College Football Coaches as Star Wars Characters
Jim Tressel: Darth Maul
Both guys are technically villains in their respective fields because of the way things played out, but they are not real villains.
Jim Tressel was a villain because of the scandal that got him fired from the Ohio State Buckeyes and put the football program on probation, but in reality he was simply covering up for his players. Nobody could truly hate him for that.
By the same token, Darth Maul was just a character-filler in the first movie who was the apprentice of Darth Sidious. But he had very few lines to make you hate him and provided us with an epic fight scene at the end of the movie against Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Darth Maul introduced Star Wars fans to the double-sided lightsaber in The Phantom Menace, one of the few bright spots of the movie. At the same time, Tressel was one of the few bright spots of the Big Ten when it was down while he was with the Buckeyes, keeping that football program among the power houses.
Still, their villainous ways ultimately ended up causing their downfall, as Tressel was fired, which we already said, and Darth Maul was killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was only a Padawan at the time.
Next: Phil Fulmer: Padme Amidala