Should the Indianapolis Colts hire Jim Tressel as their coach?

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Writers from around Tribune Co. discuss whether the Indianapolis Colts should hire former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel as their new head coach. Check back throughout the day for more responses and join the discussion by voting in the poll and leaving a comment of your own.

Dan Pompei, Chicago Tribune

Jim Tressel clearly is a pretty special coach. At least he was a pretty special college coach. It makes perfect sense for Tressel to be a candidate in Indianapolis. The Colts aren’t looking for a candidate for beatification, or the next president of the United States. What they need is a man who can coach.

Tressel hardly would be the only NFL coach or player with a skeleton or two in his closet. What we’re not sure of is if Tressel’s success at Youngstown State and Ohio State was primarily the result of his recruiting skills, as opposed to his coaching skills. He would need to be more than a salesman to win in the NFL.

If Tressel helps the Colts win, no one in Indianapolis is going to give a darn about the NCAA rules he broke in Columbus.

Mike Berardino, South Florida Sun-Sentinel Could the sweater vest translate to the pros? Pretty sure free tattoos and fancy cars aren’t frowned upon in the NFL the way they were at Jim Tressel’s last stop, so I’d definitely give the former Ohio State coach a long look if I were running the Colts.

There’s a familiarity after Tressel spent last season as a game-day consultant (whatever that is) for the Colts. That has to help, considering all the upheaval (with more to come) in the Super Bowl host city. Even though he’d never worked in the pros before, Tressel’s background is on the offensive side. (Then again, his Buckeye quarterbacks never looked like future pros.)

I’d also be tempted to hire Marc Trestman, fresh off some serious success in the Canadian league, but let’s not kid ourselves: You’d have to run this by Andrew Luck’s people first.

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