Tressel Wins Enthusiastic Welcome Back to YSU
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- By his own count, Jim Tressel has driven to the campus of Youngstown State University “nine thousand million times.” His appearance Monday as one of the three finalists for the presidency of the university, though, was his Second Coming.
Tressel, vice president for student success at the University of Akron (and one of three finalists for the presidency of that institution as well) addressed a forum of students, faculty, staff and trustees in the trustees meeting room where he took 14 questions. He had answered all before -- some as recently as a half hour earlier when he conducted a press conference -- but was polite enough to note that of only four queries.
And he deftly avoided answering the concerns most had, such as if the trustees of both Akron and Youngstown State were to offer him their presidency, which would he choose?
“Neither school has offered me the presidency,” he reminded an audience eager to hear his response. “So I can’t answer that. I thought the differentiating factor would be the faculties.”
In the two years he’s been at Akron, he’s gotten to know the faculty there, he elaborated. “Faculty are the key to [the] success [of a university] and how well YSU will perform.”
His first meeting yesterday, at 7 a.m., was with 50 members of the YSU faculty, Tressel noted, and he praised their interest and concern for the future of the university.
“I didn’t answer your question,” Tressel concluded, “and you know that I know I didn’t answer your question.”
Indeed, the first question was, assuming he were chosen: Would he remain president after his NCAA probation ends in two year that would allow him to return to college coaching? The short answer was, “No, I don’t foresee returning to coaching,” but he declined to provide an ironclad guarantee.
He had assured the YSU Board of Trustees, he said at another point, that he would be committed to remaining president and wouldn’t seek to return to coaching. That chapter of his life is closed, he said.
It was standing-room-only in the trustees meeting room with more students and staff standing outside in the lobby of Tod Hall and another 20 standing on the stairway to the second floor to look in. The head football coach of YSU from 1986 to 2000 was accorded loud and sustained applause after trustee President-elect Carol Weimer introduced him -- Tressel had to signal the audience to stop so he could begin his opening remarks.
The head football coach of the four-time national champion Penguins reminisced about his 14 years at YSU and was quick to employ self-deprecating humor when asked about the less-successful or embarrassing aspects of his career at both Youngstown State and Ohio State universities.
Aware that some critics, especially among the faculty, have carped on his lack of a Ph.D., Tressel offered that his father and one of his brothers earned doctorates and that all in his family have led lives of service to others. Their example and his belief in service to others has been a guiding tenet in how he’s lived his life, Tressel said.
“YSU really shaped who I am and how I think,” Tressel stated. The athletics director when he took the helm of the football team, Joe Malmisur, impressed on him the importance of YSU to the region, a lesson he took to heart.
Also taken to heart was the “crash course in YSU 101” given him and his football team by Thomas Shipka, then a professor of philosophy at YSU, now retired and who attended the forum. “There are a lot of wonderful things about our place,” Tressel said, “and I’m not sure we brag enough.”
Tressel, who earned his master’s degree in education at the University of Akron and where he was an assistant football coach, sounded many of the same themes yesterday as he sounded last Wednesday during a similar forum at Akron (READ STORY).
Among those themes:
- Increasing enrollment -- working together to recruit students and retaining them through graduation.
- Helping them avoid running up crushing student debt by the time they graduate. “We must find a way for students to graduate with less debt,” he declared. This touches on the role of universities offering online courses to lessen students’ expenses and possibly reduce the time needed to graduate.
- Promoting diversity among both faculty and students.
- Fundraising in light of diminishing support from the Ohio Legislature.
- Setting priorities as Youngstown State is asked to reduce its budget.
- Recruiting senior staff such as provost, vice president for finance and deans of as many as three of the six colleges.
- The roles of full-time and adjunct faculty.
- The need for more academic advisers.
Specific to YSU was a question from a student about how Tressel might promote student wellness. He recalled a suggestion he made when YSU was looking for a successor to Leslie Cochran -- that the university require students to take a credit hour of physical education -- “mandated activity,” he called it -- each quarter. He knew it would get nowhere but thought it a good idea.
The short tenure of Randy Dunn as president was on the minds of many at the forum and Tressel defended Dunn’s decision, but not the manner, in which Dunn left YSU. “Outside of that, the things Randy set in place serve us well.”
Why didn’t he apply to become YSU president when Cynthia Anderson announced her retirement, Tressel was asked. “Because he had promised the president of Akron, Luis Proenza, that he would remain two years at that university, he answered. He explained that to the recruiting firm when he was approached.
With the state Legislature’s emphasis on student retention and graduation as the basis of its formula to support higher education, Tressel said that recruiting constitutes 25% of a sound financial footing, “retention 75% and fundraising takes you to the next level.”
He spoke of the need for teamwork among all segments of the university if it is to increase enrollment, graduation rates and regain a sound financial footing. “How can we get people to work together [more]?” a student asked.
“Students know who’s working together,” he responded. He would work on developing agreement on noneconomic aspects, Tressel continued. People “can cooperate on things that cost nothing,” he said. After that, “We can’t discount what people think they need [in the budget].”
Should he become president of YSU, Tressel said, he would not be rushed into filling vacancies or setting policies. On July 1, most of the faculty would be absent from campus and he would want to consult with the professors before making such decisions. So observers shouldn’t expect significant moves until after the start of the fall semester.
Moreover, he’s sure he will be the recipient of many good ideas on the role of the university and how it should proceed. “Every good idea requires someone to do it,” he reminded a rapt audience. And as chief executive of YSU, he would work in a collegial style so as many faculty, staff and students buy into the good ideas.
MORE:
Tressel Press Conference: No 'Itch to Return to Coaching
Tressel Makes His Case for President of University of Akron
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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