TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -Toledo’s first-year coach Tim Beckman sees his team as a family – a philosophy shared by his dad, a former college assistant who got his start at Baldwin-Wallace under Lee Tressel.
So it will be a reunion of sorts Saturday when Beckman goes up against Ohio State’s Jim Tressel, whose legendary coaching father had a hand in shaping both their careers.
“We’ve been part of the Tressel family for all my life,” the 44-year-old Beckman said this week.
Lee Tressel, who coached for 23 years until his death in 1981, was just starting out at Baldwin-Wallace when he convinced his injured running back, Dave Beckman, to take over coaching the freshman team.
“I was a business major. I told him I didn’t know anything about coaching,” said Dave Beckman. “He said ‘I’ll teach you everything I know.”’
It was the beginning of a relationship that was more than just a player and a coach.
a saying, ‘treat your players right and they’ll treat you right,” Beckman said.
Dave Beckman remembers his coach’s young son, Jimmy, a boy who always followed around his father and the players. Beckman even watched over the boy at the coach’s house.
“There were a group of us,” Beckman said. “It was as much study hall as it was baby-sitting.”
Beckman went on to coach at Evansville and Iowa and spent time in the front offices of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns and San Diego Chargers.
Lee Tressel amassed a 155-52-6 record, won the Division III national championship in 1978 and was inducted into the College Football Hall in 1996.
Both of their sons graduated from Berea High School near Cleveland, though, Tressel is 12 years older than Beckman. They were reunited in 2005 when Tim Beckman joined Tressel’s staff at Ohio State to coach defensive backs.
Beckman spent two seasons with the Buckeyes before becoming defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State.
“He will do a great job at Toledo,” Tressel said. “He’s a good football coach. He’s an energetic guy, great family.”
Beckman now counts Tressel as one of his mentors.
“A lot of what we do here at Toledo has a lot of Ohio State in it,” Beckman said.
He said he learned how to organize a football program and treat players while he was with Tressel. He also took a page out of Tressel’s book – a handbook called the Winner’s Manual that’s filled with life lessons.
Beckman calls his version the Rocket Manual.
“He’s definitely been a big influence on my career and me as a head football coach,” Beckman said. “I know he wants the best for me, and I want the best for him. We just happen to play each other. Saturday will be a great day for both us.”
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