coach at Youngstown State University. In 15 seasons, Tressel led YSU to four national championships.
In 2001, Tressel left Youngstown State to become head football coach at Ohio State. He would lead the Buckeyes to the national championship the following year, plus seven Big Ten titles in his ten seasons. He resigned in 2011 following a memorabilia-for-cash scandal involving five Buckeye players.
“This is really a humbling moment,” said Tressel during Monday’s announcement. “I believe in our governor and what he believes in. I promised for the next 699 days to have a singleness of purpose and singleness of focus, which is to serve the needs that the governor outlines.”
You can watch Monday’s announcement of Tressel’s nomination for lieutenant governor below.
