Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel speaks at his Friday swearing-in ceremony while Gov. Mike DeWine, right, and his wife, Fran, listen The former YSU president will serve in that post through the end of 2026. Submitted photo

In a whirlwind week for Jim Tressel that started with the announcement he would be nominated as Ohio’s lieutenant governor and ended with his swearing-in ceremony, he summed it up by saying: “I’m totally humbled and excited.”

At Friday’s swearing-in ceremony, Tressel, the retired Youngstown State University president and a former football coach, said, “We’ve got to make sure the concern for our Ohioans and their fate, their future is our chief concern and sometimes it doesn’t line up with what individually with what I’d really like. Maybe it doesn’t serve my needs. But the chief interest and the decisions we make need to make sure we’ve kept in mind the needs of all of our Ohioans.”

Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday in a shocking decision that he would nominate Tressel, who has never run or held public office, as his lieutenant governor, replacing Jon Husted, who left the post after six years to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. DeWine said he spoke to Tressel, a fellow Republican, at the latter’s Medina home Feb. 1 and had already made up his mind that he was the best choice to be lieutenant governor.

Only two days after DeWine’s announcement, the state Legislature overwhelmingly approved Tressel’s nomination and a swearing-in ceremony took place Friday.

Acknowledging his inexperience in government and politics, Tressel said some people ask, “Why do you think you’re qualified for this? I don’t know. But I promise you this: I can listen, I can learn, I can love and I can apply all the lessons that I’ve learned … I can apply them to see if I can be a positive part of an extraordinary team and have an extraordinary 695 days” left as lieutenant governor.

Tressel, who has known DeWine for years and became close during his time as YSU president, said the governor “has spent an entire lifetime making a difference to the Buckeye State. He truly follows every day (with) the belief that he wants every single person in this state to reach their God-given potential. He spends every day making sure that all of us Ohioans are safe, we have the things that we need and that we handle the crises that inevitably come our way.”

DeWine said with his decision to appoint Husted to the Senate seat vacated by J.D. Vance, who became vice president, he had “a big hole to fill on my team and we have a very important business, unfinished business, to finish in the next 695 days. After a lot of thought, it was clear to me that Jim Tressel was the person I wanted beside me for the remainder of my term.”

DeWine said: “I knew that if for any reason I could not serve as governor of the state that in Jim Tressel, we would have a strong and very inspiring governor.”

DeWine said, “Jim Tressel will make our team stronger, and he will make me a better governor. Jim Tressel has been a strong and inspired leader in every single job he has ever held. He is truly a born leader.”

Husted, who attended the swearing-in ceremony, said, “Jim Tressel is going to do a wonderful job,” and DeWine is “willing to give you the latitude as lieutenant governor to go and do amazing things. That’s a wonderful aspect of who Mike DeWine is.”

Tressel said during a Wednesday interview that he “wouldn’t rule” out a run next year for governor.

Already in the Republican gubernatorial primary is Attorney General Dave Yost with billionaire biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who briefly ran for president with close ties to President Donald Trump, planning to announce his candidacy shortly.

Dr. Amy Acton, DeWine’s former health director, is running next year as a Democrat for governor.

Tressel was hired by YSU to be its head football coach for the 1986 season and led the team to four Division 1-AA national championships through 2000, when he was hired to be head coach of the Ohio State University football team. During his time at Ohio State, the team won a national title in 2002 and seven Big 10 championships.

Tressel resigned in 2011 after the university’s football program got caught up in an NCAA investigation involving players improperly selling memorabilia for benefits, including tattoos.

After serving as vice president of strategic engagement at the University of Akron, Tressel returned to YSU as its president, starting the job May 2014. He retired in February 2023.