Tressel's wife has heart surgery

Published May. 19, 2010 7:43 p.m. ET

foxsports

The wife of Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel is recovering from surgery to repair a heart valve.

Norma Watson, Tressel's mother-in-law, tells The Associated Press on Wednesday that her daughter, 56-year-old Ellen Tressel, had the operation at the Cleveland Clinic on Tuesday in hopes of improving blood flow through the heart.

Watson says the procedure went well and her daughter is likely to leave the hospital this weekend. She says the coach plans to stay with his wife for the duration. He's missing Big Ten league meetings in Chicago.

Ellen Tressel's mother says doctors detected a problem when she was tested for a heart condition (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) that runs in the family. She wasn't ill but had noticed shortness of breath.