JIM TRESSEL’S THE WINNERS MANUAL: FOR THE GAME OF LIFE
Ohio State Coaching Legend Examines What It Really Means to Be a Winner

“If you’re struggling with your place in the world, if things have become difficult and you feel like giving up, or if you don’t know whether or not you are a winner, this book will encourage you, lift you up when you’re wrestling with life, push you forward, and motivate you to be a better person and a more vital part of whatever team you serve.” — Coach Jim Tressel

Carol Stream, Ill. —Ohio State University head football coach Jim Tressel has always been an admirer of former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. He has studied Coach Wooden’s philosophy—the Pyramid of Success—as well as the work of other coaches who embodied the teachings of his father, Lee Tressel, and the things he strongly believed. With the release of The Winners Manual: For the Game of Life (Tyndale House Publishers, July 15, 2008)—which was co-written with Chris Fabry and includes a foreword by John Maxwell—professionals, leaders of all kinds, coaches, athletes, and especially moms and dads may closely examine the fundamental attitudes and practices that ultimately make people winners in life.

“The accumulation of quotes and stories that the Winners Manual provides has been the rudder guiding my life.” — Bobby Carpenter, former OSU linebacker, now playing for the Dallas Cowboys

In 1986, when Tressel took his first head-coaching position at Youngstown State, he wanted to be able to articulate wisdom and life principles he had learned from people in his life and pass them on to his players. That’s where the first Winners Manual originated. Much like Wooden’s utilization of the Pyramid of Success, a key component of Tressel’s Winners Manual is “The Block O of Life,” an illustration that depicts the categories of life to which all the principles apply. Tressel himself says, “The Block O helps me crystallize my thinking and makes me more efficient. It’s not a magic pill. It doesn’t necessarily make my purpose and goals easier to accomplish, but it does make life more observable. I can see how I’m doing in each area by looking at the goals I’m setting and achieving—or not achieving.”

The Block O of Life includes both “purpose” components (personal/family, spiritual/moral, and caring/giving) and “goals” components (strength/fitness, football/family, and academics/career). The Block O of Life is featured prominently within the walls of the Les Wexner Football Complex. An eight-foot diagram of the Block O of Life is on the front wall of the team meeting room, and each player receives a wallet-size card with the same information and six blank spaces for their specific goals. The Block O diagram is also on the back cover of the OSU Winners Manual.

“The Winners Manual was where I would go every morning to reflect on the gifts I had been given and to share a common bond with my teammates.”
— A. J. Hawk, former OSU All-America Linebacker, now playing for the Green Bay Packers

 The Winners Manual: For the Game of Life is a personal playbook for success, filled with insights on what it takes to be a winner in the game of life from some of the greatest coaches, athletes, writers, thinkers, and leaders in the world. This book, which is adapted from the 400-plus-page manual that Tressel provides to the players in his program every year, features the following “Big Ten Fundamentals”:

• Attitude
• Discipline
• Excellence
• Faith and Belief
• Work
• Handling Adversity and Success
• Love
• Responsibility
• Team
• Hope

“At both Cincinnati and Michigan State, the Winners Manual has allowed our teams to focus successfully on the intangible fundamentals that are so critical to a young man’s life on and off the field. In essence, it has given us the ability to harness the human spirit!”
— Mark Dantonio, head football coach, Michigan State University

An inspiring blend of football stories, spiritual insights, motivational reading, and practical application, The Winners Manual provides an inside look at the core philosophy that has affected the lives of thousands of student athletes in a positive way and served as the foundation for two of the most successful college football programs ever. The book features eight full-color pages of photos from Coach Tressel’s personal family album, as well as the Ohio State and Youngstown State football archives.

“Being able to apply lessons from the Winners Manual to practices and games gave us a great advantage. My teammate Bobby Carpenter was a walking, talking winners manual!”
— Mike Nugent, former OSU kicker and 2004 MVP, now playing for the New York Jets

Tressel is contributing his profits from The Winners Manual to the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library Renovation Fund on the Ohio State University campus in Columbus. The library was named in honor of the university’s fifth president and is considered a university landmark, composed of three structures—the original 1913 building, the stack tower added in 1951, and the 1977 addition. Closed for renovation in July 2006, the library is a focal point of the university and is scheduled to reopen in 2009. Tressel and his wife, Ellen, have been co-chairs of this $110 million project.

Since taking over the reins of the OSU football team in 2001, Tressel has guided the Buckeyes to an overall record of 73–16; seven bowl appearances, including five Bowl Championship Series games; five ten-win seasons; four Big Ten titles; and one national championship.

“The Winners Manual was a great reference for me. When I was having trouble on the field, or doubted myself in the classroom, I could refer to it for well-needed guidance.”
— Donte Whitner, former OSU safety, now playing for the Buffalo Bills

In 2002, Tressel was named National Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association, an award he had won three times at Youngstown State University in the I-AA division, thus becoming the first person in the history of the AFCA to win the honor at two different schools. He also received the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year Award from the Football Writers Association of America.

Prior to coming to Ohio State, Tressel spent fifteen seasons as the head coach at Youngstown State, where he quickly became one of the most respected I-AA coaches in America. His years there were very successful, as his teams won four national championships and compiled an overall record of 135–57–2. He was a four-time pick as the Division I-AA Coach of the Year. His combined overall head-coaching record at Ohio State and Youngstown State is 208–73–2, and he has taken nine of his teams to a national-championship game, winning five titles. His 208 wins rank twelfth in number of all-time Division I coaching victories.

Tressel is actively involved with the American Football Coaches Association, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Alpha Tau Omega, the William Oxley Thompson Library, and the Ohio State University Medical Center. He participates in local philanthropic opportunities, including the Alzheimer’s Association of Central Ohio, the Columbus Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the Tressel Family Fund for Cancer Prevention Research, the Ronald McDonald House, the Youngstown State University Minority Student Endowment, the Mount Carmel School of Nursing, and the Jim and Ellen Tressel Athletic Scholarship Fund.

Jim and his wife, Ellen, live in Upper Arlington, Ohio. They are the parents of four accomplished young adults: Zak, Carlee, Eric, and Whitney.
Football and Tyndale House recently resulted in another winning combination when Tyndale published Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices & Priorities of a Winning Life, a memoir by Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker. Released on July 10, 2007, Quiet Strength reached No. 1 on the New York Times hardcover nonfiction list and, with more than one million copies in print, has become one of the best-selling sports-related titles in history. Tyndale also recently published Don’t Bet Against Me! by Deanna Favre. This memoir by the wife of former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre was also a New York Times best seller. Tyndale House Publishers was founded in 1962 by Dr. Kenneth N. Taylor as a means of publishing The Living Bible and has since grown into one of the premier publishing houses in the industry. It is located in Carol Stream, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago.
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