When Tresel asked you to join the Ohio State football program, he saw you as the perfect fit because of your extensive background as a head football coach and high school administrator in Mansfield. Did your background make it an easy transition?
There are a lot of similarities between high school and college. Guys have to balance their class time with their responsibilities to the football team. The hours spent on football are far-encompassing, and then there are the academics. Look at the time players like James Laurinaitis and Brian Robiskie put in, not only on the football field but in the film room, meeting room, and behind the scenes, along with being fine students. The hours they put in are unbelievable.

A big part of your job is monitoring the academic progress of the players. What kind of victories has Ohio State had in that regard?
In the last two years, we've had three first-team Academic All-Americans [Robiskie, Anthony Gonzalez, and Stan White] and two second-team All-Americans [Laurinaitis and Doug Datish]. Brian also was just named Ohio State's first finalist for the Arthur Ashe Award, given to minority student athletes. In the last six years, our guys have won or tied for the most players on the Academic All-Big Ten team. I understand that in terms of school reform and school initiatives, many of the things we do now were not here when I got here.

At age 19, our guys need certain structure in the classes they take, and then you balance the athletics with that. You can't just roll the dice and tell them to go get a degree. There are mandatory study tables, especially for freshmen, along with academic monitoring and mentoring from our athletic counselors and academic advisers.

One of your main responsibilities is overseeing the team's community outreach program. In a nutshell, how does that work?
In many cases, we're talking about nonprofit organizations and programs dealing with disadvantaged youth that want to line up appearances by the players. Philosophically, with the outreach program, if the players decide, "Hey, this is a good thing," it may rub off on them and they won't want to get involved in anything negative. Working with these organizations and realizing they could impact other people might make a light go off in their heads.

You played at Ohio State [one year on the freshman team, 1970] when Woody Hayes ran the program. What similarities do you see between Hayes and Tressel?
The biggest thing you'll see is the attention to detail and real concern about players getting college degrees, [and] that whole "pay forward" concept of community service. You walk through the hallways of the Woody Hayes facility and see Jim's philosophy, the basic tenets of his "Block ‘O' of Life," on the wall. You can talk about the gold pants [for beating Michigan], the Big Ten championships, and the national championships, but the bottom line is, how many people have you served with a goal of making them better?

How much special attention will be paid to a heralded recruit like Terrelle Pryor to make sure his transition to campus life is as seamless as possible?
Anytime you're dealing with a guy like Pryor, you want to make sure he's getting off to a great start. How can you make the transition easy for him? We have programs in place for guys to get adjusted. With the success we've had, players intrinsically want to do well. That makes it easy on Stan Jefferson.

Is it true that your wardrobe got you in hot water with Tressel during your job interview?
I wore a blue suit that day when I met with school officials. Jim pulled me aside and said, "Welcome aboard . . . but don't wear blue down here again." As a high school administrator, I wore a lot of blue and black. But that suit is in the closet. I haven't worn anything blue in five years.

Interview by JON SPENCER