Ohio State and Jim Tressel parted ways in the spring of 2011, but the athletics department has not turned its back on the former Buckeyes football coach.

Far from it.

First there was the wall decorated with his accomplishments in the Woody Hayes Athletic Facility just a few months after Tressel was forced to resign. Then there was the time his players hoisted him on their shoulders at halftime of the 2012 Ohio State-Michigan game.

The latest example came Wednesday when the athletics department announced Tressel will be part of its next class inducted into the Ohio State athletics Hall of Fame later this year.

In terms of on-field accomplishments, there is no doubt he belongs.

Tressel, a northeast Ohio native who grew up a fan of the Buckeyes, ended a 34-year national championship drought when he coached Ohio State to a victory over Miami (Fla.) in the 2003 Fiesta bowl.

He won seven Big Ten titles while amassing a record of 106-22, becoming the fastest Ohio State coach to win 100 games. Oh yeah, and his teams beat Michigan nine out of 10 times, including a 2001 win he foreshadowed with a famous address to the crowd at a basketball game shortly after being hired.

In its announcement that Tressel will join the Hall of Fame, the school credited him with only eight of those wins over the Wolverines and six Big Ten championships, with an overall record of 94-21.

Why is that? Because his last season on the sidelines (2010) was officially vacated after Tressel admitted he withheld knowledge of NCAA violations committed by some of his players, including quarterback Terrelle Pryor. The violations, which involved trading OSU equipment and memorabilia for tattoos and cash, later came out via a federal investigation into a Columbus drug trafficking case in December 2010. Tressel’s knowledge of his players’ potential involvement came to light the following March after the school’s compliance department discovered emails sent to him by a Columbus lawyer who is also a former OSU football player.

The fallout also included punishment for the players as well as probation for the athletics department and a postseason ban that kept the 2012 team from playing for the Big Ten championship or potentially a national championship despite being undefeated.

The program suffered a dip to 6-7 in 2011 without Tressel, but only three years later the Buckeyes were national champions under the direction of another northeast Ohioan: Urban Meyer. They are considered by many to be among the favorites to win it again this year.

Tressel meanwhile received a five-year show-cause penalty and has not returned to college coaching. He spent a year working for the Indianapolis Colts before becoming a vice president at the University of Akron. He was named president of Youngstown State University last year.

So while Tressel’s fall from grace came as a shock to many, it would seem the program and the man have both moved on and are doing well.

Tressel will be immortalized in the Ohio State Hall of Fame and Meyer is certain to join him some day.

If anything, the biggest reputation hit in the four-plus years since has been that of the NCAA, which has had to endure lawsuits challenging its model and been perceived as struggling to deal with multiple scandals that have broken out at several big-name schools.

Did anyone see that coming in May 2011?