Our feature on the collegiate playing careers of current coaches continues with a look at the Big Ten’s head men.
.
Ohio State: Jim Tressel (Baldwin-Wallace, 1971-74)
Tressel is known for his signature sweater vest, but check out those sideburns! That’s Jim pictured with his legendary dad, Lee, at the DIII school outside Cleveland. Tressel started at QB his senior year and was all-conference.
Penn State: Joe Paterno (Brown, 1946-49)
JoePa hasn’t always been old. He played corner and QB for the Bears and still holds the school record with 14 career picks. His career as a signal-caller wasn’t as successful; famous sports writer Stanley Woodward once wrote: “Paterno, the Brown quarterback – he can’t run, and he can’t pass. All he can do is think and win.”
Michigan: Rich Rodriguez (West Virginia, 1981-84)
Rich Rod loves those multi-colored wrist bands, as seen here. The walk-on was such an afterthought coaches called him Gonzalez before a freshman practice. He made sure to get into a fight that day to make sure they remembered his name. He finished with 54 career tackles.
Minnesota: Tim Brewster (Illinois, 1980-83)
Seeing a mustache like Brewster’s makes you miss the ’80s. In all seriousness, the former TE is an Illini great; he was two-time All-Big Ten, named one of the school’s ten best receivers and captained the 1984 Rose Bowl team. It didn’t hurt that his WR coach was current Vikings head coach Brad Childress.
Illinois: Ron Zook (Miami OH, 1972-75)
Zook was a DB of some stacked Redskin teams, going 32-1-1 in his career and winning three straight MAC titles. He was captain of the ‘75 squad and, more importantly, sported a mean fu manchu.
Northwestern: Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern, 1993-96)
Fitz’s career is probably the only one you remember. The two-time Nagurski and Bednarik Award winner (1995, ‘96) led the Wildcats to the ‘96 Rose Bowl with Steve Schnur and Darnell Autry – the school’s first in 47 years.
Wisconsin: Bret Bielema (Iowa, 1988-92)
He started his career a 190-pound walk-on and finished a 265-pound tough-as-nails defensive lineman under Hayden Fry. To this day Bielema has a two-inch Tiger Hawk tattoo on his calf. Once after being disrespected by Iowa State’s players, Bielema shook the hand of ISU coach Jim Walden at midfield and said, “Coach, you’ve been a real [expletive] the last five years. I’ve enjoyed beating you.” Hopefully he’s worked on his postgame handshake since then.
Iowa: Kirk Ferentz (Connecticut, 1974-77)
Ferentz was a Husky back in their Yankee Conference days (D1-AA). He was a captain and linebacker.
Indiana: Bill Lynch (Butler, 1974-76)
This fiery Hoosiers coach played football and basketball at nearby Butler University. He quarterbacked the Bulldogs to three straight conference championships but his most memorable game was his last on the gridiron, when he “held” Larry Bird to 47 points.
Michigan State: Mark Dantonio (South Carolina, 1975-78)
The Jim Tressel clone manned the Gamecock secondary while his brother played LB. Could he still play in the SEC today? “Yeah, I think I could.” Somehow, we can’t picture him covering a Julio Jones or A.J. Green.
Purdue: Danny Hope (Eastern Kentucky, 1978-80)
No one saw more success as a player than Hope, an offensive guard part of the 1979 Division I-AA national championship team and ‘80 runner-up. In 2003, he succeeded his old coach Roy Kidd for the Colonels head gig.
.
Got a question or comment? E-mail us here
Liked this story? Click here for Lost Lettermen’s RSS feed and receive all our great content
A special thanks to all the athletic departments for the photos to make this feature possible
Click here to sign up for a Lost Lettermen account and contribute to our wiki database of over 150K former college football and basketball players: Lost Lettermen sign-up
