Jim Tressel (National Champion, ex-President, Youngstown State University, CFB HOF)

[BuckeyeFlorida]

From reading the last few pages of this thread one thing is clear to me: we all recognize that SOMETHING isn't quite right and probably needs to change. The pages of discussion appear to be about WHAT that something is and HOW BIG that something needs to be.

IMO the problem is this: this team lacks, and has for some time, both the ability to finish drives and the killer instinct to put teams away. In my mind these are not mutually exclusive. For the most recent example see USC 3rd quarter where our average starting field position (or at minimum three drives) was in USC territory. IIRC these drives netted 3 points. If any of these drives are finished in any capacity (field goal or preferably touchdown), the foot on the throat gets tighter and the decision to punt later in the game is likely a non-issue. Comparably the 4 down call in the Navy game showed an instance where the killer instinct should have lead to the foot being taken off the gas.

To sum, I don't necessarily think JT needs to make radical changes to the offense (e.g. brining in someone to take over the offense) because we have had opportunities to score. What I believe we need is some motivation and training to develop that killer instinct to finish games and drives. I don't get paid enough or am smart enough to figure out how that's supposed to happen, but when it finally does, things will swing back in our direction.

Too many times over the past few years we have let lesser opponents back in games late and failed to cap drives with touchdowns when given the opportunity.

 

[lvbuckeye]

Yeah.... wait til we replace a proven winner with Rich Rod.

Change indeed.

For my part, I'm not about "Moral victories" at Ohio State... but I'm also not about jumping on to the next big thing because the current proven thing has had a tough run in games against teams rated int he top fucking 5...

Lets go get Pete Carrol.. and lose to Oregon State from time to time.. that's a shit ton better, right?
Or Urban Meyer... so we can drop one to Ole Miss...

see edit above.

 

[lvbuckeye]

This doesn't seem like a terribly accurate description of Cooper vs. Tressel. First, Tressel has won approximately 10% more of his games than Cooper did (~80% vs. ~72%). Second, you imply that aside from Michigan, Cooper won nearly all his "big games". In fact, Cooper was 3-8 in bowl games (several of which weren't really "big games", because the team had a relatively poor season). I'm not trying to disparage Cooper, he put together some great teams. But your implied suggestion that, aside from his lack of success against UM, his teams outperformed Tressel's is completely inaccurate.

Coop smoked Penn State on a regular basis, and thumped ND twice. and let's not forget that he has the only Rose Bowl win in the last 35 years.

as for the overall winning percentage, i'd say that you can toss that argument aside due to the bare cupboards that Coop started out with.

NOW. all that being said, i'd rather have Tressel. but that doesn't mean that i am satisfied with a consistently subpar offense.

 

[jlb1705]

Coop smoked Penn State on a regular basis,

Cooper was 5-3 vs. Penn State. Tressel is 5-3 vs. Penn State so far. The real difference is that no Penn State team (or any other team for that matter) has ever dropped 63 points on one of Jim Tressel's teams.

and thumped ND twice.

Notre Dame was at the start of their bowl losing streak and downward spiral when Coop was thumping them. And for good measure, Tressel thumped the only halfway decent team ND has fielded during his tenure. Besides, you're comparing Tressel's performance against Top-5 teams to Copper's performances (in this instance) to teams that finished 11th & 19th in the AP Poll those years, respectively.

and let's not forget that he has the only Rose Bowl win in the last 35 years.

And the year before, Cooper's team - which featured a Heisman winning RB - lost to M*ch*g*n, lost the Citrus Bowl, and watched the Rose Bowl on TV, which Northfuckingwestern played in. How many times has Tressel failed to take care of business in the Big Ten, allowing a lucky bottom feeder to go to Pasadena?

 

[zincfinger]

Coop smoked Penn State on a regular basis, and thumped ND twice. and let's not forget that he has the only Rose Bowl win in the last 35 years.

as for the overall winning percentage, i'd say that you can toss that argument aside due to the bare cupboards that Coop started out with.

NOW. all that being said, i'd rather have Tressel. but that doesn't mean that i am satisfied with a consistently subpar offense.

The postseason structure is different during Tressel's tenure than it was for the majority of Cooper's tenure. Specifically, to your first point, no Tressel team has played in the Rose Bowl, and it's obviously not for lack of winning the BigTen. So I don't think you can legitimately give Cooper a leg up on Tressel for having won one Rose Bowl to Tressel's 0-0.

Cooper was 2-0 against ND, Tressel's 1-0. Overall, if you want to talk performance vs. rivals, there's obviously no comparison.

And it's not clear that you can toss out the overall winning percentage either. Tressel took over a team that had gone 6-6 and 8-4 the two previous years. Sure, there was some talent there, just as there was when Cooper took over, and just as there always is at OSU. Tressel complemented it with recruiting and maximized it. I don't dispute your desire to see the offense perform with greater consistency. I'd guess that's pretty universally shared. But to suggest that Tressel takes a back seat to Cooper in any regard, indeed, that he hasn't improved over Cooper in almost every regard, has no basis.

 

[lvbuckeye]

i'm not suggesting Tressel take a back seat to anyone, especially John F. Cooper.

 

[buckeye247]

Any Buckeye fan that thinks Tressel should be gone or is on the hot seat is an idiot. He has won eighty percent of his games and we have won four straight big ten titles. If you think he should be gone you should be kicked in the nuts and sent to Michigan you fair weather fuckers.

 

[Buckskin86]

Ohio State's Tressel regrets ripping fans
The Associated Press
Thursday, September 17, 2009

COLUMBUS, Ohio ? What's brewing today with the 2009 Ohio State Buckeyes ...

BUCKEYES BUZZ:@ On Tuesday, coach Jim Tressel called a segment of hard-core Ohio State fans "miserable."

He said he gets critical e-mails, then added, "They've got to be some of the most unhappy people in the world, and I feel bad because we just made them less happy, and I hate to be a part of making someone less happy," he said. "I mean, they're already miserable."

By Thursday, he said he regretted putting down those who follow the team.

"My dad taught me a long time ago, you'll have a thousand chances to keep your mouth shut, use every one of them," Tressel said.

He said he wasn't aware of any fallout to his earlier comments.

"But no one could have better fans than we do," he said. "And if anyone was half as miserable as we were on Sunday (and) Monday, I could understand them being miserable."

Almost always in control of the situation in his public appearances, Tressel added, "You live and learn."

Ohio State's Tressel regrets ripping fans

 

[Buckeyefrankmp]

To sum, I don't necessarily think JT needs to make radical changes to the offense (e.g. brining in someone to take over the offense) because we have had opportunities to score. What I believe we need is some motivation and training to develop that killer instinct to finish games and drives. I don't get paid enough or am smart enough to figure out how that's supposed to happen, but when it finally does, things will swing back in our direction.

One change I would like to see made is have someone new take over the O-Line. Something they are doing is not working. We get four/five star talent in from High School, but the are not developing into a solid college O-line. Do we need to evaluate how we are training them with their blocking technique? Do we need to look at the blocking schemes? We should have been able to punch the ball in at the goal line. We should be able to open holes so our running backs can run through.

To compare JT with Coop is laughable. People do not want to fire JT as bad as they wanted to fire Coop back in the day. Back when the tie against Michigan was one of the greatest win in school history.

 

[Padraig]

Ohio State's Tressel regrets ripping fans

Yet again, a shining example of why I admire this man so much. He consistantly handles himself in a way that I would hope I myself would or my children would under similar circumstances.

:osu:

 

[BuckeyeFan 52]

One change I would like to see made is have someone new take over the O-Line. Something they are doing is not working. We get four/five star talent in from High School, but the are not developing into a solid college O-line. Do we need to evaluate how we are training them with their blocking technique? Do we need to look at the blocking schemes? We should have been able to punch the ball in at the goal line. We should be able to open holes so our running backs can run through.

I think it's fair to say that we just haven't had the talent level that is required along the offensive line to be consistent and dominant. I hate to say that, but the recent o-line groups have been average at best for a major D-1 program.

I don't think there is any other coach out there that could come into the program, with the likes of Alex Boone, Steve Rehring, and Ben Person, and do much better than what Tress and Co. attempted to do. The o-line has been the #1 issue since 2005 in terms of having any momentum or fluidity on offense. The 2006 team was able to hide that weakness on the o-line with the abundance of athletes in most other positions. But the Florida Gators exposed our o-line for what they really were. Beanie Wells also made the o-line look good in certain situations, I do believe that.

I hate to bang on these guys soo hard, but they just haven't been good enough. Now, with all of that being said, I was very encouraged by what we saw against USC. I thought the o-line did a pretty decent job against a very good USC front 7, much better than I expected. Plus, it sounds like JB Shugarts is going to get a chance, unfortunately at the expense of Jimmy Cordle. I think we saw some improvement this week, and hopefully thta improvemetn will continue.

 

[Buckeyefrankmp]

I don't think there is any other coach out there that could come into the program, with the likes of Alex Boone, Steve Rehring, and Ben Person, and do much better than what Tress and Co. attempted to do. The o-line has been the #1 issue since 2005 in terms of having any momentum or fluidity on offense. The 2006 team was able to hide that weakness on the o-line with the abundance of athletes in most other positions. But the Florida Gators exposed our o-line for what they really were. Beanie Wells also made the o-line look good in certain situations, I do believe that.

Are you saying these guys were not good? From what I have been reading, these guys were considered great coming in. Here are what people were saying.

Ben Person "Ben is a great player and better yet a great kid. I think our troubles up front will be over soon enough with Ben, Mitchum, Skinner and Rehring on board and Boone on the way next year."

Steve Rehring "First off let me say that this guy is a complete bad ass.

This guy could very easily be the best offensive lineman we have had since LeChales Bentley as a Freshman. Sure he has made some freshman mistakes, but it has become clear that he is the type of player that you can run behind to get 3-4 yards a carry."

Alex Boone "After watching his films on Insiders, I was most impressed with the way he finishes blocks. His tenacity was obvious as he washed his man completely out of the hole...there were a few clips with combo blocks where you can see his footwork and technique. Kid will be a good one at the next level"


I understand that some kids can't make the progression from the High School level to the College level. I also think the coaching staff needs to look internally and see if what the coaches are doing is not helping these players develop on the next level. I would like Bollman to get replaced, although I don't think will ever happen. There was a post back in 2004 saying "What happens if Bollman is fired, or leaves, and the problems continue on the o-line?". Apparently this problem has not been fixed yet.

 

[Steve19]

Instructions for anyone who wishes to see Coach Tressel leave Ohio State.

See the coaches winning percentage table on page 4 of this pdf file from the Big Ten (link).

Note bottom line: Coaches nearing ten years.

Note that Tressel has the second highest winning percentage of any Big Ten coach (80.8%, Woody #6 at 76.1%). If Ohio State win out this year and he wins his first game next year, Tressel will be the winningest Big Ten coach with ten or more completed years.

Next, move to the table below that, wins in the Big Ten. I'll calculate for you: Tressel's 81.25% winning percentage leads the Big Ten by far. Next best is Paterno at 62.5%, then Ferentz at 53.7% (he's a whopping 57.6% in all games at Iowa-whoopee!).

Finally, visit this site to join like-minded people protesting Jim Tressel at Ohio State (link)

 

[TDG]

I definitely don't think Tressel should be fired, though there's certainly reason to be unhappy with him at the moment. I like to think of Tressel's time here in terms of QB eras. The Krenzel era began with a win over UM and an Outback Bowl loss, and ended up having a 2-1 record against Michigan, a 2-1 bowl record, and a national championship. Then we had the Smith era, which began with a win over Michigan and an Alamo Bowl win, and ended up with a 3-0 record against Michigan, a 2-1 bowl record, and no national championships. 2007 was a pretty weird transition year with Boeckman and the still-young defense, and it certainly didn't launch an era. Now the Terelle Pryor era has begun with a win over Michigan and a Fiesta Bowl loss. Now, that's a much better start than the previous two eras had, and our defense it lookin more impressive than it's been since 2005.

Now at the same time, we've not won a big game in three years, so not all is fine and dandy. But we're at the start of a new era, not the end. I think once Pryor graduates, that will be the time to re-evaluate his job status. Not now, when we've got such a young team and are still transitioning to a new QB and new RB core and all that. That's just ridiculous. It's like people haven't learned anything at all from Michigan's mistakes.

 

[osugrad21]

Now at the same time, we've not won a big game in three years, so not all is fine and dandy.

Michigan?

Save me the BCS garbage...its Michigan.

Lose sight of that game, and you are not focused at all on this program.