Aug. 4, 2011

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State football coach Luke Fickell announced today a number of position modifications to the staff of the football program, including the promotion of safeties coach Paul Haynes to co-defensive coordinator and adding special teams coordinator responsibilities to running backs coach Dick Tressel.

Two more key individuals within the football program received promotions: Amy Burgess is now the director of internal operations, and former program assistant Tom Dunlap has been named the team’s associate director of football operations.

“Paul Haynes is an exceptional coach who has worked extremely hard for this football program,” Fickell said. “He deserves to take on a greater role with our defense alongside coordinator Jim Heacock.

“And I felt it was important to get Doc [Tressel] more involved in all aspects of our special teams. He has so much experience, and he brings so much knowledge to the field every day, that I really wanted him to be responsible for coordinating our special teams efforts.”

Haynes, who grew up in Columbus and graduated from DeSales, is in his 16th coaching season, including one year as a quality control coach with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. The 2011 season is his seventh at Ohio State. He has coached on the defensive side of the ball during all 14 of his collegiate seasons. He was assistant head coach and secondary coach at his alma mater – Kent State – in 1999 and 2000.

Tressel, who won 124 games in 23 seasons as head coach at Hamline University in Minnesota, is in his eighth year as Ohio State’s running backs coach and his 35th season as a collegiate coach. He also has 21 years of intercollegiate athletics administration experience as he was Hamline’s Director of Athletics for all but two of his coaching years. Tressel is a graduate of Baldwin-Wallace, where he played for his father, Lee. He also has a master’s degree from Florida State and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.

The retirement of Todd Alles from an operations position allowed Fickell to add responsibilities to the proven administrative and organizational qualities of Burgess and Dunlap.

“Todd’s retirement in June gave me the opportunity to redefine the roles of members of our operations staff and take advantage of the skills and experiences of those who have contributed to our success over the past few years,” Fickell said. “I appreciate Amy and Tom’s willingness to take on larger roles with our program, and our entire operations staff for the support they provide to our team.”

Burgess, who has a bachelor’s degree in human and organization development from Vanderbilt University and a master’s degree from Ohio State in sport and exercise management, takes on additional responsibilities in the areas of budgeting, recruiting, camps and ticketing with her promotion. The former two-time women’s lacrosse team captain and USWLA Academic All-American for Vanderbilt is in her 10th year at Ohio State. She has previously worked in the Ohio State compliance office for five years before joining the football staff in 2006.

Dunlap, after a highly successful career as a high school coach and educator, is in his third year with the football program. He assumes a variety of key operational responsibilities in his new role, including spring and fall camp practice administration, facilities liaison, game day operations, advance operations, bowl prep and serving as supervisor of the student managers.

Dunlap, as head coach of Beechcroft High School from 1986-2009, led his team to 13 state playoffs and to nine city league championships. The six-time city league Coach of the Year posted a 174-70 record, and he was inducted into the Ohio High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 2010.

Some additional personnel news and notes regarding the administrative and coaching staffs for the upcoming season include the following: