The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk - 062: Jim Tressel – Coaching Ohio State: President of Youngstown State: Servant Leadership: #QuietTime

Episode Date: October 12, 2015

Episode 062: Jim Tressel – Coaching Ohio State: President of Youngstown State: Servant Leadership: #QuietTime I’ve been fortunate to know Jim Tressel since 2002 when he recruited my younger brother AJ to play football at Ohio State University.  He has always been a phenomenal example of what it means to be a servant leader.  Always calm, composed, and measured in his approach… He’s someone who I admire a great deal.  It was a thrill for me to have this in depth conversation with him. Jim Tressel a former college football coach who served as head coach of the Youngstown State Penguins from 1986 to 2000 and the Ohio State Buckeyes from 2001 to 2010, winning five national championships between the two schools and 12 “Coach of the Year” awards during his career. He is currently the president of Youngstown State University. Episode 062: Jim Tressel – Coaching Ohio State: President of Youngstown State: Servant Leadership: #QuietTime Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Radio   The Learning Leader Show “It’s not where you’re coaching, but with whom you’re doing it with.” Some Questions I Ask: What are common characteristics amongst high achievers? Would you consider going back to coaching football at the collegiate level? What is your relationship like with Urban Meyer? How could colleges better set up student athletes for success post University life? How specifically do you help people follow through on their goal setting practices? What is quiet time? What does it mean to you? How can quite time help everyone? What occurs during the first 60 minutes of your day? What does it mean to be a learning leader? In This Episode, You Will Learn: The importance of being a servant leader and what that specifically means The emotions he feels as he watches Ohio State play on Saturdays His identity and the importance of being an educator Maurice Clarett and their relationship Leadership is not a position or a ranking.  Most people have it wrong.  It’s about serving others The importance of writing down what you’re grateful for everyday “You can’t influence unless you are willing to be influenced.” Continue Learning Read more about Jim Tressel: ysu.edu/president Follow Jim on Twitter @JimTressel5 Read: The Travelers-Gift-Decisions-Seven Decisions That Determine Personal Success You may also like these episodes: Episode 003: The Incredibly Interesting Story Of Maurice Clarett And How He Built A 6 Figure Income After Spending 4 Years In Prison Episode 002: How To Take Over And Set Bigger Goals With Chris Brogan Episode 004: How Todd Wagner (and Mark Cuban) Sold Broadcast.com To Yahoo! For $5.7 Billion Episode 010: Shane Snow – How To Accelerate Success Using Smart Cuts Did you enjoy the podcast? This episode was absolutely jam packed with great information on a variety of topics.  I love how open Jim Tressel is.  Who do you know that needs to hear this?  Send them to The Learning Leader Show! Episode edited by the great J Scott Donnell   Bio from YSU.edu   Jim Tressel became the ninth president of Youngstown State University on July 1, 2014. A native of Northeast Ohio, Tressel graduated from Berea High School in suburban Cleveland in 1971. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Education from Baldwin-Wallace College in 1975 and a master’s degree in Education from the University of Akron in 1977. He also received honorary degrees from YSU in 2001 and Baldwin-Wallace in 2003. He previously was executive vice president for Student Success at the University of Akron, where he was charged with restructuring and leading the efforts of a newly created division dedicated to the academic and career success of students. Tressel’s areas of responsibility included recruitment and admissions, financial aid and career services, advising and adult/transfer services, the military services center and multicultural academic programs. He spent a great deal of time in the Northeast Ohio region, emphasizing the need for top-notch higher education, innovation and collaboration. Prior to joining the University of Akron, Tressel was head football coach at Ohio State University from 2001 to 2010, where his teams won the national championship in 2002 and seven Big Ten championships and appeared in eight BCS post-season bowl games. As head football coach at YSU from 1986 to 2000, Tressel’s teams won four Division I-AA national championships. He also was executive director of Athletics at YSU from 1994 to 2000.

The people that succeed are willing to do the things that the people that fail aren't willing to do, even though they're not fun. And I don't mean they enjoy doing things they don't like to do. You know, that's not the point, but they're willing to do those. And so I think the message that I try to get across to students all the time is you have to decide early and in advance what it is you would like to accomplish. Are leaders born or are they made? Our host, Ryan Hawk, believes that leaders can be made through determined, focused work on learning the art and science behind the makeup of other successful leaders. Now it's time to inhale knowledge and exhale success. You're listening to The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk.

Hey and welcome to the Learning Leader Show. I am Ryan Hawk and I'm extremely excited, so grateful for our featured leader tonight. It's with the great Jim Tressel. Coach Tressel was a football coach for 37 years. First a head coach at Youngstown State where he won four national championships. He then moved on to Ohio State University where he won six Big Ten championships and one national championship. He's been named the national coach of the year an astounding 12 times. Incredible.

He is currently the president of Youngstown State University where he leads 12,500 students daily in their academic pursuits. We got into so many interesting topics tonight on our conversation. I really love this one. Coach Tressel is somebody who I respect more than just about anybody in the world. A couple of the things we got into. We discussed if he thinks about going into coaching, coming back. I know he's very busy.

He's got a big job at Youngstown being the president. However, he coached for 37 years. It's in his blood. His dad was a coach. I asked him that specifically and directly his thoughts. on that. I think you'll find his answer really interesting. And then specific practices to understand and hold yourself accountable to both long term and short term goals. I think you'll find this part about him really just interesting when it comes to how he helps and serves others. And these are

practices we can implement right now. And then quiet time. What does it mean? Why do we all need it? He discusses his version of quiet time, why it's important, and how it can help all of us. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm extremely excited to introduce Coach Jim Tressel. All right, Coach Tressel, so excited to have you here on the Learning Leader Show. This has been, you've been a guy when wanting to speak to for a while. We go back many years, but it's good to reconnect. I got a question to kick us off here, and it's around achievers, specifically people who have achieved big things in their lives,

achievers, and you've been fortunate to spend a lot of time around those types of individuals, and you are one yourself. And I'm curious as to what are a few of the common characteristics that you've found in high achievers? You know, Ryan, I think probably the first thing that comes to my mind is that folks that are interested in serving and doing for others usually carry with them that passion, that feeling of responsibility to be the best they can be, whatever their role happens to be. Typically, it's making an impact on others, helping others achieve their goals and reach their dreams and crystallize their hopes. And so I think the common denominator is the person that really wants to serve others and then takes that as a real responsibility.

Do any people come to mind that you think of mentors of yours or other leaders that you've studied that have those qualities? You know, the most effective leaders and achievers and servants, I think we would all point to as our parents. And when you're fortunate to have that type of role model from day one, you see their modeling when you don't even know you're seeing their modeling. And so I guess the first one that would pop into my mind would be my mom because I spent the most time with her. my dad was a coach. He was really throughout most of my childhood that I remember. He was a head football coach at Baldwin Walls College. He was the athletic director. He was the chairman of the health and physical education department. And so, you know, he was constantly spending time with others. And so that was obviously something, even if it was subliminally, that I saw every day. I saw how much he enjoyed it. I saw how much he affected others. But then, on the other hand, the person that probably affected me most intimately and personally was my mom. Because, you know, when you're growing up, you spend time with your mom.

I'm from the old days where my mom was a stay-at-home mom, and her passion was to serve us and help us grow and turn into the kind of folks that we'd be interested in being. And also, you could see that, A, she was serving us, but B, in any other. waking moments of her life, she was serving other people, whether it was the PTA or some community activity, you know, some charitable activity, whatever. And so if you're fortunate enough when you're young to have folks model to you that, you know, that's what achievers do, that's what leaders, that's what servants do, I think you have a heck of advantage. And that's why, you know, I think any time we sit around talking about, you know, what is it we can do to

make our society better, I think it begins with parenting. Couldn't agree more. I love that answer and the examples, especially given your parents, and that just shows for the moms and dads listening the importance of the role. It's the most important thing we'll ever do it. I've said that many times on this podcast. So, Coach, I'm going to jump into it, and I know you're currently the president of Youngstown State, but to me, I've known you and gotten to know you as a football coach. So that's That's why I can't help but call you that, but it was interesting. And the emails leading up to this with some of your coworkers and colleagues at Youngstown States calling you President Tressel.

And I just couldn't help but think when I hear President Tressel. I think of more than just the President of Youngstown State. I think of the President of the United States. You've been nicknamed the Senator Tressel from Chris Fowler, among others, for your work and the way you've handled yourself as a football coach. So I want to get into this. So you obviously have a phenomenal job. a humongous responsibility at Youngstown State right now. You're leading the entire university.

A massive job, a lot of things to do day to day. I know your schedule is extremely jammed. However, for 37 years, you were a football coach. You were a 12-time coach of the year in the country. You've won five national championships in college football. You have achieved huge things. And I have to ask, you know, fully knowing you're completely employed. and you have big things at Youngstown State, how often or do you think about going back to being a football coach? You know, Ryan, it's interesting. I really don't. I think it's because my plate is so full. You know, I've always enjoyed seeing if we can make an impact on our students. It happened to be student athletes for 37 years. But, you know, also, every university I was a part of, I didn't just spend time with just our 100-some players.

and I tried to integrate into the life of the campus. In fact, throughout my career as a head coach, I always taught. So I always had a class full of students who weren't on the team. And so in this role that we're playing here, it has been so much fun, learning so much every day. I think one of the things that you might say that achievers or leaders enjoy doing is learning. They like to constantly every day. That's why you have this podcast. It's because you want people who are interested in learning.

And so I think to answer your question, because there has been such a learning curve, and it's had the common denominator of students, and it's had the common denominator of higher education. And I happen to believe deeply in the institution where I work and its impact on the region and its importance in the entire state. And it really hasn't given me a whole bunch of time. And to think about coaching now, I do obviously follow the Youngstown State Penguins closely and the Buckeyes closely. And I hate to tell you, I'm a Cleveland Browns guy.

That's okay. I follow my Cleveland Browns closely. And, you know, I died a thousand deaths yesterday when we were off-sides on the field goal. You know, and so there are some times when I, you know, just to get a little bit of mindless time, be sitting and watching a game and find myself saying, take a time out, take a time out, or, oh, what are we doing? You know, why did we make that decision or whatever? But really, beyond that, you know, I was blessed to anyone that has a chance to coach 37 years, most of which are right here in my home state.

I can't complain about not being able to do that, especially, you know, with the excitement and the fun of my current endeavor. What's it like to watch Ohio State? You know, I talked, I had a great conversation with Brady Quinn. I know Brady's a guy, you know, and Brady had said, you know, he's a commentator for football games now on Fox, and he used a great metaphor, and he said, it's, you know, because he still wants to play. And he said, it's like, for him, it's like watching the love of his life marry another guy. And that was pretty of a powerful, you know, kind of a visual to think about when he's watching football games as he's doing them on the air.

He's working, you know, has a good job. And so I'm curious this to, you know, for you, it's got to be tough. Like to watch those guys and see, you know, now all of your players are, I think they're gone now that it's been enough time has passed, guys that you've recruited. But still, it's Ohio State. You grew up loving the school. You were an assistant coach there. You're obviously the head coach there. You win a national championship there.

What's it like when you see them on Saturdays? Well, you know, it may be different when all of the kids are gone. But, you know, there's so many of them, you know, like Braxton. Yeah. That we recruited Cardell. You know, we sent Cardell to prep schools because we thought that was the right thing for him and, you know, knew that when he came back now, all of a sudden, he and Braxton would be in different classes and see guys like Nick Vinette and guys that committed to us when they were sophomores and juniors.

I just ran into the kid, is it Cameron Burroughs? The kid from Trotwood. Yeah, yeah. I just ran into him in the elevator at the Ohio State game at the blackball the other day. And I said, holy smokes, I remember walking. in and you were wearing your Ohio State sweatshirt when you were a sophomore and you guys had just been to the state championship game and you were

telling your coach you wanted to be a Buckeye and we told you that we were going to make sure that happened and Tyvus Powell I ran into his mom at the game a couple weeks ago and she came up and thanked me for offering him back in the day. So

those guys, you know, I was Adolphus Washington from Cincinnati. I remember meeting with him many times and so you know there's a lot of those guys you still feel like, you know, when Jalen Marshall fumbled the other day, I was like, oh, that's one of my guys because I remember starting to recruit him when he's a sophomore. In Middletown, yeah. You know, and so, but, you know, it's probably different in my case than it is Brady's.

You know, Brady is so, he's not near as far along in his world, you know, as I am. And, you know, I did have that opportunity for so many years, you know, to enjoy that. that experience and to, you know, be involved in the highs and the lows. And so when I watch it, you know, I don't really watch it that way. I just kind of watch it from a personal nature. If it's someone I know, if it's some of the kids I don't know, it's probably not, you know, near as emotional. You know, it's fun to watch that Ezekiel Elliott, but I don't know Ezekiel. I just admire the way he plays. And, you know, there's not any emotional tie there, but, you know, I'm sure there'll be a day where I don't know any of the kids, you know, and it'll still be the scarling gray, you know,

so that still has a tug. But, you know, it's not something where I'm sitting there wishing I could still play like Brady is. And every time really I watch him, I think about the fact that I'm just blessed that I had a chance to be in that moment, you know, at one stage of my life. What's your relationship like with Urban Meyer? You know, I've known Urban for a long time. You know, he's an extremely busy guy. I'm probably busier than I was as a coach, simply because, you know, instead of having a hundred guys and a dozen coaches, you know, I have 12,500 students and, you know, 2,500 employees. And so it's by far busier. I was talking to Gordon Gie the other day, and I told him, had I known how hard it was to be a president, I would have been nicer to my presidents.

You know, so I haven't really had much chance to interact with Urban other than, you know, I'll get a text from him once in a while. I'll hit him with the text. And I know how busy he is. He doesn't need another phone call. And he knows I don't need another phone call or, you know, usually when your phone rings, if you're the head coach at Ohio State or you're the president of Youngstown State, it's usually someone wants you to do something with them that usually will take time. and you know full well you don't have any of that and so you know i try not to i try not to bother him and just like i try not to bother mark dantonio who you know coached with us for five years here at youngstown and then four years there at ohio state and and you know he's got a staff full of guys

that you know i either coached him or or they coached with us and but i know how busy mark is and so i'll hit him with a text every once in a while and and uh you know i know what they're going through during this three or four or four years and i know what they're going through during this three or months. And then I also know what they're going through during a couple months of recruiting. And, you know, so the best friend I can be is one that doesn't bother them. Yeah, absolutely. So, Coach, a lot of people, when they make it to their dream job, and then the run is over, they go to a beach or they play golf or they get, you know, just sit on the couch. But you, I believe, had your dream job, or at least one of your dream jobs as

the head coach, Ohio State. But when it came to an end, you made this really intriguing pivot into something extremely different, or at least somewhat different. First, you went to Akron, and now the president at Youngstown State. Why? Well, you know, I think the first thing, Ryan, is that, you know, I never considered any job, a dream job except for the one I was in. Okay. And in fact, I used to try to live by the old saying that paradise is where I am. Gotcha. And I think that's important. You start at the beginning of, what do you think, some of the characteristics of an achiever or a leader are? And, you know, I think you have to be clearly in the moment, excited about where you are.

I tell young coaches all the time, you know, it's not where you're coaching, it's with whom. And it's with what attitude. And so I never really thought I was here for 15 years at Youngstown State. I didn't think one day about being the head coach at Ohio State or the Cleveland Browns or any of my favorite teams. I thought about what could I do to make Youngstown State better? And all of a sudden when I got a call and some folks said, hey, would you have some interest? The timing was right. We weren't in the middle of a season.

It was, you know, after a season was over. And I thought to myself, well, you know, what are the pluses of that? And outside of simply being the glamour of being at Ohio State. and I always felt that, you know, my responsibility was to try to make a difference with a group of students, perhaps a region. And I thought to myself, gosh, you know, if you're at Ohio State, you can make an impact in an entire state, really nationwide. And I learned after being there, after traveling all over the world to visit the troops and getting mail from people all over the world, you know, when you're at a place like Ohio State, you can make a positive impact on people all over the world. And so I think you have to have your feet planted, you know, firmly where you are. So when I was done at Ohio State, I kind of said as a gauge for myself that I wasn't going to do anything until I read 100 books.

I just thought, you know, here's something that I've always tried to make a little bit of time for, but I've never really immersed myself in it. And so I started doing that. and I got up to about 32 books of all kinds, most of which had nothing to do with sports, because I felt like I had enough background in that. And then all of a sudden I got a call from Jim Caldwell, who I happen to think is one of the great human beings. And he said, hey, you know, we're not going to have Peyton Manning this year. We're going to struggle. I'm looking for every which way to see if we can eke out a win or two.

And, you know, would you like to help? And so I had to make a decision on, well, my gosh. going to keep reading these books or am I going to help a friend? And so I decided, you know, if I can just come over on the weekends and do all my video work from home, you know, it's an easy drive over to Indianapolis from Columbus. And so I jumped in on that, which was fun. I'm glad I did it because A, Jim Caldwell so special and B was good to, you know, know what pro football was about. And when that year ended, I kind of decided that, you know what, I think after having spent that time in reflection and reading and now in the NFL, that I think I'd like to try something different. And that's when I decided to look into higher education.

And I was blessed enough to be offered a vice presidency there at Akron. And it was a great learning experience. And really, without that, there's no way I could be here at Youngstown State. and you know so you're awfully blessed and fortunate you know with with all of the things that happen in your life whether you know it or not sometimes you know you allow yourself to woe as me and gosh i wish it were different uh you know i happen to think that you have to wake up each day where you are feet on the ground and you know what am i going to do good from here and and that's what we've tried to do really interesting and coach i want to ask you about

Talk to you a little bit about identity. So this is, I've been fortunate to get the opportunity to give some talks coming up to student athletes around here. Got one at Wright State coming up in a few weeks. I'm very excited about it with their student athletes. I take, take it as a huge responsibility. And the topic is on identity and thinking of yourself as more than just, in my case, just a football player or some of these guys, other sports that they play.

And so when you, I want to, this kind of two part, First, first, it's about you. So when you view yourself, you know, you've done a number of different things. Do you view yourself, though, as a coach, as a school administrator, as something completely different? I know you understand the importance of being a great husband and a dad. So I'm curious as to how you view your identity. Well, now I'm a granddad, which is a good thing. So I've had one very important responsibility.

But, you know, I think I've always looked at myself as, as, you know, as a servant and where is it that I can serve. I've always really enjoyed the education side of things. I happen to grow up watching my dad educate my two older brothers or educators. And so I think I've always viewed my identity as an educator, which I think I always believe that that was much larger than simply disseminating information to someone, you know, that an educator. It is, you know, it's a life educator as much as it is an educator of whatever material you're trying to get across. So I think my identity would be as an educator because, you know, when I was done at Ohio State and people, headhunters would call and people would call and they'd say, well, do you want to do media? Do you want to come on our business and get involved in public relations?

You could open some doors for us and all those kinds of things. And, you know, the more I thought about that, and I thought, well, you know, those, that would be something to do. And it would be something I'm sure I would have been compensated pretty well for. But it really wasn't who I was. And that's when, you know, I think I came to the conclusion that really my identity, perhaps, that I'm most comfortable with, is that of being a servant, that of being an educator. and, you know, I think you do have to look in the mirror and try to figure out who you are. Probably one of the most frustrating things in coaching was dealing with youngsters who had most of their accolades in their life based upon, you know, them being good athletes

and them being faster than everyone and being able to be a great teammate, you know, in terms of what they could do for the football team or whatever team they were a part of. And we worked extremely hard to talk to our people about the fact that, yeah, you're good at that. But the reality is you're not going to be able to play that forever. So make sure you gain from playing everything you can. But also, you've got to believe that you're going to do some extraordinary things. Many people said to me after my time ended in that Ohio State that, hey, you know what, your biggest impact is ahead of you. and you may not think it at this moment.

You know, you may be a little wounded or whatever, but you better believe that your greatest impact is in the future. And that was hard with young people in sports, especially at a place like Ohio State where, you know, the adulation since that person was maybe eight years old was all about their athletic prowess. And I remember being in the weight room at Centerville High School and the thing that convinced me about AJ Hawk was when I asked and I said,

well, if you weren't playing football, you know, what is it you like? And I'll never forget. He said, you know, I think I'd be a Navy SEAL. And I thought to myself, you know what? I mean, that's the kind of human being. You want to be around that, yeah, he loves football and he was in the weight room constantly. And he had just come off, I think, his junior year where he got his knee banged up or something. And, you know, so it wasn't all perfect form.

him, but his identity was that he was going to do something that he enjoyed, and he was also going to do something that served others. And, you know, that's something that it was easy to coach A.J. Hawk. It was harder to coach some people that thought that the only thing they were was a football player. And I think it's wonderful that you have a chance to, you know, to go out and visit with young people. And I think it's one of the problems we've created in athletics over the last 10 or 20 years is that we've we've made these seasons all year long yeah we've made people specialize

in one activity and i'm not sure we're teaching and growing you know well-rounded people with a broader identity than simply the sport they play you know maurice claret another guy i know you're close with was an earlier guest on on my podcast and he he was just fascinating coach to have one here is very honest, extremely open. One of the things he said, obviously he, you know, adores you. I know you're like a father figure to him. But a lot of the guys like Maurice, and this is the one thing he kind of opened my eyes. You know, I'm very, very fortunate to come from two fantastic parents who have brought us up

and worked their butts off to bring us up right, I believe, me and my two brothers. And Maurice didn't have that. upbringing. And he had a mom who worked very hard, but there's a lot of guys like him that go to college, though, that are extremely talented. And one of the things he did say is he criticized what college does for people like him as far as preparation for after they're done playing. And he's obviously gotten in some really bad trouble, and now has came out on the other side an infinitely better person and is helping and serving others. But what do you think about the comments that, and those are out there that's not just from my podcast, that he said where he doesn't

feel like the college athletic or student athletes phrase truly is helping these kids be better off when they're done playing football or whatever sport it is they play. Well, you know, I think that can be true because the noise and the excitement and the people tugging at, especially the high caliber athlete, is really difficult. you know, to shield off for the young person so that they will listen to what their, the advice they're being given and so forth. I've been around a lot of college football programs, and they really, in college athletic programs, they do a good job of talking about and trying to give experiences that will be

helpful to the student later. Sometimes it gets drowned out by all the other things that are going on. And I think if Maurice would go back in time and he's admitted before, you know, he tried to run with a group of people along with doing the college football thing, I think if he would go back in time and say, you know what, I'm going to focus on, you know, what I'm doing here in college and I'm going to focus on what I'm being instructed. You know, he probably could have avoided some of those things. but the good news with Maurice is that maybe he needed to have some of the adversity, you know, that occurred. And now he loves to go out. He's been all over the country speaking to teams all over the country. And I went with him one time when he spoke at the NFL rookie symposium to all the draft choices that were in

and, you know, talk to him about the reality of what they should be thinking about and what they should be not listening to and all the rest. But I think because of the pressure in college athletics, because it's become so big business that I think you can err and spend less time on growing the man and spend more time on trying to win games, I think that's human nature survival. But I think deep down,

the good programs, spend a lot of time trying to get the right messages. I had a father asked me one day when I was at the University of Akron. So he was all he was a little bit

angry in an admissions event and he said well what percent of your business college students graduate in four years? And the poor business dean was up there trying to answer that question and you know it's not that simple of a question. You know, there's a lot of kids that try to get in business and they can't

get through the math or there's a lot of kids that try to get in business and, you know, they don't, they don't handle it or whatever. And so he was struggling a little bit with the answer. And when he was done, and it was my turn to visit with the group, I said to the father, I said, hey, you know what? A hundred percent of the students that do exactly what we ask them to do, graduate in four years. And some of them, though, life gets in the way, other decisions get in the way, not listening to the right messages. So I think the push by the public, you know, for us to do a better job with our students,

whether they be our students at university in general or our student athletes, the push of that responsibility is a healthy one. But I think it goes all the way back to the whole parent. parenting thing, every experience a person has leading up to that time when they're 18 or whatever, when they get to college. And it's all a part of it. And as you said, you know, you were blessed, you know, to have the right kind of messaging and the right kind of expectations and so forth.

It's the kid who's already behind in his thinking that I think struggles and sometimes we can be condemned for not having for them what they really need. but I tell you what, I haven't been around too many programs or athletic departments or universities that aren't trying, you know, to get the right messaging. But, you know, it's a challenge for sure. And, you know, just think about how distracted when I started coaching, you know, there weren't cell phones. There weren't all year-round training. Our kids, when we first started, heck, you were allowed so many days of practice. And then you did internships with your academic field.

you got part-time jobs so you learned how to work. You did all these things. Fast forward 40 years. And now the athlete, who's the extreme athlete, the good one, is training all year round on simply that, trying to chase that golden goose and doesn't have that whole group of experiences and has so many more distractions. There wasn't ESPN talking about athletics 24 hours a day

and distracting the person. and maybe in the old days when you had three channels and there was nothing good on, maybe the youngster read a book. And so it's a lot harder right now, but I don't disagree with Maurice because I think what his message is, is that's why he likes to go out and talk to him because he knows where they are at that stage and he knows they need a lot of catch up. Yeah, you know, I feel like I said, very fortunate to have an opportunity to speak with student athletes. curious as to if you had the ability and maybe I'm just trying to get some free help here from

one of the best in the world. But if you had the opportunity to go speak and you do these things already, but to speak to student athletes, current ones in this world that we live in with all of these distractions and all these things, I actually met with two of the student athletes to prepare to ask them some of the questions that, you know, just to try to live in their world. I've played in college, but it was 10 years ago when I graduated. And so I wanted to learn more. And these guys were telling me, like, hey, don't be alarmed when every guy has their phone out. Don't be alarmed when they're on Instagram and Twitter.

And, like, you know, maybe you try to outlaw the phones. And I'm like, that's kind of tough. I don't know. But I'm curious, when you hear about that, what would be the quick message, not, you know, I know these talks would be longer than this, but what would be the snapshot of the message you would share with current student athletes when it comes to identity and life after their sport. Well, you know, the thing we did, and I'm sure AJ would tell you, he used to hate doing this, but we used to make sure that from day one when they got there and then every year

that they were with us is we would always go back to the beginning and have them right in all the areas of their life, what their short-term goals were and what their long-term dreams were, and then what the plan was to be able to accomplish those. And when you start having people really reflect on, you know, what kind of personal family growth would they like to have? What kind of moral and ethical and spiritual growth would they like to have? What kind of academic growth would they like to have? Of course, what kind of athletic growth would they like to have? What kind of health habits would they like to have?

And it was a long process, a lot of writing. The kids hated it. I would sit down with each of them or we would go over them. And really the message was this, you know, this is what you said is important to you. This is what you said the plan is. Let me add a couple other things to the plan because I'm not sure you understand the difficulty of the challenge. And so I think you're going to have to do a little bit more this, this and this. And then now you're going to have to manage your time and your focus on am I going to decide early that this is what I want.

and there's going to have to be something that I have to sacrifice. And so maybe I won't be able to spend as much time hanging out. Maybe I won't be able to spend as much time doing some of the other things that are kind of enjoyable to me. Maybe I will have to really focus on trying to really be wired in. I use the example often that they all had academic goals of they wanted to get their degrees Some of them talked about they wanted to, you know, get a master's degree or they wanted to be able to get into med school, you know, whatever. And, you know, we used to talk often about the fact, well, you're going to be in a biology class that you can't stand.

And you have no idea why you're taking it because you're a business major. And you can't even figure out what's the value of it. Do you have the wherewithal to stay focused on something that's not as much fun as something else? and the people that succeed are willing to do the things that the people that fail aren't willing to do, even though they're not fun. And I don't mean they enjoy doing things they don't like to do. You know, that's not the point, but they're willing to do those. And so I think the message that I try to get across to students all the time is you have to decide early and in advance what it is you would like to accomplish.

Just like if it's Thursday night and you're going down on high street or whatever, you better decide in advance what time you're coming home. You better decide in advance what you're going to do down there and what you're not going to do down there. Because if you wait until you get there, the bright lights and the electricity and the things that you can see may distract you into making some poor decisions. So you have to decide in advance how you're going to handle each and every moment. And that's difficult. It's especially more difficult in today's world. My office is on the second floor of our administration building.

And as our classes break in between, if I'm up out of my chair or whatever, and I peek out the window, you know, there's hundreds of kids walking back and forth on our campus. None of them are talking to one another. They're all looking at their phones. I mean, so I get it. I mean, I understand that. And you know what? There's times when I'm walking on campus looking at my phone because, you know, Ryan Hawk called or, you know, whatever.

So I think the thing where we can help them is that the people that succeed are the ones that decide early what it is. It's just like, you know, if you want your diet to be right, you've got to decide early, then you've got to try to manage it when you walk by that donut or when you walk by that portion that's too much because you're, decided early, you know, you wanted to follow a proper diet. So those are the kinds of things. I think it's fun to try to help students with. You know, one of the things I think you're pretty famous for is the way you engage with students. I know you're known for this at Akron. I've heard stories about you in the weight room at Ohio State, where you go and compete with players on the, whatever, the bench press type machine or things like that. I've heard great stories where you could jump on there and knock out 225 and maybe even talk a little bit of trash so you were able to

engage with your students in a in a way that showed them you're with them and so i'm curious as to now that you're in the role as the president of youngstown state and you have meeting after meeting after meeting that are very important how do you stay connected how do you stay engaged with students like you've been able to do at acron and ohio state well you know i think you have to again you decide in advance that's what you want to do and so then you block out time on your calendar that you're going to be out on campus you're going to be at the sorority function you're going to be at the creek sing you're going to be at the lecture series in the philosophy department you're going to you're going to go to the hospitality management event when they put on their big spread and

you know for the public and so I think you have to decide in advance and try to manage it Now, you never get enough of it. You know, there's times when you're sitting in a meeting and you're saying, my goodness, I would be better off being, you know, out there with the students. But, you know, I blocked time on my calendar to go out to high schools, you know, and put on assemblies and kind of like you're doing at Wright State this week. And, you know, because I think if you do want to be part of them and you do want them to be open, you know, to maybe some of the wisdom experiences you've had,

you have to be out there with them. And that's one of the pluses now in today's technology, though. I mean, you go all over campus, taking selfies, taking group shots, taking this. You know, students can email you and you can get back to them and, you know, those kinds of things. So there's an upside to today's world. The only thing that I think you have to be a little careful of is that today's technology can drain so much of your time. And so again, there's a managing, there's a balancing. But, you know, the fun part of being an educator is being with the students. You know, we used to always say that the best part of our

day in coaching was 2 o'clock when the players arrived until, you know, 6 o'clock when they left. You know, the other 20 hours weren't that much fun, but the four hours they were there was a blast. You know, the one thing about athletics, and I found this too as being someone who played and and then now is not playing. But it's great because oftentimes it's very clear cut. You win or you lose. You get better or you get worse. You get a hit or you strike out.

Has it been a challenge for you to find out, you know, how to keep score as you've moved into these administrative positions? Well, you know, it really isn't because, you know, instead of recruiting 20 guys a year, we're trying to recruit 3,000. You know, instead of keeping track of the grades of my 100 students and seeing how they're doing as a coach, you know, I'm keeping track of the grades at 12,500 and seeing how our retention rate is and graduation rate and, you know, what types of research grants we're getting. And, I mean, the scoreboards are endless. And so it really, that hasn't been, you know, that hasn't been an issue now that there's not a, there's not an ESPN, you know, ticker, you know, about all. the things we do. But believe me, if you went to the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal,

the Washington Post, Cleveland Plain Dealer, you know, the Cincinnati Inquirer, inevitably, there's discussions about how's it going in higher education. What's the student debt? Oh, my gosh, that's the biggest scoreboard of them all in my mind. You know, sending those kids out at the end of their college careers with debt that's going to affect, you know, the rest of their life, is something that, you know, it keeps you awake at night. And so there isn't a lack of scoreboards. And I think that is instinctively what human beings like. You know, whenever we would talk to our players about, you know,

what could we do to make our practices more effective and so forth? Inevitably, the number one thing that they wanted was they wanted competition and everything they do. But if it's one-on-one drills or group drills, they wanted you to keep score. And so that's why we graded every, practice. We graded every lift. You know, our guys wanted to be graded. They wanted to know how they were doing.

And I think that's an instinctive thing that a person has is I think they want clear expectations. You know, what is it you want me to do? You know, they want to know that clearly. And then they want to be clearly evaluated constantly. And not just on Sunday morning in the paper, but they want to be evaluated every day. And so I think that's something that maybe is why I don't sit around saying, gosh, I wish I were coaching is because I got so many scoreboards that, you know, they're mind-boggling, and that makes it a lot of fun.

Do you think student athletes struggle with that, though? I know I personally did after getting done playing, but they struggle with the fact that there's not as much, like you are in a position where you are, you know, you have a number or infinite scoreboards, as you said, but not everybody does when they get done playing or even coaching, do you think that's, is there a way to potentially prepare for that? Well, you know, I think you really have to think through, you know, which scoreboards are important to you. Yeah.

And what happens sometimes, especially if you're in the high-end professional athletics or coaching, and all of a sudden the dollars and cents are very significant. I mean, you know, there's great money in this industry. And then all of a sudden they get out of it and they're, the scoreboard is, well, what can I do that's going to go make a lot of money? Because I've grown to like that. You know, I'm enjoying, you know, those types of things. And so all of a sudden, that scoreboard becomes more important than the scoreboard about how do I feel about what I'm doing.

You know, am I enjoying? Do I think it's, you know, is it fulfilling? Is it meaningful? And, you know, again, that's why when I talk to coaches all the time, I said, you know, it was just as exciting to win the national championship at Youngstown State as it was Ohio State. You know, and there are a whole lot less zeros at the end of my paycheck. And, you know, but what was important? And so, again, I think you have to decide in advance, you know, which scoreboards are going to be important to you.

Now, on the flip side, I think it is difficult to find something like sport where you're intimately involved and you're bleeding together and you're – I'm sure it's a why folks in the military. When they come out of the military, it's tough. Because all of a sudden, there isn't that camaraderie, there isn't that, you know, that love for one another that you feel that you have to have ready by Saturday at one o'clock. And it's a little bit longer, more mundane pace. And I think that's a struggle. It's, you know, it's a struggle for an entertainer when all of a sudden, you know, it, you know, it was Garth Brooks at a. I'm out of it for a while. Well, then all of a sudden, you know, seven years later, he's like, man, I can't live without entertaining. That worked with my band and my staff and the creative people and all that.

And, you know, George Drake's going back and spending two or three days, you know, in Las Vegas a year now. After doing all that touring, he was exhausted and, you know, made enough money and all that. But what he found he missed was the thrill of putting on a show with a group of people and making other people happy with the performance. I'm not telling you it's easy for people, especially athletes who maybe if they played in the national championship game in college, would there be a bigger rush than that the rest of their life? And that's tough. No question. You have to work with your own mind to decide what's fulfilling.

Exactly. Coach, I read through obviously what you tweet and you always hashtag it with quiet time. What's the significance of quiet time? Well, it was something we started our first year here at Youngstown State back in 1986 during preseason. We did it for 15 years in preseason. We did it for 10 years at Ohio State. And it was just a time every day in preseason when we were all together that we wanted to have our guys begin the habit of starting their day to set their mind. And the only way you can set your mind is in quiet.

You can't set your mind with your plugs in, listening. the music. You can't set your mind with other people talking back and forth or with you thinking about what you want to say next or whatever. The only way you can clear your mind is by thinking, good thoughts, reflecting, reading, considering thoughts you read. We had a book we read from. We called our Winters Manual that we'd spend 10 or 12 minutes every day in preseason, you know, hoping that that would become a habit for our people to begin their day with a really a clearing of their mind and end their mind in a positive way. The only thing that was mandatory during quiet time was they had to write down one thing

that they were grateful for because I happen to think no matter what's going on in your life, if you begin your day with a positive thought of something that you appreciate and something that you're grateful for, I think it gives you a chance to think right. And to me, the key to anything is how you're thinking. You know, I happen to think there's some, I don't know, it is exactly, but there's some supernatural battle for your mind, you know, whether it's through the media or through what others say or through, you know, the wrong thoughts or whatever. And if your mind isn't right, I don't think there's any way you can be happy. I don't think there's any

way you can be effective for others. And we just felt that, you know, every day you need to start the day just with a little quiet to make sure your mind's right. You know, a lot of world-class performers and big time achieving entrepreneurs meditate every day. Is that something you do? You know, I don't meditate. My daughter's a big meditator. She's into that mindfulness. Our local congressman, Tim Ryan, who was a former college athlete.

In fact, I recruited him. And he's now a congressman here and doing a great job for this region of the state. And he's really into this mindfulness training. and he really thinks that that's the key. And I think whether it's mindfulness, meditation, quiet time, whatever, but clearing out the most powerful thing you have, which is your mind,

and making sure that that machine is working right, you know, is far more important than anything else. What's the first 60 minutes of your day look like? Well, it's one of a couple things. if I'm really disciplined, it's on the treadmill and catch up on the world news or whatever, and then I'll spend some time in quiet time. Or if I feel like I'm in a hurry and maybe lacking a little physical discipline or whatever, it's in quiet time.

You know, just to kind of flush out your mind. And I think the worst thing you can do is wake up in the morning with your mind. with your mind in a hurry and, oh, I got to get moving on this. Oh, I got all this to do. Oh, my gosh. Oh, gosh, this is happening. Oh, I can't believe this is the case. You know, whatever.

I really think you're not going to be that effective. But if you can clear your mind out and enter the day on an even keel, I think you have a much better chance to have an effective day. And really, you know, we always talked about focusing on the moment. The only thing we could control was today. And in fact, we read a book, think it was in AJ's junior year was a book called Today Matters. And it was a great book by John Maxwell that we were going to have a young team.

We had those two really good teams, AJ's freshman and sophomore year, very talented. And we had a lot of talent in 2004, but we were young and we not that many of them had played. and that the only way we were going to progress is if we handled things day to day. And we read that book, Today Matters. And I thought that was really effective for our kids. By the end of the year, we were a pretty good team. We weren't at the beginning. By the end of the year, I think because we focused on each day, we were a pretty good team.

And really from then on, from really 05 through 010, we were a very good team. Yeah. So you set out once you were done coaching to read 100 books. you read 32 before Jim Caldwell called you. What would you say were the most influential books on your life that you read during that time? Oh, boy. Or maybe it was another time. You know, a book I just gave to a guy that owns a business here that hires a bunch of our engineers for internships is a book called Travelers Gift,

which is an Andy Andrews book. It's a fiction book, but it talks about the, the seven decisions everyone needs to make in their life. And it's really a neat book. That's one of the most recent ones. One of the books I read recently was a book that I didn't read it in my first 32, but a book that our former strength coach, Eric Lictor, gave me, called Outwitting the Devil.

And it's a little bit of a book written by a guy in 1938, but wasn't published until 2011. And it talks about, you know, that control of the mind. And, you know, I thought that was a darn good one. There's a great book called Just Growth, which talks about, you know, what's the key to the regions of the world that have flourished, and what is the problems with the regions of the world that have floundered?

And a lot of it has to do with the educational and mental growth of the area and the shrinking of the middle class or, you know, the expanding of the middle class. And I thought that was a good one. But I'd have to go back and get my list of 32. That was five years ago. It's all good. That was four years ago. You gave some good ones.

Coach, one of the things that I love to do is have these actionable takeaways for the listeners here. And that's the feedback I get through emails and everything else is usually around that. And so I feel like this entire conversation is just chalk full of them. So I really appreciate that. I have one more question for you before I know we both have to get roll on. And that question is around the whole purpose behind this show. And we've talked about it earlier, but it's called The Learning Leadership for a reason. You know, I love the art and science and study of leadership.

I've been fascinated by it. I kind of was thrust into that position as a young kid when the coach told me I was going to play quarterback in second grade. and done that my whole life. But naturally, I was more and still am more of an introvert. So I've had to really focus on learning from the journey of others. People like you and other great leaders where I could try to pick a thing or two and have that mold me and shape me. And so I'm trying to help and do that for other people as well. And that's why this show exists, the learning leader show.

And so I'm curious when you hear that phrase, learning leader, I know it's kind of duplicative because great leaders are always learning. But I'm wondering, what is the first thing that pops in your mind when you hear that phrase learning leader? You know, I think it is that whenever I see the word leader, it re-centers my thinking that a lot of people look at the word and it has the wrong definition. They think of leader as being a position or a rank, how many stripes are on your uniform. and the word leader really meets servant. And it isn't about your rank. It's about the action that you take to serve others. And so when I see learning leader,

it's to me it's a verb that talks about continuing to learn more and more how to serve, more different ways, more effective ways. and so as you said you know everyone knows that that a good leader is constantly learning that you know nothing stays the same the only thing constant is change but you know we've got to make sure that that we learn that leading is serving and that's what that phrase just reminds me as I look at it I love it and obviously you certainly lived that through action and that's why you're Just so respected. Whenever I talked to, talk to the guys that were fortunate enough to play for you, I just was meeting with Bobby and AJ and Schlegel, and it's just the same thing every time.

And I love hearing the stories. I have a personal one. I remember we were riding a bus. I know you don't remember this, but we were some type of recruiting trip. And I was at Miami at the time, and you had said, you know what? One of my children were born at that hospital on campus at Miami University. I just thought it was a way that you, that you, it just was a small example of how a lot of people can be caught up in themselves. And you were instantly thinking about others and me in that moment who didn't mean that much to you, although you made me feel like I did. And that was, I just, I just loved it. And it's something I remember. I know it was small to others.

They're probably saying, well, really. But to me, it just meant a lot. And so I feel like you've just embodied that your entire life, at least as long as I've known you, certainly. Well, you know, I think a leader does, because they want to serve, I think they do want to connect, you know, with whoever it is they're with. And even if it's with someone that maybe is thinking totally different than them, one phrase that that I've shared with a lot of people, and I don't know where I read it, I don't know if I invented it or whatever, but I don't think you can influence unless you, you, are influenceable. And the only way you can be influenceable is if you're listening, you know, to what the other person's feeling and thinking and talking about.

And I think that's really critical for a servant leader. I love it. Well, Coach, President Tressel, I really appreciate you being here and investing an hour of your time with me and the listeners of Learning Leadership. This one is just phenomenal. and really appreciate it. And I love to continue talking as we both progress on our journeys. Sounds great.

Make sure you say hi to your mom and dad and your brother. And, you know, I root for the Bengals every time unless they're playing the Browns. I will make sure to do that. I told AJ that we were talking. It was actually we're texting before the game, which normally it's kind of, you know, focused game time. He's like, Coach Dressor, are you serious? He was so excited, almost more excited that we were going to have this conversation.

and this was three hours before the game. So it was really neat. He's obviously excited, loves you, respects you more than anybody in the world. So thank you, coach. All right, my man. Appreciate you. Yeah. Talk soon.

Yes, sir. Bye. This episode of The Learning Leader Show is over, but we have plenty more to keep you locked in until next time. Head over to Learning Leadershow.com for more information and to request your favorite entrepreneur, CEO, world-class athlete, or anyone else that inspires you. You can also talk to Ryan directly by reaching out to him on Twitter at Ryan Hawk 12.

Thanks again, and we'll see you next time on The Learning Leader Show.