Posted by: Josh Kendall on January 16, 2013

You don't hear a lot of folks talk about missing working until almost midnight at their old job, but that's part of what Jim Tressel misses about coaching Ohio State.

"You miss the camaraderie with the staff, working until 11 at night. You miss the players," Tressel said Tuesday on The Buckeye Show on 97.1-FM in Columbus, Ohio. "I obviously did miss Saturday afternoons because there is nothing like trying to figure out if all the work you did that week was going to match up and then play that chess game when someone came with something different from what you'd been doing."

Still, Tressel does not have an overwhelming itch to get back into coaching, he said.

"All in all I have never really had that moment when I said, 'I have to put that whistle back on.' I have had discussions with people at times, but I am really pleased with what I am doing right here," he said.

Tressel is now the vice president of strategic engagement at Akron.

"It's really taking the things I have done the last 37 years and applying them to a different group of young people," he said. "I tease people that I used to have 105 guys, now I have 29,000 so I am a little busy."

Tressel is not bitter about the way his tenure ended with the Buckeyes, he said.

"I have never ended an event and concerned myself if I was treated fair," Tressel said. "I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be there to start with. Was that even fair that I got that chance? I was there 10 years. There are a whole lot of things I would have done differently. But I think also as I look back I feel very good that I put my heart and soul into the place for 10 years, turned out a lot of good kids and had some pretty good football teams as well. I feel wonderful about it. It didn't take me anytime to continue to feel good about 10 wonderful years at a place that is so, so special."

Tressel also predicted "extraordinary things" from the Buckeyes under Urban Meyer.

"I think he's done an excellent job," Tressel said. "I think the mark of a good coach is you take the personnel that you have and you do the things with them that they are capable of doing."

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Josh Kendall is a staff writer for CoachingSearch.com and has covered the SEC for more than 15 years for papers such as the Athens Banner-Herald, Macon Telegraph, and The State. He’s the father of two boys who he’s hoping don’t inherit his wide receiver frame and offensive guard feet. Follow @EyeOnCoaches on twitter and send your feedback to josh@coachingsearch.com