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

[lvbuckeye]

Step back from the ledge. No one here is saying he is the messiah. He'll tell you that himself. And as far as us putting all our eggs in the TP basket, this is not Vegas. It's not a roll of the dice. It's not a game of chance. You work with him. He works with you. He improves. He struggles, you work with him. He succeeds, you work with him. He improves.

It's not like they play a game of Russian Roulette every week to see if he'll throw 2 picks or if he'll combine for 300 yards.

offering a kid who is so raw out of high school that he can't execute a three step drop without having a backup plan in case he is not able to make the transition to big time college football is the very definition of a gamble.

 

[lvbuckeye]

Not gonna happen this year. OSU would have to lose out.... not happening.

not saying it would. because Tressel has more talent.

I enjoy this role reversal that has continued into today. What does YSU's capability for multiple losing seasons have to do with OSU? Are you really suggesting that could happen here?
I like how you say that as though 83% is a bad thing.

not suggesting in the least that Tressel will ever have a losing season at Ohio State, BECAUSE HE HAS MORE TALENT THAN 83% OF HIS OPPONENTS. the Buckeyes can bring their C or D game for an entire season and still end up with 8 wins.

it simply can NOT be argued that Tressel gets the most of the talent on the offensive side of the ball. the D is a different story. look who we had in our secondary in '06. not 1 opponent gained 400 yards. not even Florida. THAT is maximizing your talent.

 

[cincibuck]

BECAUSE HE HAS MORE TALENT THAN 83% OF HIS OPPONENTS.

For the past two OSU seasons only two teams have had, or will have, as much, or more, talent on the field as the Bucks; Texas and USC. Penn State? Maybe. That's much better than 83%.

it simply can NOT be argued that Tressel gets the most of the talent on the offensive side of the ball. the D is a different story. look who we had in our secondary in '06. not 1 opponent gained 400 yards. not even Florida. THAT is maximizing your talent.

Agreed.

 

[craigblitz]

So why not sit pryor for a bit if he is not getting the job done. It is better than watching him out there trying to do to much.

Becasue long term for the team it is not best. There is a whole lot Tress can teach young Pryor about this experience that will make him and the team better for it.

Well thought out answer though, but if I had to guess JT kept him in there for the long term benefit of the team and Pryor.

 

[kentuckbuck]

I really don't have any problems with the Coach. He calls play based on team's ability to execute. When Troy was throwing nice spirals we had an explosive offense. He is one of the finest football brains.

My only problem is with TP and the OLine...They should be humbled by this experience and Zip it. go out there and play. Try to get better one first down at a time and not be All-World by throwing TDs each time they snap the ball.

Exactly!!!

 

[NFBuck]

I don't think there's anything wrong pointing out shortcomings. Everybody has them. Even the seemingly invincible Pete Carroll finaly began catching some flack this season for the yearly losses to inferior opponents. A loss like this was bound to happen sooner than later. I'm not as worked up as many because coming into this season, I was saying with this team's youth, unexpected losses would be very probable. Look around CFB, how many coaches have a record comparable to JT's?

Urban Meyer may be the best coach in the game. 2 years ago he lost four games.

Pete Carroll is right behind. While his record is exceptional, they haven't played for a NC since 2005 and have lost to inferior opponents each year. As bad as the Purdue loss looks, their 2007 loss to Stanford is infinately worse.

Les Miles lost 5 games last year and their offense this year isn't much better than ours with what I'd call equal talent.

Mark Richt is really struggling this year and has a lot of people calling for his head.

Mack Brown had back to back 3 loss season two years ago. They may be rivaled only by USC/UF in the amount of talent they bring in and have only played for one NC in his tenure.

Bob Stoops is in the middle of an (already) three loss season. He lost 4 in 2005 and has lost 5 straight BCS games.

Nick Saban had some lean years at LSU and had a very bad 1st year at Bama. It'll be interesting to follow how high a level he keeps the tide.

Charlie Weis, , sorry.

I'd never say don't criticize...I just ask to step back, take a look around, and have a little perspective.

Word from insiders is that changes could be forthcoming this offseason. Some of the gameplanning has already been handed off to Hazell. I'll grow more concerned if there aren't some changes made this offseason. I've always looked as this year as a "rebuilding" year. We lost a lot more this offseason than many of us were really prepared to admit. After so many years of NC hopes, this is a bit odd. Turnarounds can happen quick when you hvae this much talent. I remember about this time in 2004, in the midst of a 3 game conference losing streak, wondering if the program was imploding and if we'd win again that year. That team rallied and blew out a highly favored scUM team and won a bowl game in a blowout as well. By the end of the next year, we may have been the best team in the country. If Troy hadn't had his issues, who knows where that 2005 season could have gone. I'm just watching for incremental improvement and JT's track record leads me to believe we'll be just fine.

 

[Steve19]

First, let's get some perspective. We're Buckeye fans. Some of us are boosters by definition, but a handful of us have any inside information about the Buckeye football program.

Second, with that in mind, I might have said it differently than others but I can't imagine all of this nonsense about disappointment in Jim Tressel. Go back and look at that opening season assessment of LJB. It has turned out to be a very accurate assessment. This is a rebuilding year.

Once the season takes off and we start turning out offense against weak opponents, we're all guilty of letting our hopes dominate real assessment. This team was never seriously being considered for a NC. Pryor is not the best QB in the Big Ten. The team is young and it shows.

It starts with posts criticizing every "sports journalist" who doesn't put Ohio State in the top 5. I don't mean that brain-damaged former Pitt "never was", I mean anyone. If they aren't ranking "us" up there, then they are wrong. People here laugh every year about Notre Dame playing the service academies because they are so weak, then we convince ourselves that Navy was really "all that."

So, when it doesn't hang together, what do we do? The lynch mob sets out for anyone except the real source of the problem: unrealistic Ohio State fan expectations.

We have a coach who is an outstanding success by any definition. A man who will go down in history as one of the greatest coaches ever in one of college football's most storied programs.

I don't mind critical evaluations of his performance, but when those evaluations are based on hearsay and suppositions that are posted as if they were fact, then I think Ohio State fans really need to look at themselves in the mirror and ask a very serious question that I have trouble answering "yes" to recently:

Do Ohio State fans deserve Jim Tressel?

 

[FCollinsBuckeye]

I'm just watching for incremental improvement and JT's track record leads me to believe we'll be just fine.

A snippet from an outstanding post.

I get tired of the restlessness in Buckeye Country when we have a 'down' year.

Unrealistic expectations are seldom met.

 

[FCollinsBuckeye]

First, let's get some perspective. We're Buckeye fans. Some of us are boosters by definition, but a handful of us have any inside information about the Buckeye football program.

Second, with that in mind, I might have said it differently than others but I can't imagine all of this nonsense about disappointment in Jim Tressel. Go back and look at that opening season assessment of LJB. It has turned out to be a very accurate assessment. This is a rebuilding year.

Once the season takes off and we start turning out offense against weak opponents, we're all guilty of letting our hopes dominate real assessment. This team was never seriously being considered for a NC. Pryor is not the best QB in the Big Ten. The team is young and it shows.

It starts with posts criticizing every "sports journalist" who doesn't put Ohio State in the top 5. I don't mean that brain-damaged former Pitt "never was", I mean anyone. If they aren't ranking "us" up there, then they are wrong. People here laugh every year about Notre Dame playing the service academies because they are so weak, then we convince ourselves that Navy was really "all that."

So, when it doesn't hang together, what do we do? The lynch mob sets out for anyone except the real source of the problem: unrealistic Ohio State fan expectations.

We have a coach who is an outstanding success by any definition. A man who will go down in history as one of the greatest coaches ever in one of college football's most storied programs.

I don't mind critical evaluations of his performance, but when those evaluations are based on hearsay and suppositions that are posted as if they were fact, then I think Ohio State fans really need to look at themselves in the mirror and ask a very serious question that I have trouble answering "yes" to recently:

Do Ohio State fans deserve Jim Tressel?

GPA

 

[NFBuck]

I get tired of the restlessness in Buckeye Country when we have a 'down' year.

Unrealistic expectations are seldom met.

Truth.

Tressel is coaching a team that lost one of the better RBs in program history, both his veteran starting WRs, one All American, multi award winning, all-timer LB, an AA, Thorpe award winner at CB, another starting CB and another very solid LB. That's a helluva lot to replace...talent level be damned.

We may be reaching a valley in terms of production on offense. Granted TP came in with a year of experience, but it was under a very vanilla offense. While the O is by no means grown breaking this season, the playcalling is working in some new hitches. He's obviously still very raw, but the raw talent is there. It's just a matter of molding it. Troy was incredibly erratic his first year-year and a half before the light went on. I expect the same from TP. TP just needs the patience to develop and these bumps and bruises will likely pay off big later this year and into the future.

 

[zincfinger]

Troy was incredibly erratic his first year-year and a half before the light went on. I expect the same from TP. TP just needs the patience to develop and these bumps and bruises will likely pay off big later this year and into the future.

And even a mature Troy Smith struggled (to put it lightly) when the opposing defense didn't care about the run, and he had poor pass blocking. That's not to say that Pryor's development is where the team needs it to be, but his struggles have a good deal to do with what's going on around him, in my opinion.

 

[kolOhioState88]

i have the best gut feeling that we may lose another game or 2 this year, but when we head to ann arbor....

i dont know i just feel like we walk in to that piss-hole and destroy michigan.

 

[TDG]

I get tired of the restlessness in Buckeye Country when we have a 'down' year.

Unrealistic expectations are seldom met.

While I do agree that Buckeye fans tend to have unrealistic expectations and overreactions to rebuilding years, it is important to remember that the restlessness right now isn't just because we lost to Purdue or may be in the midst of a down year, it's the result of frustration that's been building since the night of January 8th, 2007. People were not this upset at this point in 2004, and we were 4-3 with losses to Northwestern, Iowa and Wisconsin then.

 

[Zander42]

While I do agree that Buckeye fans tend to have unrealistic expectations and overreactions to rebuilding years, it is important to remember that the restlessness right now isn't just because we lost to Purdue or may be in the midst of a down year, it's the result of frustration that's been building since the night of January 8th, 2007. People were not this upset at this point in 2004, and we were 4-3 with losses to Northwestern, Iowa and Wisconsin then.

Hmmm, I know what your are saying, but I remember people being pretty upset about that time. Message boards weren't as popular then and most newspapers didn't have live comment sections below every article.

2004 was the first year that the team was filled with JT's recruits, people were saying that the 2002 run was Coop's boys and JT couldn't get it done, and we were still hearing about MoC's latest every other week. That was some pretty bad stuff.

 

[Woody1968]

While I do agree that Buckeye fans tend to have unrealistic expectations and overreactions to rebuilding years, it is important to remember that the restlessness right now isn't just because we lost to Purdue or may be in the midst of a down year, it's the result of frustration that's been building since the night of January 8th, 2007. People were not this upset at this point in 2004, and we were 4-3 with losses to Northwestern, Iowa and Wisconsin then.

Actually, people were upset in 2004, and even in 2003 after the losses to wisconsin and scUM, there were a LOT of cooper troopers online.