You're absolutely right. We were incredibly fortunate from 2001-2018. Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer were two absolute home runs who not only won a lot overall, but also understood and relentlessly emphasized The Game.
Hiring Jim Tressel was incredibly risky. While he won a lot at YSU, dipping down into FCS (or Div II at the time) was something that major programs VERY rarely did then or now. Hell, I can't think of another "blue blood" that has done it off the top of my head. But, Jim Tressel quickly diagnosed the issues that plagued the Cooper era (not treating The Game as it should be & letting too many elite Ohio recruits get away) and immediately set to fixing them. He made The Game a primary focus all year long and "built a fence around Ohio." Yes, top Ohio kids sill signed elsewhere, but not like the 90's and Ohio became a primary focus in recruiting. Yes, his style of play wasn't nearly as "sexy" as other programs was wildly frustrating at times, but by and large it was successful. I tend to think "Tat-gate" may have been a blessing in disguise, because I just don't think "Tresselball" would have been sustainable as the game evolved in the 2010's.
We were very fortunate to have Urban Meyer, not only one of the best coaches in the game over the prior decade, but also an Ohio guy that had a deep love/respect for tOSU, available as we were looking for someone to steady the ship after a very tumultuous 10 months. He brought a modern approach and an exciting offense. His recruiting not only maintained a focus on Ohio, but also expanded nationally. As expected, he delivered unparalleled success. The downside to Meyer was that he was probably a bit, *ahem*, morally ambiguous in how he ran a program in some ways, and not surprisingly, it caught up to him. But his tenure made tOSU football one of the top two or three programs in the country.
That brings us to Ryan Day. Ryan Day objectively stepped into the perfect situation. Urban Meyer had put systems and processes into place that made the job pretty much "plug and play. Harbrau's "born on 3rd base" comment, while smug, may not have been far off. That said, there's not many coaches that could continue recruiting at the level he has and winning 90% of your games isn't easy anywhere and not many coaches not named Nick Saban can do it. The downside is obviously 1-2 vs scUM. Has he de-emphasized The Game? Nobody outside of the WHAC can really say for sure, but the results on the field are certainly quite concerning. It can be argued that Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer had the fortune of going up against a ttun program plunging into a 20 year malaise. But are they as good a program as the results of the last two matchups make them appear? I don't think so. I still believe an Urban Meyer coaches team wins last Saturday. Quite possibly last year, too.
I don't think many rational fans are saying we need to fire Ryan Day right now. I'm certainly not. I don't know who you bring in that is a sure-fire upgrade. Luke Fickell is in Madison now. Could he come home some day? Maybe. But while his tenure at UC was impressive, it's no guarantee he's as successful as Ryan Day in Columbus. Will be interesting to see how he does at Wiscy. Do we need a Buckeye to come in and fix the issues with The Game? Day is an "outsider", is that why we're slipping in that regard? If a "Buckeye" is a pre-requisite, that leaves Luke and Vrabel. Vrabel has done very well in the NFL, but how does he do as a college coach in a pressure cooker like his alma mater? It's a slippery slope.
My hope is that Ryan Day takes what happened as an opportunity for some self-reflection and sets about fixing what is wrong, because there are some serious issues within the program, at least in regards to the Game that need to be fixed before they metasticize and things spin out of control.
