Former Ohio State football coach and Youngstown State’s ex-president Jim Tressel is now Ohio’s 67th lieutenant governor. He was sworn into that office in a Friday morning ceremony at the Statehouse, in front of hundreds of officeholders, family members and other guests – including some of his former players.
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Pat DeWine, the son of Tressel’s new boss Gov. Mike DeWine, swore in the new lieutenant governor. Tressel spoke for nearly 20 minutes without notes or a teleprompter, thanking and acknowledging family, friends and his new co-workers.
"I'm totally humbled and excited. Here we are on Valentine's Day, Woody Hayes' birthday. Doesn't get much better than that," Tressel said.
He also talked about how he feels about the work ahead of him.
“We all have a lot of technical endeavors. We have budgets. We have this, we have that. But we've got to make sure the concern for our Ohioans and their fate, their future. Is our chief concern," Tressel said. "And sometimes it doesn't line up with what individually I'd really like. Maybe it doesn't serve my needs, but the chief interest and the decisions we make. Need to make sure that we've kept in mind the needs of all of our Ohioans."
Tressel admitted he doesn’t have much direct experience qualifying him for the job, other than the ability to listen, love and apply lessons learned from others.
Tressel was introduced by his predecessor, U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, whose appointment to the Senate to replace Vice President JD Vance opened up the position.
Another former lieutenant governor was on hand to emcee the event - Bruce Johnson, who was Gov. Bob Taft's third lieutenant governor. He was confirmed in 2005 to replace Jeannette Bradley when Taft appointed her treasurer after Joe Deters resigned. Bradley had been Taft's running mate for his re-election as governor in 2004, because his first lieutenant governor, Maureen O'Connor, was elected chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court.
