Jim Bollman (Stay calm and run Dave)

[cbrian815]

Those last 2 posts on Jim Bollman are interesting. You have the good view and the bad view and in reality JB falls somewhere in the middle. The class with just Blankenship was a disaster. The class with Adams, Shugarts and Brewster was one for the ages. I really liked the line play last year and thought it was atrocious in 2008 for Boeckman. I think the thing we can all agree on with JB is he seems to be HOT or COLD and the jury is still out on last years class that was a total mystery for oline recruiting. I personally would love to see the consistency(recruiting and play) with the oline that we have with RB`s, DB`s and LB`s.....and if it had been we would have at least one more national championship trophy. Go Bucks

 

[Taosman]

He has not cast a big enough "net" and now we're short. That's been his biggest failing. Brown, Underwood and Carter will be better than people think. Of course Bobek is a good one.

 

[Buckskin86]

Bollman remains man behind Ohio State offense
PUBLISHED Friday, Jul 29, 2011
Steve Greenberg Sporting News

CHICAGO -- It?s still Jim Bollman?s show in Columbus. Of course Ohio State?s offense the past 10 years reflected Jim Tressel?s philosophy and personality to some extent. But you know darn well you couldn?t watch an OSU game without the announcers discussing the sweater man?s ?conservative? approach any time the Buckeyes ran the football two or three times in a row. The implication was always that Tressel--not offensive coordinator Jim Bollman--pulled the offensive levers.

According to Tressel?s successor, Luke Fickell, that simply was not the case. Fickell emphasized to reporters that there was a big misperception, and that even in times when Tressel faced criticism for his gameplan, he still mostly kept out of Bollman?s hair.

Jim Bollman will continue to run the Buckeyes' offense under new coach Luke Fickell. (AP photo)

?Coach actually didn?t do much,? Fickell said.

Fickell, who has never coached on offense in over 11 seasons in the profession, plans to stay out of Bollman?s way, too.

?I?m going to try to play to my strengths,? Fickell said, ?and I believe that?s on the defensive side of the ball.?

Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-fo...s-man-behind-ohio-state-offense#ixzz1TWu4lUHG

 

[osugrad21]

According to Tressel?s successor, Luke Fickell, that simply was not the case. Fickell emphasized to reporters that there was a big misperception, and that even in times when Tressel faced criticism for his gameplan, he still mostly kept out of Bollman?s hair.

Those people must not be BP members...

 

[Jaxbuck]

Jim Bollman will continue to run the Buckeyes' offense under new coach Luke Fickell.

 

[Poe McKnoe]

I feel like being BuckeyePlanet productive today...

We can argue all day on who has been calling the plays and is ultimately responsible for the offensive game plans. There's little doubt that Tressel ultimately decided what the product was on the field. He is and was a run first, pass second coach. He liked safe calls and he liked setting up play action.

Jim Bollman having been around for 10 years isn't an accident. He knew exactly how to run an offense that JT wanted. Jim Bollman was the executor of Tressel's master plan. No matter who called the plays, my guess it was a joint effort to decide what plays go into the game plan. Is Bollmanball necessarily Tresselball? My guess it looks very similar to it. And that's not a bad thing, as the last 10 years have shown.

But that's where it could potentially be a problem for Luke Fickell. Luke is 0-0 as a head football coach. He can't say "Look at my record. Eventually this will work." Fickell has preached intensity and aggressiveness on the defensive side of the ball, and in my IMO, he needs to affect what is called when. Not necessarily call the plays, but not be entirely hands off. My guess is Luke Fickell knows a thing or two about what offenses work against each defensive arrangement (strengths and weaknesses).

My reasoning is this: This is Fickell's shot. No offense to Luke, but once the NCAA comes out with its decision, there's going to be some big name coaches with records better than 0-0 that will be foaming at the mouth for the job. Why put half of your destiny in the hands of someone else? I'm not expecting a wide open offense, but he's got to make a statement. Jim Bollman and Jim Tressel got lucky in a lot of games; they'd been through a lot of games over the years. Fickell doesn't have this luxury. He's got to win and win now. Do I expect him to be Les Miles reckless? No, and please god don't. I've said before that I think the Jim^2 offense is almost as dangerous, especially if someone tries to imitate it.

Make the moment yours.

[Guess this could have gone in Fickell's threads...]

 

[NightmaresDad]

I feel like being BuckeyePlanet productive today...

Why put half of your destiny in the hands of someone else? I'm not expecting a wide open offense, but he's got to make a statement. Jim Bollman and Jim Tressel got lucky in a lot of games; they'd been through a lot of games over the years. Fickell doesn't have this luxury. He's got to win and win now. Do I expect him to be Les Miles reckless? No, and please god don't. I've said before that I think the Jim^2 offense is almost as dangerous, especially if someone tries to imitate it.

Make the moment yours.

[Guess this could have gone in Fickell's threads...]

A smart coach plays to his strengths and advantages over his opponent.

Fickell will have a very strong defense.
If he wants to make a statement and be aggressive, why not do it with defense? Be like the '85 Bears. Be like the Steel Curtain. Let your defense destroy the other team. If your QB is a true frosh, be creative in the running game and try to hit big plays with the pass. Don't try to be joe Montana or Peyton Manning on offense. Be more like the '70s Steelers.

 

[GomerBucks]

Anyone (MililaniBuckeye) still wanna post the vBet about Fickell running the offense?

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

Anyone (MililaniBuckeye) still wanna post the vBet about Fickell running the offense?

Your original position wasn't about running the offense; it was about being involved at all. You still haven't defined that in a way that anyone would bother taking the bet; so why bother issuing the challenge at this point?

 

[GomerBucks]

Your original position wasn't about running the offense; it was about being involved at all. You still haven't defined that in a way that anyone would bother taking the bet; so why bother issuing the challenge at this point?

My original position was to point out that Coach Fickell would still be doing his defensive thing and that he was going to leave the offense to the offensive staff.

 

[cbrian815]

It will be interesting to see if the offense was controlled by JB or JT. I think it was a combo but I think JT was more responsible for the shutdowns in the 2nd half. I think Luke`s style will be much more aggressive in nature like his personality. I like that he learned under Tressel so he has a good understanding of playing to your strengths but he is young and aggressive and I look for the offensive to grow as the season grows especially if he can find a qb to make defenses play us straight up. The defense will be great and the running game will be great. Special teams should improve and we need a qb to step up big. Go Bucks

 

[Poe McKnoe]

A smart coach plays to his strengths and advantages over his opponent.

Fickell will have a very strong defense.
If he wants to make a statement and be aggressive, why not do it with defense? Be like the '85 Bears. Be like the Steel Curtain. Let your defense destroy the other team. If your QB is a true frosh, be creative in the running game and try to hit big plays with the pass. Don't try to be joe Montana or Peyton Manning on offense. Be more like the '70s Steelers.

I agree; easier said than done however. The defense lost 2 starters up front, 2 linebackers, a safety, and 2 starting corners. Even with the good defenses OSU has had recently, you can't expect to 'destroy' every team with defense.

If the offense succedes, Coach Fickell should let it be known (or shown to his superiors) that he played a role in it. I'm going to make a prediction here: Regardless of how this season transpires, Jim Bollman won't be the offensive coordinator in 2012. I'm sounding a little too Duane Long here, but that's how I see it. If Fickell and team win 10-11 games and secures a contract, I see Bollman riding off in the sunset and Fickell brining someone else in. If Fickell doesn't get a contract, [insert new head coach's name here] brings some of his own guys in.

 

[Jaxbuck]

I don't care if you do have the 85 Bears defense. There is no reason to strive for anything short of excellence on offense as well. Offensive excellence doesn't have to be some kind of June Jones passing orgy, it just needs to be more effective in scoring points.

Bad offense =/= winning.

Far too often poor offense was mistakenly labeled "Tresselball", people equate Tresselball with winning and you end up with people thinking getting stuffed on 3rd and 1 by Navy is Tresselball and all part of the plan.

I completely agree with the philosophy of a strong running game, great defense and special teams winning the field position battle but that's secondary to effectively executing the offense and scoring points. The OSU offense has been pretty good the last half of '09 and pretty much all of '10 just like it was for most of '05 and '06. Other than that its been the noticeably deficient phase of the team during the Tressel/Bollman era.

I think the above poster is spot on in hoping that keeping Bollman around with all control of the offense doesn't cost LF his chance at the job long term.

 

[strohs]

I don't care if you do have the 85 Bears defense. There is no reason to strive for anything short of excellence on offense as well. Offensive excellence doesn't have to be some kind of June Jones passing orgy, it just needs to be more effective in scoring points.

Bad offense =/= winning.

Far too often poor offense was mistakenly labeled "Tresselball", people equate Tresselball with winning and you end up with people thinking getting stuffed on 3rd and 1 by Navy is Tresselball and all part of the plan.

I completely agree with the philosophy of a strong running game, great defense and special teams winning the field position battle but that's secondary to effectively executing the offense and scoring points. The OSU offense has been pretty good the last half of '09 and pretty much all of '10 just like it was for most of '05 and '06. Other than that its been the noticeably deficient phase of the team during the Tressel/Bollman era.

I think the above poster is spot on in hoping that keeping Bollman around with all control of the offense doesn't cost LF his chance at the job long term.

All very well said. And throw me in with the group hoping Bollman doesn't cost LF his job.
The fact of the matter is the offensive has been very subpar for a majority of Bollman's time in Columbus. There are so many coaches out there that do a lot more with a lot less talent.
I think (hope) the difference with LF is that he doesnt put up with crappy offensive performance the way Tressel did...

 

[Taosman]

What a horrible, pathetic offense! 10 teams were better!

Than Division I Bowl Subdivision College Football

*** Final 2010 NCAA FBS Team Scoring Statistics *** (Complete through Monday, January 10th) From The Sports Network S C O R I N G O F F E N S E Rank Team G Pts Avg TD Kxp Oxp FG S
1. Oregon 13 611 47.00 81 72 7 13 0
2. Boise St. 13 586 45.08 77 70 3 16 0
3. Oklahoma St. 13 575 44.23 71 68 0 27 0
4. TCU 13 541 41.62 73 68 0 11 1
5. Wisconsin 13 539 41.46 70 68 0 17 0
6. Tulsa 13 538 41.38 70 64 1 16 0
7. Auburn 14 577 41.21 75 74 0 17 1
8. Nevada 14 574 41.00 77 76 0 12 0
9. Stanford 13 524 40.31 68 61 2 17 0
10. Hawaii 14 554 39.57 72 71 0 17 0
11. Ohio St. 13 504 38.77 63 62 1 20 1
12. Northern Ill. 14 532 38.00 69 59 1 19 0
13. Houston
12 452 37.67 59 54 1 14 0
14. Oklahoma