It made news way back at the beginning of the season, but there has been precious little fanfare now that the real work is about to begin. I'm talking about the path that Jim Tressell will be taking en route to his first head coaching job in the NFL--with the Indianapolis Colts.

Tressell was hired as a game day consultant, primarily for replays, prior to the beginning of the season. The Colts ended up having to suspend the former Ohio State head coach because of pressure from the league concerning the reason why Tressell is no longer the head coach of the Buckeyes.

That suspension is now over and Tressell will be up in the booth come Sunday when the Colts take on the New Orleans Saints on Sunday Night Football.

I hope I'm wrong, but I see no reason to hire a guy with Tressell's resume unless you intended on making him a head coach. You certainly don't go from being head coach at one of the most prestigious football programs in the nation to a game day consultant role.

I know the man left the program in disgrace, but if you think about it, his only crime was inaction. It is not as if he was a dirty coach that encouraged and participated in inappropriate behavior. He just didn't report it.

Tressell was paid well at Ohio State; I'm sure he doesn't need the money. So why take a job that for all appearances appears to have been created for him?

Maybe Jim Irsay saw the writing on the wall when his star quarterback went down. His team would not be that good, and what typically happens after a team falls from grace is the firing of the head coach. Who better to have waiting in the wings than one of the best college coaches of the day?

Now I know that success in college does not necessarily equate with success in the NFL. That does not stop owners from hiring top-notch college coaches though. Jim Harbaugh has done well in his short tenure over on the Left Coast. There is no reason to think that Tressell couldn't do the same in Indy.

OR my conjecture could be way off base. Maybe Tressell just thought it would be fun to take a back seat, but still be involved rather than take a season off.

I guess we'll find out when the season ends.