Amid the news coming out of Columbus regarding the hiring of Urban Meyer, MAC counterpart Akron may be looking to make some big news of their own.

According to FootballScoop.com, Akron may be looking into bringing in former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel to replace Rob Ianello who went 2-22 over the past two seasons.

“…source that confirmed to us the Akron news on Tuesday (Ianello’s eventual release) has told us that Akron officials are targeting Jim Tressel. For what it’s worth, Akron’s facilities are considered ‘the best in the MAC.'”

According to Mark Podolski of the News-Herald even a smaller program like Akron will need to proceed with caution if they do in fact want to hire Tressel…

“The NCAA has yet to rule on the OSU scandal, but it appears likely Tressel will be hit with a show-cause penalty, meaning the sanctions levied against the coach will follow him to his next coaching stop,” he wrote. “If the school wishes to avoid the NCAA penalties, it must appear before the NCAA and ‘show cause’ as to why it should not be penalized for hiring him.”

Still what does Akron have to lose in asking and pursing Tressel? It would seem that their program is about as low as it can go currently and the addition of Tressel would significantly boost Akron’s standing in the college football landscape.

Ref: ESPN, News-Herald, FootballScoop.com, lobshots.com (image)