Michigan State head football coach Mark Dantonio made headlines this past week after some comments made about former Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel.
Dantonio served as an assistant coach under Tressel at Youngstown State during the late 1980’s and at Ohio State during the early 2000’s. He (Dantonio) has had a lot of positive history with Tressel, especially at Ohio State where Dantonio’s defense under Tressel became known as one of the stingiest in the country. During the Buckeyes’ 2002 National Championship season, Ohio State ranked second nationally in scoring defense and third in rushing defense. In the 2003 season his defense ranked number one in the country in rushing defense and ninth in total defense, which led the Buckeyes to an 11–2 record and #4 national ranking.
With all that said, it really shouldn’t surprise anyone that Dantonio would have a different outlook on his former boss, mentor and friend in Jim Tressel.
“It’s very heartwrenching for me and my family,” Dantonio said of watching the situation with Tressel unfold. “We’re close to coach Tress and he’s had a lot to do with my life as a mentor, really since 1983. That’s a long time.
“That’s a tough situation. He’s done a lot of good for college football. Every person he’s come into contact with as player and coach, he’s made a positive impact on their lives.
“To me, it’s tragic. He becomes a tragic hero in my view. Usually tragic heroes have ability to rise above it all in end. That’s what I look forward to.”
Tressel of course resigned from his head coaching position this offseason after Ohio State officials unearthed emails and phone records that demonstrated a cover-up of a memorabilia sale scandal with his players.
What really got media members going though was the way Dantonio referred to Tressel as a tragic hero.
One of those media members was Oakland Press columnist and 97.1FM The Ticket radio personality Pat Caputo.
Caputo, who is a Michigan State alum himself, took exception to Dantonio’s use of the term and reiterated his stance in a column written Monday in the Oakland Press.
The defense of Dantonio’s statements from many in the Spartan family that Dantonio was an English major at the University of South Carolina and is quoting the term “tragic hero” in a literary sense is absurd. Dictionary.com defines “tragic hero” as: A literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy.”
Jim Tressel was not a literary character being waxed about by Euripides; He was a football coach, who had a quarterback named Terrelle Pryor. When Michigan State was in contention for a Big Ten title in 2008, that quarterback ran up and down the field at Spartan Stadium in a rout.
That quarterback was run out of Ohio State’s football program because of this matter known as “Tattoo Gate,” which Tressel knew about, but did nothing in reaction to except cover it up, according to numerous reports. Despite a national championship, two other trips to the BCS title game and several Big Ten championships, Tressel was forced out.
I have a lot of respect for Pat Caputo as a writer, journalist and radio personality, however it seems like Caputo is putting too much emphasis on the hero portion of the term, much like a lot other people are.
Now Caputo did mention that in a literary sense the term tragic hero means a character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy.
Yes, it’s true that Tressel isn’t a war hero, he isn’t a literary character being waxed about Euripides as Caputo put it. He IS only a football coach who turned out to be a dirt bag that embarrassed a proud program in Ohio State.
However, as much as anyone might try to deny it, judging from Dantonio’s statements, he was using tragic hero in a literal sense when talking about Tressel and in a way he is absolutely correct.
Tressel was a coach who did bring a lot of good to people during his time at Youngstown State and Ohio State. This is proven the way a lot of Ohio State fans continue to support Tressel despite what has happened this past year. But despite all that, Tressel’s greed and overwhelming hunger for power is what eventually brought him down and in a football sense, Tressel could be labeled a tragic hero.
A tragic hero is a label that no one wants hanging over their head. It symbolizes failure, flaws and lack of judgement, all terms that are synonymous with being a tragic hero and synonymous with being Jim Tressel.
Source: Chicago Tribune, Oakland Press