Morale Entertainment along with Armed Forces Entertainment are taking Coach Tressel, Mack Brown, Houston Nutt, Rick Neuheisel, Troy Calhoun, and Tommy Tuberville on a tour of the Middle East to visit with US troops. This is the second annual Coaches Tour of the Middle East and the first for Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel, who was unable to participate in the first tour due to a scheduling conflict.The tour has visited bases in Germany, Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait, Djibouti, and Spain starting in May and continuing into early June.
By Steve Patterson
During the 8 day Coaches Tour, the 6 coaches got to interact with somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 US troops. The tour featured flag football, a symposium, and a combine. Tressel wanted to take part in the tour to show his respect for the troops and to honor his late father who was a WWII Navy service member stationed in the South Pacific.
A number of Buckeye fans have greeted Coach Tressel in each location as he has traveled from one base to the next. One group of US troops in Iraq formed an O-H-I-O as Coach Tressel entered the meeting area for the base visit.
Mack Brown has been providing updates through his Twitter account and his personal blog. His most recent post is about the coaches heading back home after their final visit, "With another nine-hour flight ahead, we’re totally exhausted, but excited about the trip and getting back home. Hook ‘em, Mack Brown". Look for all the coaches to return to their families tomorrow and begin work with their football staffs shortly thereafter.