Report: Indianapolis Colts interview Jim Tressel - Baltimore Sun (blog)

The Indianapolis Colts have reportedly talked with former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel about its head coaching opening. (AP File Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel could factor into the head coaching position with the Indianapolis Colts.

According to multiple sources who have spoken with the Indianapolis Star, Tressel could interview for the Colt’s coaching position soon.

â€Å"Team owner Jim Irsay’s plane flew Friday morning to Sarasota, Fla., where Tressel owns a home, and returned to Indianapolis later in the day.”

A television station in Columbus, Ohio – WBNS-TV – reported that the Colts and Tressel met Friday for a second time to discuss the team’s opening.

Jim Caldwell was fired on Tuesday after a disappointing 2-14 season that saw the Colts play without its star quarterback Peyton Manning, who was injured.

Tressel spent 10 seasons as the head coach at Ohio State, going 94-22 including a national championship in 2002. He resigned on May 30, 2011 amid NCAA violations. Those violations ended up forcing the school to vacate all of its wins from the 2010 season as well as putting Ohio State a one-year bowl ban. The NCAA hit Tressel with a â€Å"show-cause” penalty that would force any school interested in hiring him to show cause for the hire or face sanctions themselves. The penalty lasts until Dec. 19, 2016.

The Colts hired him in September as a game-day replay consultant and after a public outcry, suspended him for the first seven games of the season.

The 59-year-old Tressel has never been a head coach in the NFL. He’s never even worked as an assistant coach in the pro ranks. He does have a 229-79-2 overall coaching record but would he translate to the NFL style of play? Perhaps the Colts saw what Jim Harbaugh did in San Francisco with the 49ers and are hoping for the same sort of magic from Tressel.

The Colts have the first pick in April’s NFL Draft and are expected to take Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck.

According the Star report, the Colts have already interviewed New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr. , and have reportedly interviewed Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Jerry Gray as well.