Jim Tressel applies to be Youngstown State's president

Following on the heels of his formally applying to be the next president at the University of Akron, former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel has now submitted an application to become the next president of Youngstown State University.

Before coming to Columbus, Tressel served as the head football coach in Youngstown from 1986 to 2000 where he won four (then) Division 1-AA national championships and lost two other title games. This past February, Representative Tim Ryan and a group of local business and community leaders had publicly stumped for Tressel's candidacy for the YSU vacancy. Citing Tressel's "obvious leadership schools", the local backers even solicited a response from Youngstown State leadership, which encouraged Tressel to apply if interested in the opening.

While it's still a stretch to imagine he winds up a university president when everything's said and done, we recently spoke to FootballScoop.com's Scott Roussel, who felt that while Tressel was amply qualified for the challenges of higher ed, felt his future would come as a coach once his "show cause" expired. Tressel currently serves as the executive vice president for student success at Akron.