Tressel ball: Dantonio hopes to build Spartans in image of his mentor's Buckeyes

EAST LANSING - There's familiarity between coaching staffs, and then there's Michigan State-Ohio State. This weekend is like a barbecue at Uncle Jim's house.

In fact, Uncle Jim - Tressel - has a lot to do with the fact that his nephew, Mike, his protege, Mark, and three others are coaching at MSU right now. Today they'll try to repay him by beating him when No. 1 Ohio State (7-0 overall, 3-0 Big Ten) and the Spartans (5-2, 1-2) meet at Ohio Stadium.

"Both (staffs) probably think, OK, we've got a little bit of inside knowledge and this is gonna help, and we'll try to use it however we can," said Mike Tressel, whose father, Dick Tressel, is Jim's older brother and running backs coach. "But the bottom line is, let's play football. The kids have got to play, it doesn't matter what I know."

Long term, MSU fans hope that what first-year coach Mark Dantonio and his MSU staff know will translate into what Jim Tressel and his Ohio State staff are doing. "Tressel Ball" has resulted in wild success, even by Ohio State standards - a 69-14 record in six-plus seasons, the 2002 national championship, three Big Ten championships, a 5-1 record against hated Michigan.

Dantonio has worked with Tressel for 10 years in three different stints, the last of which was as Ohio State's defensive coordinator from 2001-03. He hopes to build the MSU program the way Tressel did at Youngstown State, then Ohio State.

"A lot of the things we do are patterned after what I've experienced with him," Dantonio said.

The official definition of "Tressel Ball" is: Relentless defense, superior special teams, mistake-free but opportunistic offense.

"That's what he'd tell you," Mike Tressel said of his uncle. "But to me it's just winning football and using the people you have. And the guys never give up, his people never give up. He has a way to get the most out of them."

The blueprint

Dantonio and Jim Tressel have different personalities. Although both come across as dry and business-like, those close to them say otherwise.

Dantonio is "more outwardly emotional," Mike Tressel said.

"Dantonio was, maybe, a little more intense, fiery, getting after guys," said Fred Pagac Jr., a linebacker on the OSU's 2002 national title team. "Coach Tressel is more laid back, but you know when he's trying to get his point across."

Dantonio aspires to attain Tressel's seemingly unwavering calmness.

"Hopefully, and I don't know if I'm there yet - I know I'm not there yet - but I think he has tremendous patience and perseverance," Dantonio said. "He's able to deal with issues, and see things clearly, and move through them. Not the good times, the bad times, too. Especially the bad times.

"That's when he's at his best. If I can take anything from him, it would be that. I would like to be at our best when things look the bleakest."

MSU may have seen some of that last week. Coming off a 48-41 loss to Northwestern that could have been devastating, Dantonio got the Spartans turned around for an impressive 52-27 win over Indiana.

He did it amid talk of MSU's penchant for collapses, and criticism of his coaches' game plans and play calling. The way he handles them also stems from the way Tressel handled him.

"I think in three years as the defensive coordinator, he never once got on the phone and said, 'What are you doing here? What are you gonna call here? Play this here. Why did you call that?' Not one time," Dantonio said. "He's always empowered his coaches to coach, and that's what I want to do here, I want to empower our coaches to coach. I think you get continuity when you do that. You become a little bit more resilient, a little bit more in control when you do that with your coaches."

On the field, running the football and stopping the run are priorities for both men. Dantonio still receives credit for the defense he constructed in Columbus.

"Mark Dantonio came in and kind of set the blueprint for the current regime," Jim Tressel said. "The blueprint of toughness, effort, preparation and speed."

Off the field, Dantonio heavily involves tradition, just as Tressel did at Youngstown State and does at OSU.

But the biggest key to Tressel's success, Dantonio and others say, is his ability to get max effort out of his players consistently - his ability "to harness the human spirit," Dantonio said.

"He cares about his guys, and the guys know how much he cares," Pagac said of Tressel. "I think that's definitely where some of his success comes from."

'To be trusted'

Dantonio is a "Tressel guy" first and foremost, although he has other mentors. He got the MSU job in large part because of his time as an MSU assistant under Nick Saban.

Saban's "attention to detail and meticulousness" had an effect on Dantonio, he said. But Dantonio clearly takes a different approach with players than the often-surly Saban.

"I don't think every guy gave everything he could give all the time, because of how some of them felt about Saban," said Jason Strayhorn, a senior All-Big Ten center on the 1998 MSU team that pulled an upset at No. 1 Ohio State.

Months before that game, MSU was recruiting Cleveland center prospect LeCharles Bentley for its 1998 class. Strayhorn was his player host. Bentley met with Saban and asked about immediate playing time.

"Saban told him he could probably start in my place, he wasn't too happy with me anyway," Strayhorn recalled. "(Bentley) came back and told me about it, and then he said he could never play for a guy that would stab one of his own players in the back like that."

Bentley committed to Ohio State and played three solid seasons under John Cooper. He had a new coach as a senior - Jim Tressel. Bentley was a first-team All-American and won the Rimington Award for top center in his one year under Tressel.

Tressel sets aside a day to spend with every junior and senior on his team, a practice Dantonio plans to institute at MSU. Beyond the corny "he's a good coach but a better person" testimonials, it's apparent that both men emphasize relationships as keys to success more than some in their profession.

"Not every coach is to be trusted," Strayhorn said. "But Mark is as advertised. You can trust him. He reminds me of George Perles, who recruited me to MSU. He stands up for his guys, and I think that will be an underlying thing that will help change things in this program."

And he can fast-forward that change today, by knocking off Uncle Jim in his own backyard. Besides what it would do for this season, a victory would help Dantonio in the area that is most responsible for the success of Tressel, Saban and other top coaches: Recruiting.

Contact Joe Rexrode at jrexrode@lsj.com.