Jim Tressel Jim Tressel prepares to lead the players onto the field for his first game as Ohio State’s head coach, which was against the University of Akron on Sept. 8, 2001. Osu 5 Jim Tressel Osu Vs Akron

Former Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Jim Tressel turned the school’s ancient rivalry with the Michigan Wolverines on its head before he even played what fans of both teams colloquially refer to as “The Game.”

Fresh off his hire from Youngstown State in January 2001, Tressel appeared during halftime of a Buckeyes men’s basketball game and issued a decree that will live in the history of the blood feud.

“I can assure you,” Tressel said, “that you will be proud of our young people in the classroom, in the community, and, most especially, in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan.”

Ohio State went on to defeat the favored Wolverines, 26-20, in a game that ended almost two decades of futility against their rivals to the north.

More importantly, that contest sparked two decades of dominance for Ohio State in the rivalry.

That dominance, however, came to a crashing halt in the last two seasons as Michigan won back-to-back games in the series for the first time since the late 1990s — before Tressel arrived to turn the series on its head.

Tressel, speaking with Dave Briggs of the Toledo Blade, doesn’t think that the two Michigan victories will unleash two decades of Buckeyes ineptitude against their hated rivals. He guaranteed another win this season.

“There’s no question,” Tressel said, “that I think the Buckeyes will make us proud in Ann Arbor.”

Only time will tell if his second prophecy is as potent as his first.

[Toledo Blade]