Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has nominated Jim Tressel, a former star college football coach who guided Ohio State University to a national championship, to be his next lieutenant governor.
“I want someone who every single day is working to come up with ideas, and this is a guy with ideas,” DeWine, a Republican, said at a news conference Monday. “And they’re thoughtful and they’re based on what he has seen and what he has learned.”
Tressel, 72, must first be confirmed by the Legislature. He would succeed Sen. Jon Husted, DeWine's former ticket mate, whom DeWine recently appointed to fill the Senate vacancy left by Vice President JD Vance.
DeWine is term-limited, and Husted’s elevation to the Senate has had a domino effect on Ohio’s political scene. Tressel did not indicate whether he plans to run for governor himself in 2026. State Attorney General Dave Yost already is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, and Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur with close ties to Vance and President Donald Trump, is expected to launch his campaign for the job this month.
Tressel, who most recently was president of Youngstown State University, has long been mentioned as a potential candidate for elected office, but he has never pulled the trigger on a run of his own.
Tressel was a prominent fundraiser for former Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, R-Ohio, who played football for him at Ohio State. (Tressel also coached the Youngstown State Penguins to four NCAA Division I-AA national championships before he moved on to the Buckeyes.)
“It was a surprise for sure,” Tressel said Monday of his nomination.
Tressel resigned from Ohio State in 2011 with the football program mired in controversy and an NCAA investigation involving players selling memorabilia to a tattoo parlor.
CORRECTION (Feb. 10, 2025, 6:12 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misidentified in a caption who was pictured with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. It was Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, not Jim Tressel. The photo has been replaced with one of just Tressel.
