“After meeting with University officials, we agreed that it is in the best interest of Ohio State that I resign as head football coach,” Tressel said in a statement Monday morning. “The appreciation that Ellen and I have for the Buckeye Nation is immeasurable.”
School president E. Gordon Gee announced Tressel’s departure in a letter sent to Ohio State trustees.
“As you all know, I appointed a special committee to analyze and provide advice to me regarding issues attendant to our football program,” the letter said, according to The Columbus Dispatch, which first reported Tressel’s decision. “In consultation with the senior leadership of the University and the senior leadership of the Board, I have been actively reviewing the matter and have accepted Coach Tressel’s resignation.”
Assistant coach Luke Fickell, who had been named to fill in for Tressel during the first five games of the 2011 season in which he was to be suspended, will take over as the interim head coach, Ohio State said in a news release.
“My public statement will include our common understanding that throughout all we do, we are One University with one set of standards and one overarching mission,” Gee wrote in the letter, according to the Columbus newspaper. “The University’s enduring public purposes and its tradition of excellence continue to guide our actions.”
The news comes two weeks after Buckeyes athletic director Gene Smith affirmed his support for the coach, who has led the Ohio State program for 10 seasons.
At the Big Ten spring meetings earlier this month, Smith — while declining to discuss any details of an ongoing NCAA investigation of Tressel — said his outlook toward the coach’s position hadn’t wavered.
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