I heard Coach Grippa on 1530 this morning on my drive in and heard him praising Coach Tressell. Cutler was referring to an email Coach Grippa sent to him which I found on the website and am posting below.

UC has landed a few LaSalle players in the past (JK Shaeffer is coming next year) but was surprised to see him so openly endorse a coach. UC has also missed out on a few elite prospects like Ben Martin, Devier Posey and Ryan Stanchek.

Thoughts?

Here's the email:

Quote:Alan,

I listen to your show every morning coming into school
and you said this morning that you wanted to hear from Jim
Tressel supporters and that is why I am e-amiling you this
morning.

First of all I am a die hard Ohio State fan. I have
met Jim Tressel on multiple occasions while he was
recruiting at LaSalle and of all of the head college
football coaches that I have met in my 21 years as a head
high school football coach he is by far the most
impressive.

I heard you challenge him as a game coach and that he
got out coached by Les Miles and I think that you are
wrong. Jim won 4 National titles at Youngstown State and
1 at Ohio State. A few years ago Jim went head to head
against Les Miles and the buckeyes won easily by 30 or so
points. Ohio State had more talent than Oklahoma State
that year just like LSU had more talent than OSU this
year. It still comes down to having players and I
sincerely believe that the true measure of a coach is how
they do when they don't always have the best talent. I
maintain that this was a rebuilding year for OSU and for
the buckeyes to get to the national championship game at
all speaks volumes about coach Tressel.

As a true OSU fan I have to admit that Jim is a little
conservative on offense. I wish that they would air it
out more but that is not his style. I believe that
Boeckman the OSU QB had trigger problems and that hurt the
buckeyes as much as the mental mistakes. I saw receivers
open and he couldn't pull the trigger. Maybe they didn't
want him taking chances but sometimes you have to roll the
dice and take chances. Michigan did that against Florida
and that is one of the reason that they won.

Is the SEC better than the Big Ten? Yes, the SEC
puts more players in the NFL than any other league in
America. Like I said before it is all about the players.
The competition in the SEC is brutal. Can the top
teams in the big Ten compete with the SEC? I say yes.
The big ten over the last 23 head to head games with the
SEC is 11-12. Not bad? The bottom teams in the big ten
are terrible. The bottom teams in the SEC are still
pretty good. UK's win against LSU is a prime example of
that.

In the GCL we experience that same thing in all of the
sports. The GCL teams always do well in tournaments
because we are battled tested from playing in our league.

I have to get going but I wanted to end with this
story about Jim Tressel. Two years ago he was visiting
LaSalle for the firts time and he stayed for 2 hours. He
visited with our administrators and guidance staff and
coaches. While we were waiting for a player to come out
of class he said to me that when he gets fired from this
job (that says a lot to me) he wants to teach Math at a
Catholic High School and be the JV QB coach. He is not
looking to go the NFL. He is a teacher first and he
cares about his players. Troy Smith was saved because of
coach Tressel. His family and home life was as bad as it
gets and Jim Tressell helped save him with direction and
guidance. In fact, one of the OSU assistant coaches
shared with me that Jim never gives up on kids and they
somtetimes wish that he would cut some loose but he
believes that he can change individual lives and to be
honest that is what we are here for.

Thanks for listeng to me and I am riding in at 7:15 to
about 7:30 every morning.


Tom Grippa
Head Football Coach
LaSalle High School

Coach Grippa's Email

maybe grippa feels he and tressel have something in common now....tons of talent and nothing to show for it.

Quote:While we were waiting for a player to come out
of class he said to me that when he gets fired from this
job (that says a lot to me) he wants to teach Math at a
Catholic High School and be the JV QB coach. He is not
looking to go the NFL. He is a teacher first and he
cares about his players.

Please spare me! I can't stand the BS melodrama.

I have interviewed more people than I can count over the last decade and have heard just about every saccharine BS line you can think of. But never a doozy quite so over the top as that.

If I'm a LaSalle parent I'd have to wonder if my child is being done a disservice when it comes to their recruitment.

xlax1306 Wrote:maybe grippa feels he and tressel have something in common now....tons of talent and nothing to show for it.

LOL. That is funny!

oleskl Wrote:If I'm a LaSalle parent I'd have to wonder if my child is being done a disservice when it comes to their recruitment.

Agree completely. This is so Grippa. He wont shut up about DeVier Posey (because he's going to OSU) but in the same breath, you never ever hear him talk up a kid like Schaffer or any of the other D-1 players he has turned out unless he is directly asked about them.

This is nothing more than a huge OSU fan trying to backup his team after an ugly loss. The fact that he admitted he was a "die hard Ohio State fan" makes his entire argument bias.

I guess LaSalle's goal is to send players to the school that has had more players arrested than any other school in America. People like Grippa are the ones who are ruining this country because they are blind to reality and happy to be that way. I truly can't express how happy I am that my son didn't play for a coach like Grippa.

QSECOFR Wrote:I guess LaSalle's goal is to send players to the school that has had more players arrested than any other school in America. People like Grippa are the ones who are ruining this country because they are blind to reality and happy to be that way. I truly can't express how happy I am that my son didn't play for a coach like Grippa.

Do you have a link about OSU having the most kids arrested, or is that just your opinion?

I'm not a Grippa fan whatsoever and I'm a huge Elder backer, but what he says about Tressel is true. I can't recall ever reading anything about someone ripping him about his class and integrity. I'm a big UC fan, but i' also a big OSU football fan and i have to give Tressel credit for getting this team back in the NC after getting hit so hard by graduation and early defections to the NFL. I know they just got beat in the NC by a better LSU team, but there's 117 other D1 teams that would've given their left nut to be in their position.


I'm having a tough time agreeing with a dirtbag like Grippa, but he's right about Tressel.

Okay, rip away.....

La$alle ha$ something in common with THE runnerup U, O$U.

Seriously, who cares..........

I hear Grippa on the radio this morning discussing w/Cutler. I've never heard one man so in love with another man. If LaSalle ever has a 5* player we shouldn't even waste our time because this loser is going to push all his top players to OSU.

I'm going to enjoy the Bombers annual beatdowns of LaSalle even more in future years.

Real, don't forget about Colerain’s annual annihilation of LaSalle. I remember when Anthony Kummer was the QB at LaSalle several years ago and he said that he had never been hit as hard as he was when they played Colerain.

Anthony, please meet Mr. Byrd. He will be meeting you during the game!

RealDeal Wrote:I hear Grippa on the radio this morning discussing w/Cutler. I've never heard one man so in love with another man. If LaSalle ever has a 5* player we shouldn't even waste our time because this loser is going to push all his top players to OSU.

I'm going to enjoy the Bombers annual beatdowns of LaSalle even more in future years.

Agreed...i went to a lasalle feeder school and then to X and i cannot tell you the enjoyment i get out of hearing all of my dad's friends who have sent their kids to lasalle moan and ***** about grippa...this year he was the key note speaker after the annual turkeybowl football game between lasalles 2 biggest feeder schools (st james and st i's). he led of his speach by talking about all of lasalles d-1 talent. he talked about how devier is going to osu and didnt mention schaeffer. He then went on to say that kendall owens would be going d-1 but that he isn't smart enough. he wrapped that rediculousness up and began taking questions from the crowd. The first question asked was "how will lasalle be next year" to which he bluntly responded "mediocre". this took about half the excitement out of the crowd. The other half left when he closed his 'session' with something along the lines of "i am glad to be at lasalle and hope to close out my career here"

QSECOFR Wrote:Real, don't forget about Colerain’s annual annihilation of LaSalle. I remember when Anthony Kummer was the QB at LaSalle several years ago and he said that he had never been hit as hard as he was when they played Colerain.

Anthony, please meet Mr. Byrd. He will be meeting you during the game!

Was that a quote in the paper by the QB or made up Colerain story?

He lives 5 doors away from me. I know his dad, his uncle, his mom, etc. anything else you would like to know?

QSECOFR Wrote:He lives 5 doors away from me. I know his dad, his uncle, his mom, etc. anything else you would like to know?

you live in lake hills? i live in lake hills

xlax1306 Wrote:

QSECOFR Wrote:He lives 5 doors away from me. I know his dad, his uncle, his mom, etc. anything else you would like to know?

you live in lake hills? i live in lake hills

Yuppers.

So.................

I wonder what Grippa thinks of Tressel now?????????????????

(01-11-2008 12:45 PM)Tomcat Wrote:  

QSECOFR Wrote:I guess LaSalle's goal is to send players to the school that has had more players arrested than any other school in America. People like Grippa are the ones who are ruining this country because they are blind to reality and happy to be that way. I truly can't express how happy I am that my son didn't play for a coach like Grippa.

I'm a big UC fan, but i' also a big OSU football fan and i have to give Tressel credit for getting this team back in the NC after getting hit so hard by graduation and early defections to the NFL.

I think you meant "getting hit so hard by players running out of eligibilityand early defections to the NFL."

Wow I took his "when I get fired" line as a bs throwaway comment designed to show his loyalty.

But perhaps it was more of a vague admission that there were plenty of things going on that would ultimately get him fired.