Fan of The Vest

Jim Tressel probably went years without having to buy his own Wendy's burger or Frosty, or husk his own corn.

The man's Ohio State football warriors conquered archrival Michigan nine of 10 Novembers, never losing to the Maize and Blue on Ohio soil, and if that wasn't enough Hubris Juice for all concerned in Scarlet and Gray, Tressel also gave Flyover Land, Ohio Swath, its first national title in 34 years.

Football factories and their local media often being co-dependent, it took sportswriters from California-based Yahoo! to reveal that Tressel, whose attention to detail stood out even among football coaches, deployed star players last fall while knowing they should've been ineligible. Coach and enablers, among them the unversity's president, a man name Gee, responded to Yahoo!'s report with a Buckeyes square dance that would've made pigs howl. Yet the drumbeat of contrary facts continued.

Hours after Tressel resigned Monday, Sports Illustrated released an investigative report that strafed claims by Ohio State's athletic director that off-field misdeeds weren't systemic. Next, the cow dung piled higher in Columbus when Tressel's predecessor John Cooper (who usually lost to Michigan) said OSU's compliance officers, at least those that prowled campus in his tenure, surely would've known that Buckeyes players -- nearly 30 in all -- were hocking Buckeye bling for tattoes. An NCAA hearing still awaits Tressel and Ohio State.

West Coast Bias required no smelling salts as the reports came out.

The West's flagship football team had exposed Ohio State, too, but that's gone on for years. USC, coached by Pete Carroll, who also would run afoul of the NCAA, went 2-0 against Tressel's Buckeyes, winning in Columbus even with a true freshman quarterback. West Coast Bias mentions those victories here out of regard for Tressel, who won 83 percent of his games. The lesson: Even when Ohio State's reach is high, USC's will be higher.

Had Tressel looked to the West sooner for football wisdom, his big-game prowess, which was the best in school history, would've been even stronger. The Vest doubted the West Coast offense, notably the quick passes to backs and tight ends that engage linebackers and safeties and thus help the whole to play faster than the parts. Tressel, to his credit, saw the West Coast light late in his tenure, which factored into his final two bowl victories: the Rose, over Oregon in 2010; and the Sugar, over Arkansas six months ago. The latter was Ohio State's first bowl win over any SECessionist team in 10 attempts.

As an author Tressel looked to the West, to UCLA coach John Wooden's Pyramid of Success when he wrote the "Block O of Life," a Scarlet and Gray prescription for life habits.

You can buy a used copy for 66 cents on Amazon.com. Insert your own punchline.

Photo: juplife, Creative Commons 2.0.