Tressel Out (per Columbus Dispatch)

Why now? Pretty straight forward answer, one I'd said a in a thread last week. Tress had lost the alumni & donors. It took a while (it's like the 5 stages of grief), but those folks finally understood the reality of the situation. Anger & embarrassment became the prevailing emotions, Gene Smith & Gordon Gee are now in "save my own skin" mode. There didn't have to be anything more in the SI article (frankly, I was expecting far worse)....it was simply time to be done.

Actually, wouldn't surprise me to see Luke Fickell keep the job long term, no matter what the NCAA eventually does. In a lot of ways, he's Ohio State's Pat Fitzgerald. Columbus native, excellent player at Tosu, oozes scarlet and grey. He's proven himself as an excellent young (37) coach & coordinator, has turned down a lot of opportunities at other places, including interviews for every MAC head coaching spot over the last 5 years. Best recruiter on the staff, tons of connections with the crucial Ohio HS coaches.

My guess is that they'll "rally 'round the staff" and have a really good season. Losing the 'tat 5 will hurt (I doubt Pryor ever plays another snap), but there's still a LOT of talent there. Fickell could well win 9-10 games, hold together / complete an excellent class of Ohio kids (most of whom have dreamed of being Buckeyes their entire lives & won't give 2 sh*ts about NCAA sanctions) & make it VERY hard to ignore, when they have to make a final decision.

 

Why should we presume the rest of the staff is clean at this point?

 

Don't see how it's possible for Fickell to become HC, since he has been part of the tainted program. Not sure how he could separate himself.

 

I enjoyed that story very much, but for my own reasons. What "scandal" could better demonstrate the fundamental absurdity of big college sports rules than athletes trading memorabilia for tattoos? Up next: Memorabilia laundering. That is, somebody will set up fake charities to allow athletes to "donate" their jerseys and tattoo artists to "donate" tattoos to said athletes in return.

 

Oh, Automatic Earle, how we miss you.

 

This almost pales in comparison now.

 

A very good point, Boom...but I can still see it happening. Keep in mind, I never said I actually LIKE the idea (my inner fanboi craves a much more experienced hire), just that I can see it happening. Although stained by extension, Fickell is still their fair haired boy. They can spin his story this season into a positive, as long as he's not directly connected (IMO). Young spirited guy, Buckeye thru and thru, bringing back "old Buckeye values", etc., etc..

Any USC type sanctions will unquestionably deeply damage the program. Still I'd argue, due to it's core appeal to Ohio kids, Tosu is as able to withstand the punishment, as any school in the country. In particular, if the sanctions (scholarship losses, bowl bans) were to start right away.

First, they're currently loaded in their Freshman and Sophomore classes. I believe they have 55+ kids, with 3 or 4 years of eligibility left....from Top 10 recruiting classes. They'll still get a lot of top Ohio kids (just like USC is still pulling good classes). If they make a good hire...it won't be all that long. Hop on the bus! Redshirt a year & be a part of the Buckeye rebirth!

Frankly, due to Ohio State's recruiting philosophy, scholarship limitations will mostly hurt the 5th year walk-ons. They sign very few kids (bottom 10 in the country, from a sheer number standpoint) & always have 2-3 senior walk-ons who are given schollies. Those kids just won't get them now.

Again, I'm not polishing the turd. I'm certainly not making any excuses for what's gone on. This is ugly. This is deserved. I just think that the folks who are anticipating a nuclear winter for Ohio State football, may be really disappointed.

 

Layman makes a good point. Fickell as coach doesn't necessarily have to ring true with the nationwide community, just with Columbus. If they're happy with it, that's what will matter.

 

I liked that column, except the first thing that popped into my mind was, "Did Greenstein write about any of this, the 'we all saw this coming' stuff especially, in previous columns?" It's very easy to write this column and say, "Yep, he was gone all along" ... after he is gone.

And I hope to Christ he didn't have that quote about Tressel telling other B10 coaches 2 weeks ago that the NCAA has his head on a platter and decided not to use it. I know Greenstein is tight with Fitzgerald, and I know Fitzgerald is tight with Tressel, so that's at least a possibility, no?

 

You'd think if he was running an SEC program, Tressel would have at least brought in some players with SEC speed.

 

I have always looked at college football recruiting as sort of a supply and demand matrix. One area of the country can only support so may elite college football teams with the talent that area produces.

It is rare to see both UCLA and USC doing well in college football and the same goes with FSU, Florida and The U. Colorado came to power when OU slid down, now OU is back on top, Colorado drifts down.

What will really interest me is which program will emerge from the Rust Belt now that OSU looks like it will be crippled for some time? You just don't see one area of the country so down as far as major college football programs for top players to attend.

Michigan? Still realling from Richie Rod
Notre Dame? maybe
Pitt? You would think, but probably not.
Penn State? Not with a head coach that old. No one wants to play for a coach who probably won't last another four to five years due to age.
West Virginia? Their head coach is not exactly setting the world on fire.
Cincinnati? Do they have enough juice to pull this off?
Maryland?
Syracuse?

Honestly, the winners in all of this might be Virginia Tech and Virginia. Tech is very, very close to being a national power (multiple national titles before the Techie start jumping on me) and Virginia (top 15 school) should be taking the next step with the new coach they have. I have a feeling a lot of these Pennsylvania and Ohio kids might start looking a little further south to play football.

 

Have there been any lists of possible replacements?