On a whim I bought a half season for the 2000-2001 Basketball Bucks

I had never bought season basketball tickets before and haven't since. As I remember the Indiana half was sold out so I had to settle for the other half. Most of the games were in December and mostly forgettable. I didn't mind much because as I remember the Buckeyes had a pretty good team that year and were really fun to watch.

One of the other reasons I bought the basketball tickets was because the football team was so bad. It wasn't that they were a terrible team. They had talent and on occasion showed glimpses of greatness. The problem was they had no heart. At one point during the season I remember someone asking John Cooper why he didn't discipline the offenders. His response was something to the effect that without the players he couldn't win games.

I had always supported Cooper until that season. His losses to Michigan and in the bowls were tough to take but for the most part he had represented the university well. The loss to South Carolina was especially tough and for the first (and only) time in my life I rooted for the Buckeyes to lose. Not because I thought it might increase the chances that Cooper would be fired. It was because this team had disrespected all the great Buckeye teams of the past with their antics. They were playing like a bunch of punks and the head coach stood on the sideline like he couldn't do a thing to stop it. That was in stark contrast to the opposing coach, Lou Holtz. His starting running back had a disciplinary issue before the bowl game and despite the fact it lessened his chance to win he suspended the player for the game and had to start his third string running back instead. As most of you might remember it was just fate that this kid happened to be a former Mr Ohio running back that wasn't deemed good enough to wear the Scarlet and Gray. By the end of the game he had well over over 100 yards and the Buckeyes had suffered an embarrassing loss. The two teams were sharp contrasts of each other. Lou Holtz' South Carolina was what every team strives to be and we had become "The U". In my opinion this was the darkest day in Buckeye football and John Cooper was fired soon afterward.

The Buckeye basketball team was playing well and was a nice diversion from the daily coaching rumors like "Bellotti is on a plane headed for Columbus". Soon though a relatively unknown name started to appear in the newspaper. I knew about Jim Tressel's success at Youngstown State but little else. The more the papers spoke about him the more I liked. He seemed to be a no nonsense guy that said all the right things. His only downside is he'd never been a head coach in Division 1A which was in sharp contrast to most of the other candidates. Still there was something about him.

I distinctly remember the week leading up to the Michigan Basketball game. Work was crazy but there was no way I was going to miss that game since without it I wouldn't have even bought the tickets. The rumors were also strong that the Buckeyes were going to name their new head coach. I didn't think anything of it until the day of the game when it was announced that Jim Tressel was going to be the new head coach. That night there was a buzz in the arena. It was the Michigan game but all anyone could talk about was Buckeye football. It's all a bit fuzzy now but as I remember it the game started and during a timeout I saw people pointing at a man that had just entered the arena and sat down at midcourt about 6 rows up. The buzz got louder. Everyone was asking the same question, "Is that him?" About 2 minutes before the end of the half the man got up and headed for the exit. Spontaneous applause erupted in the arena which I'm sure confused the basketball team because nothing was happening on the court at that moment. I joked with my buddy, "It would be funny if he just needed to goto the bathroom." His response was, "It would be even funnier if it wasn't even him."

Halftime soon arrived and the though everyone was looking for the man he never went back to his seat. I'm sure there was some halftime entertainment but I don't remember it. All anyone was talking about now was the mysterious man. Was it Jim Tressel? Soon after someone came out and placed a microphone just in front of the press area and we saw the man walking to it. The arena erupted in cheers and it was a while before it got quiet enough so he could address the crowd. The rest of the story is now part of Jim Tressel's legend but I'll never forget when he said,

"I can assure you that you will be proud of your young people in the classroom, in the community, and most especially in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on the football field."

I can't describe the feeling but I just felt lucky I was there. The whole place was jumping up and down, laughing, crying, and cheering. It was amazing. It was like we had been held captive for 13 years even if we didn't know it and this man was going to lead us to the promised land.
Buckeye Football was back.

For what it is worth the Basketball Bucks beat Michigan that day too.