Mike Tressel (born September 28, 1973) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach who is currently the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

and inside linebackers coach for the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin). They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisi ...

. Tressel, the nephew of former

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

head coach

Jim Tressel James Patrick Tressel (born December 5, 1952) is an American college football coach and university administrator who is currently the president of Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio. Before becoming an administrator, Tressel was the ...

, joined the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

's football coaching staff under

Mark Dantonio Mark Justin Dantonio (born March 9, 1956) is a former American football coach and player. He most recently served as the head football coach at Michigan State University, a position he had held from 2007 to 2019, presiding over one of the most ...

in 2004. Tressel followed Dantonio to Michigan State when he was hired there in December 2006. He was named the acting head coach when Dantonio announced his retirement in February 2020. Tressel was one of two Dantonio assistants retained by Dantonio's successor,

Mel Tucker Melvin Tucker II (born January 4, 1972) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at Michigan State University, a position he has held since 2020. Previously, Tucker served as the head football coach ...

Early life and playing career

Mike Tressel was born on September 28, 1973. He is the son of

Dick Tressel Dick Tressel (born. c. 1948) is a former American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from 1978 to 2000, compiling a record of 124–102–2. Tre ...

, who served as head football coach at

Hamline University Hamline University is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1854, Hamline is known for its emphasis on experiential learning, service, and social justice. The university is named after Bishop Leonidas Lent Hamline o ...

from 1978 to 2000. Dick Tressel joined his brother,

, on the coaching staff at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

from 2001 to 2010. Mike's grandfather is

Lee Tressel Lee Tressel (February 12, 1925 – April 16, 1981) was a football coach and athletic director at Baldwin–Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. Tressel accumulated the most winning record as the head football coach at Baldwin–Wallace. His 1978 team w ...

, an

NCAA Division III Football Championship The NCAA Division III Football Championship began in 1973. The Division III playoffs begin with 32 teams selected to participate in the Division III playoffs. The Division III championship game, known as the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl or Stagg Bowl ...

-winning coach at

Baldwin Wallace University Baldwin Wallace University (BW) is a private university in Berea, Ohio. It was founded in 1845 as Baldwin Institute by Methodist businessman John Baldwin. The school merged with nearby German Wallace College in 1913 to become Baldwin-Wallace C ...

. Tressel attended

Cornell College Cornell College is a private college in Mount Vernon, Iowa. Originally the Iowa Conference Seminary, the school was founded in 1853 by George Bryant Bowman. Four years later, in 1857, the name was changed to Cornell College, in honor of iron ty ...

Mount Vernon, Iowa Mount Vernon is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States, adjacent to the city of Lisbon. The population was 4,527 at the time of the 2020 census. Mount Vernon is part of the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Mount Vernon ...

, where he was a member of the football and wrestling teams. He was named an Academic All-American in NCAA Division III for five seasons between the two sports. Tressel graduated in 1996 with a degree in mathematics.

Coaching career

Early career

Tressel began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the

University of South Dakota The University of South Dakota (USD) is a public research university in Vermillion, South Dakota. Established by the Dakota Territory legislature in 1862, 27 years before the establishment of the state of South Dakota, USD is the flagship univ ...

from 1996 to 1997. He received a master's degree in sports administration from South Dakota in 1998. He then served on the offensive staff at

Wartburg College Wartburg College is a private Lutheran liberal arts college in Waverly, Iowa. It has an additional campus, Wartburg West, in Denver, Colorado. History Wartburg College was founded in 1852 in Saginaw, Michigan, by Georg M. Grossmann, a nati ...

from 1998 to 2001. In 2002, he joined his father and uncle at

, where he was a graduate assistant assigned to linebackers under defensive coordinator

. The 2002 Buckeyes team won that season's BCS National Championship Game, the

2003 Fiesta Bowl The 2003 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl was a college football bowl game that was the designated Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship Game for the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season, taking place on January 3, 2003 at Sun Devil Sta ...

. In 2004, Tressel followed Dantonio to the

, serving as linebackers and special teams coach. When Dantonio was hired to be the head coach at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

in December 2006, Tressel joined him along with seven other Cincinnati assistants.

Michigan State

Tressel spent his first seven seasons with the Spartans as the linebackers and special teams coach. He was promoted to co-defensive coordinator (with Harlon Barnett) and linebackers coach after the departure of defensive coordinator

Pat Narduzzi Patrick Regan Narduzzi (born April 22, 1966) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh. He was formerly the defensive coordinator at Michigan State. He attended Youngstown State Universit ...

in 2015. After Barnett was hired at Florida State in 2018, Tressel became the sole defensive coordinator. In his role as linebackers coach, Tressel oversaw two-time consensus All-American Greg Jones (2009–2010), who was also named the Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Year in 2009. Tressel also coached first-team all-conference linebackers Max Bullough (2012–2013) and Joe Bachie (2018).

Return to Cincinnati

Tressel was hired by

Luke Fickell Luke Joseph Fickell (born August 18, 1973) is an American football coach and former player. He will be the head coach for the Wisconsin Badgers starting in December 2022. Previously he was the head football coach at the University of Cincinnati, ...

to return to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

as the defensive coordinator beginning for the 2021 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tressel, Mike Living people 1973 births American football defensive backs Cincinnati Bearcats football coaches Cornell Rams football players Michigan State Spartans football coaches Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches South Dakota Coyotes football coaches Wartburg Knights football coaches Wisconsin Badgers football coaches