OSU head football coach visits Wright-Patt Published April 9, 2009 By Josh Aycock 88 Air Base Wing Public Affairs WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Ohio State University's head football coach Jim Tressel visited the base for the Coaches Tour 2009 Kickoff Briefing Apr. 7. Thousands of the base's Buckeye fans showed up to get a glimpse of the coach. Coach Tressel and Marcus Freeman, all-star OSU linebacker who enters the NFL's Draft in April, spent hours meeting the base population and signing autographs. "There is no better example for our young people than the United States military and their families," said Coach Tressel to his audience of fans. Coach Tressel met in private with Col. Brad Spacy, 88th Air Base Wing commander, and base award winners before sitting in the cockpit of an F-16 Fighting Falcon in front of an excited crowd. "It's good to get out here and know we are appreciated by someone big like Jim Tressel," said Staff Sgt. Cassie Taylor, 88th Operations Security Squadron's commander's executive and lifelong Buckeye fan. "For someone to come out and have such a big event like this and dedicate so much time to the service men and women is awesome." Fans were treated to a day of fun and relaxation as they waited to meet the Coach. The North hangar of building 206 was decked out with a climbing wall, football tosses, video games, food and an assortment of displays. "When someone like Coach Tressel comes out and shares half a day just to hang out, meet and take pictures, that's huge for morale," said Colonel Spacy. "You can't overestimate the impact this has on the base or the troops that work here, it's really big." The briefing aimed to prepare Coach Tressel for a visit to the U.S. Central Command's area of responsibility later this year. Coach Tressel and a handful of other collegiate coaches will visit the AOR to show their support for the troops and raise morale. "This helps them set off the Coaches Tour," said Colonel Spacy. "What you see here is going to be magnified by ten times over there." According to Coach Tressel, OSU's football program receives lots of e-mails and letters from deployed service men and women telling him how getting to watch a Big 10 game gives them a sense of being home. He hopes the 2009 Coaches Tour will show them who the real heroes are. "It's a tremendous reminder of all the people that make up this country we live in," said the coach.