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- Thread starter Jaxbuck
- Start date
Little story...I retired from the AF two years ago. Mrs. NFBuck knows how much I admire JT. She reached out to his personal assistant at YSU prior to my retirement explaining how I grew up in NE Ohio right up the road from Youngstown while he was at YSU and what a huge tOSU/JT fan I've always been and asked if JT would mind sending an autograph as a retirement gift. Not only did JT send an autographed 8 x 10 of him on the Buckeye sideline, he sent a hand written letter congratulating me on my retirement and thanking me for my service. I will always love Jim Tressel.
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https://theathletic.com/3673677/2022/10/13/college-football-coaching-carousel-tressel-carroll/
Wildest coaching carousel ever? USC, Ohio State, Miami, Bama and the crucial 2000-01 cycle
By Max Olson
8h ago
At the end of 2021, seven of the best jobs in college football became available at roughly the same time. USC, LSU, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Florida, Miami and Oregon hitting the market in one season was a remarkable occurrence, one without much recent precedent. But there was one hiring cycle, two decades ago, in which nearly everyone struck gold.
Let’s rewind to the 2000 coaching carousel, which might just be the best of all time.
While the rest of the country was focused on another historically chaotic event — the Bush vs. Gore presidential election — college football was going through a dramatic period of prominent firings and brilliant hires. At the Division I-A level, 25 programs brought in new head coaches. Fourteen went on to earn conference or national coach of the year honors.
Five of the 10 most successful programs in the sport from 2001 to 2010 hired coaches in this cycle, and another nearly lost theirs. Best of all, three head coaches delivered national championships within four years.
Only a dozen coaches were making $1 million a year back in 2000. This cycle presented an opportunity for many more to hit that mark, by either taking a new job or flirting just enough to get a new deal. Athletic directors took big swings on big names. The what-ifs of this cycle are just as compelling as the actual outcomes. In some cases, these hires still impact the sport to this day.
...
The dream job: Ohio State
Glen Mason had tears in his eyes as Minnesota’s team bus rolled toward Ohio Stadium on Oct. 14, 2000. He played for Woody Hayes. He worked for Hayes and Earle Bruce. Now the coach was returning to Columbus to deliver a 29-17 upset of the No. 6 Buckeyes.
“Before you even ask, ‘Is it more meaningful to me because it’s here?’ Sure it is,” Mason told reporters. “I have great feelings for this university.”
Ohio State was his dream job. Everyone knew it. Two months later, it opened up. John Cooper was pushed out on Jan. 2. He went 114-43-4 over 13 seasons but couldn’t live up to Hayes’ high standard and went 2-10-1 against their rival.
“People in Columbus are fed up with losing to Michigan,” Bruce said. “They care about winning.”
The 16-day search began with an obvious name: Bob Stoops. After leading Oklahoma to a national championship on Jan. 3, the Ohio native wasn’t going anywhere. Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger flew to Atlanta to conduct interviews at the AFCA convention. Mason met with him for two hours and didn’t deny doing so. His peers were baffled.
“I don’t know how Glen can do that,” Northwestern coach Randy Walker said. “I wouldn’t want to walk in front of that room [of players] and go, ‘I’m ba-a-a-a-a-c-k. I’m not leaving. I was just k-i-d-d-d-d-i-n-g.’”
Next up on the list: Youngstown State’s Jim Tressel. The Division I-AA coach had won four national titles and played for three more. He had deep Ohio ties. He’d coached under Bruce, too, and knew Geiger well. It made sense that the decision would come down to Mason vs. Tressel.
But then surprise contenders emerged. Bellotti flew to Columbus for an interview. He pulled out of the search the next day, saying the visit reinforced his commitment to Oregon. At the same time, a push was underway for Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden. That’s right, there were Grumors.
National outlets reported Gruden, whose Raiders had just lost the AFC title game, was on a flight to Columbus with talks of a lucrative 10-year deal. But he wasn’t. Gruden was at home with his 6-year-old son. “I just bought two guitars, one for Deuce and one for me, and now I’m trying to get us lessons so we can learn how to play ‘em,” he told ESPN.
Cont'd ...
Wildest coaching carousel ever? USC, Ohio State, Miami, Bama and the crucial 2000-01 cycle
By Max Olson
8h ago
At the end of 2021, seven of the best jobs in college football became available at roughly the same time. USC, LSU, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Florida, Miami and Oregon hitting the market in one season was a remarkable occurrence, one without much recent precedent. But there was one hiring cycle, two decades ago, in which nearly everyone struck gold.
Let’s rewind to the 2000 coaching carousel, which might just be the best of all time.
While the rest of the country was focused on another historically chaotic event — the Bush vs. Gore presidential election — college football was going through a dramatic period of prominent firings and brilliant hires. At the Division I-A level, 25 programs brought in new head coaches. Fourteen went on to earn conference or national coach of the year honors.
Five of the 10 most successful programs in the sport from 2001 to 2010 hired coaches in this cycle, and another nearly lost theirs. Best of all, three head coaches delivered national championships within four years.
Only a dozen coaches were making $1 million a year back in 2000. This cycle presented an opportunity for many more to hit that mark, by either taking a new job or flirting just enough to get a new deal. Athletic directors took big swings on big names. The what-ifs of this cycle are just as compelling as the actual outcomes. In some cases, these hires still impact the sport to this day.
...
The dream job: Ohio State
Glen Mason had tears in his eyes as Minnesota’s team bus rolled toward Ohio Stadium on Oct. 14, 2000. He played for Woody Hayes. He worked for Hayes and Earle Bruce. Now the coach was returning to Columbus to deliver a 29-17 upset of the No. 6 Buckeyes.
“Before you even ask, ‘Is it more meaningful to me because it’s here?’ Sure it is,” Mason told reporters. “I have great feelings for this university.”
Ohio State was his dream job. Everyone knew it. Two months later, it opened up. John Cooper was pushed out on Jan. 2. He went 114-43-4 over 13 seasons but couldn’t live up to Hayes’ high standard and went 2-10-1 against their rival.
“People in Columbus are fed up with losing to Michigan,” Bruce said. “They care about winning.”
The 16-day search began with an obvious name: Bob Stoops. After leading Oklahoma to a national championship on Jan. 3, the Ohio native wasn’t going anywhere. Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger flew to Atlanta to conduct interviews at the AFCA convention. Mason met with him for two hours and didn’t deny doing so. His peers were baffled.
“I don’t know how Glen can do that,” Northwestern coach Randy Walker said. “I wouldn’t want to walk in front of that room [of players] and go, ‘I’m ba-a-a-a-a-c-k. I’m not leaving. I was just k-i-d-d-d-d-i-n-g.’”
Next up on the list: Youngstown State’s Jim Tressel. The Division I-AA coach had won four national titles and played for three more. He had deep Ohio ties. He’d coached under Bruce, too, and knew Geiger well. It made sense that the decision would come down to Mason vs. Tressel.
But then surprise contenders emerged. Bellotti flew to Columbus for an interview. He pulled out of the search the next day, saying the visit reinforced his commitment to Oregon. At the same time, a push was underway for Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden. That’s right, there were Grumors.
National outlets reported Gruden, whose Raiders had just lost the AFC title game, was on a flight to Columbus with talks of a lucrative 10-year deal. But he wasn’t. Gruden was at home with his 6-year-old son. “I just bought two guitars, one for Deuce and one for me, and now I’m trying to get us lessons so we can learn how to play ‘em,” he told ESPN.
Cont'd ...
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Interesting article:
“Probably the one that I think about that I knew where we were heading and I couldn’t get us turned around was 2006,” Tressel said. “We were undefeated and we had beaten Michigan, who was No. 2, and it was a big game, we were ranked one and two. And all of a sudden going into the championship game, you could just see our guys were on their phones with their agents, it was an older team, couldn’t get their attention. You could see they weren’t training like we normally trained, and we talked to them about it. That was one of the lowlights of – gosh, how could we have gotten through to them?”
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“I think our emotional tank got emptied (after the Michigan game) and then Troy won the Heisman and just everyone, the agents telling them where they’re gonna be drafted,” Tressel said. “And they’re humans, too, they’re allowed to be thinking about that.”
But despite those acknowledgments, Tressel said he faults himself and his coaching staff more than he does the mentality of his players.
“I’m not mad at them. I’m mad at us for not being able to get our folks thinking,” Tressel said.
“Probably the one that I think about that I knew where we were heading and I couldn’t get us turned around was 2006,” Tressel said. “We were undefeated and we had beaten Michigan, who was No. 2, and it was a big game, we were ranked one and two. And all of a sudden going into the championship game, you could just see our guys were on their phones with their agents, it was an older team, couldn’t get their attention. You could see they weren’t training like we normally trained, and we talked to them about it. That was one of the lowlights of – gosh, how could we have gotten through to them?”
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.
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“I think our emotional tank got emptied (after the Michigan game) and then Troy won the Heisman and just everyone, the agents telling them where they’re gonna be drafted,” Tressel said. “And they’re humans, too, they’re allowed to be thinking about that.”
But despite those acknowledgments, Tressel said he faults himself and his coaching staff more than he does the mentality of his players.
“I’m not mad at them. I’m mad at us for not being able to get our folks thinking,” Tressel said.
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Buckeneye
I lead, you follow.
I watched an Auburn squad with a questionable offense beat that same Florida team middle of the regular season.
Coaching losses as many games as it wins, and on that field, Tressel and co. were thoroughly outclassed all the way from bowl prep - to the final seconds ticked off the clock.
It's still the 2nd most painful sports loss in my life. Given that my #1 is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, an argument could be made for that #1 spot, actually.
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‘98 MSU was #1 for me but the ‘06 debacle was top 5 for sure.
Miserable and completely avoidable
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
JIM TRESSEL TOOK "HIGH ROAD" AFTER TUMULTUOUS END TO OHIO STATE CAREER, SAYS ADMINISTRATIVE TENURE WAS "AS TOUGH AND CHALLENGING AND REWARDING AS COACHING"
"WE HAD BEEN TALKING TO OUR PLAYERS FOR 25 YEARS THAT I WAS A HEAD COACH ABOUT IT’S NOT IF ADVERSITY HAPPENS, IT’S WHEN. AND REALLY, YOU’RE GONNA BE MARKED BASED UPON HOW YOU HANDLE THAT."– JIM TRESSEL ON HANDLING OSU EXIT
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