Message to the rest of you, Jim Tressel (we are not a typical university - we are going reinvent ourselves to be what a university should be the 21st century. He is exactly what we need (have him sell naming rights to every door, room, hallway, street, building, sports area etc. - I hear BP is ready and willing to name the new Beegly). YSU needs to reinvent itself as a real university not a commuter school (you should not be allowed to apply to YSU as a marginal student - go to one of the two local community schools first). Build new buildings (get the new Nursing School building up), hire correctly (hire teachers/professors from the real world), control the unions (we are 8 million in debt - don't dare ask YSU for more money) (run off to professors who only exist to write textbooks, and not teach), continue the emphasis on research and development (like the Siemens Project), acquire more land (close off Lincoln Ave., create the new grass mall, etc)!
This is a tall order for a new President...especially one with no serious executive management experience. Moreover, I don't understand where in Tressel's past it would indicate he would be able to execute any of the things you describe above other than fundraising. In fact, the only reason anyone can give as to why Tressel would be a "good" choice is his potential fund raising ability. If this is true, I think a BS vanity title like he has at Akron or some job in the alumni office is appropriate. Top job at a university? Please.
Beyond that, though, is I don't understand how a school transitions to a "real university" from "commuter school" by hiring "teacher/professors from the real world". I don't even know what that means. A "real university" hires the best academics they can slot from the best institutions. While YSU isn't going to attract Harvard Ph.Ds, you should be able to fill your professor ranks with Ph.Ds from 2nd and 3rd tier graduate programs. "Real universities" promote scholarship in their teachers. Book writing, which you seem to dismiss above, is a part of that. Moreover, YSU professors mainly spend their time in the classroom. There are very, very few research oriented faculty at this university. If you think their are, trust me...as someone who has worked at a few universities...YSU professors are first and foremost teachers.
And...this is the crux of the problem...hiring a football coach to run your university, I feel, would be a giant red flag to actual academics and real university administrators. Not only would it make me question the competency of the President's Office, but the Regents who thought this was possibly a good idea. Hiring a football coach to run your university signals to the whole outside world that the decision makers at this institution "give up" and have low expectations for what YSU can be and the kind of employee it can attract. As an alumni with great pride in my undergraduate institution, I can't accept that. I just hope the decision makers at the university do not bow to public pressure from a ton of people unqualified to tell you what it takes to run a university by hiring someone unqualified to run a university.