QB Tathan Martell (transfer to Miami, transfer to UNLV)

[Steve19]

damn. i don't think he's making the best decision, but i also don't think he's screwing up his life. he wants to play. i don't blame him. his clock is ticking, and that window ain't getting any bigger.

My point was that he screwed up the life he had. There was no way he would be able to stay at Ohio State in my opinion. As I pondered, will he recover? I think a lot has to do with some reflection on how he ended up in Miami and keeping his mouth shut. I like this kid. I'm very sorry this happened. However, I also do not think he showed any signs that he was all that yet. Perhaps he will in Miami but, if pushed to bet, I would be against it at this point.

 

[buckeyes_rock]

So I hear he is trying to get a waiver to be able to play next season based on a "sudden coaching change." WTH? Coaches get fired at the end of the season all the time and kids don't get to transfer for free. Can't imagine that's a precedent the NCAA wants to establish. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[kujirakira]

This isn't a cross-examination, and I'm not trying to trap you into saying something "mean." You're saying a lot of things metaphorically, and I'm just trying to figure out what you are actually saying. I think what you're saying now is that Martell had little-to-no shot to start, but the coaches should have told him that he did in order to keep him around. And similarly, Burrow had little-to-no shot to start last year, but the coaches should have told him, and did dishonestly tell him, that he had a shot to start, in order to keep him around. I don't know if that's true, but I can see the argument for doing it, if it is.

I dont know that you have to lie outright.
Does Burrow think Urban lied to him?
They said there would be a QB competition... they just didnt come out and say that they were 95% sure who the winner would be - and not because of any favoritism or bias.
They played up how close it was to the media. But i could never bring myself to believe it was going to be anyone but Haskins.

In this situation, Tate got triggered and flew off the handle. It doesnt seem like there was ever an intervention to calm him down.
Instead, there were clear indicators - even to us onlookers - who the favorite was before he was even evaluated in person during Spring.

Throw in Fields potentially AJ Hawking his sister, the basketball game with the already established fragile ego...

But at the end of the day, the team would have been better with him than without.
And it makes no rational sense for him to transfer before he grads (whether that's this year or next)

So I hear he is trying to get a waiver to be able to play next season based on a "sudden coaching change." WTH? Coaches get fired at the end of the season all the time and kids don't get to transfer for free. Can't imagine that's a precedent the NCAA wants to establish. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I personally think it's weak... but NCAA has been handing out waivers like Oprah lately. Anything is possible.
It wouldn't even surprise me if Fields gets denied and Martell approved just because that's how stupid NCAA is.

 

[sparcboxbuck]

He was talking about how he was going to be the starter one week, and in the transfer portal the next. That tells me he was either told he should go, or he didn't want to compete with Fields. If he was told he should go, nobody can fault him, but I find it hard to believe that anyone would suggest that it was in anyone's interest for him to leave before the Spring, regardless of whether thought Fields would be anointed. There is still the question of Field's waiver, and Tate now possibly having to rely on a waiver instead of a grad transfer. Hard to believe that NO ONE screwed anything up in this caper. I don't know how it could have been handled better, but it should have been handled better.

I'm still not following the it "should have been handled better" argument based on the fact that Tate is transferring and the team is in limbo regarding the waiver. There's so much that is going on that we don't know in terms of how it was handled that it, frankly, may have been handed exceptionally well. So well, in fact, that the way it was handled caused the dramatic turn from wanting to compete to entering the portal. But it seems as though Tate's transfer and being in limbo is the basis of the argument for mismanagement. Correct me if I'm wrong.

As far as my speculation in all of this? My money is on a mutual parting of ways based on a change in direction of the offense and Tate being told that it would be a winner take all competition for QB1 from the time they returned to campus until the end of fall practice. This, paired with (again, my guess) him being told that he and Baldwin were neck and neck based on the direction they are taking the offense, regardless of the potential for a transfer QB with a waiver, may have opened his eyes to the very real possibility that even without Fields getting the nod from the NCAA, he may have fallen behind Baldwin. That feedback, along with consulting with his family, and everyone agreed that it was in his personal best interest to find a new home if he wanted to be QB1. If my speculation is correct, there's zero mismanagement by anyone. The communication was timely, honest and fair. Furthermore, it explains the swing from the initial tweets to transferring.

Now, it could very well be the case that the coaching staff, after seeing some of Tate's twitter reactions, gave him the cold shoulder due to his potential to become cancer in the locker room. However, I'd be very hard pressed to believe that would happen for no other reason than the impact such a move would have down the road on other recruiting efforts. Stuff as big as this, and this is pretty big, do not happen without very direct and open communication between coaching staffs, players and the families. If he was frozen out by the staff, I promise you, we'd know about it by now. Especially considering this payer's propensity to get on the twitters to make a scene.

Finally, and I can't recall who said it here first, but the issue of a divided locker room is a pretty big deal. If you want any evidence of how that plays out, just go back to see how things went when Pryor took over. To that end, one could argue that, in light of the potential for disruption in the locker room, the staff actually didn't mismanage anything at all. Perhaps they could be given credit for actively managing the situation in a way that has the team's best interest in mind, no? I guess the assessment of mismanagement comes down to the criteria you're using to define it.

TL; DR: Leveling judgment on how something was handled without full knowledge of the entire picture and what exactly was done, is weak sauce.

 

[gmen6981]

I'd put some egg on her face, if you know what I'm sayin.....

This is going to end up being another dildo thread, isn't it?

 

[sammyjenkis]

I have a strong suspicion I couldn't spend 15 minutes alone in the same room with this woman if my life depended on it.

She'd have the cops there in 10

 

[Mike80]

This is going to end up being another dildo thread, isn't it?

With this group? Probably. We would already be there if this was August and not January.

 

[BB73]

They showed a graphic at the start of a bowl game this year that only 2 guys were 5th year QBs at the school where they started their college career.

Both guys were starting in that bowl game: it was the Cal-TCU game, which was easily the worst combined QB play I'd ever seen in a bowl game. Maybe those two guys were still at their original schools because nobody would take them.

 

[Woody1968]

I'm still not following the it "should have been handled better" argument based on the fact that Tate is transferring and the team is in limbo regarding the waiver. There's so much that is going on that we don't know in terms of how it was handled that it, frankly, may have been handed exceptionally well. So well, in fact, that the way it was handled caused the dramatic turn from wanting to compete to entering the portal. But it seems as though Tate's transfer and being in limbo is the basis of the argument for mismanagement. Correct me if I'm wrong.

As far as my speculation in all of this? My money is on a mutual parting of ways based on a change in direction of the offense and Tate being told that it would be a winner take all competition for QB1 from the time they returned to campus until the end of fall practice. This, paired with (again, my guess) him being told that he and Baldwin were neck and neck based on the direction they are taking the offense, regardless of the potential for a transfer QB with a waiver, may have opened his eyes to the very real possibility that even without Fields getting the nod from the NCAA, he may have fallen behind Baldwin. That feedback, along with consulting with his family, and everyone agreed that it was in his personal best interest to find a new home if he wanted to be QB1. If my speculation is correct, there's zero mismanagement by anyone. The communication was timely, honest and fair. Furthermore, it explains the swing from the initial tweets to transferring.

Now, it could very well be the case that the coaching staff, after seeing some of Tate's twitter reactions, gave him the cold shoulder due to his potential to become cancer in the locker room. However, I'd be very hard pressed to believe that would happen for no other reason than the impact such a move would have down the road on other recruiting efforts. Stuff as big as this, and this is pretty big, do not happen without very direct and open communication between coaching staffs, players and the families. If he was frozen out by the staff, I promise you, we'd know about it by now. Especially considering this payer's propensity to get on the twitters to make a scene.

Finally, and I can't recall who said it here first, but the issue of a divided locker room is a pretty big deal. If you want any evidence of how that plays out, just go back to see how things went when Pryor took over. To that end, one could argue that, in light of the potential for disruption in the locker room, the staff actually didn't mismanage anything at all. Perhaps they could be given credit for actively managing the situation in a way that has the team's best interest in mind, no? I guess the assessment of mismanagement comes down to the criteria you're using to define it.

TL; DR: Leveling judgment on how something was handled without full knowledge of the entire picture and what exactly was done, is weak sauce.

That's too many "what ifs" IMO. Like I said, it was a bad look (not horrible), and I think both parties probably could have handled it less publicly.

 

[sparcboxbuck]

That's too many "what ifs" IMO. Like I said, it was a bad look (not horrible), and I think both parties probably could have handled it less publicly.

That’s exactly the point I’m trying to make. The ifs and buts are all over every argument here and there ain’t nobody here informed enough to level criticism at anyone.

Bad look? Only based on only what you think you know, right?

What I know is that I don’t know jack shit so I’m not critical of anybody.

I do have to ask, however, for examples of what the program did publicly. Serious question. Other than responding to media questions and the release of the transfer of Fields being confirmed, what did I miss?

 

[OHSportsFan]

They showed a graphic at the start of a bowl game this year that only 2 guys were 5th year QBs at the school where they started their college career.

Both guys were starting in that bowl game: it was the Cal-TCU game, which was easily the worst combined QB play I'd ever seen in a bowl game. Maybe those two guys were still at their original schools because nobody would take them.

Don't you dare besmirch the Cheeze-It Bowl.

 

[jwinslow]

They showed a graphic at the start of a bowl game this year that only 2 guys were 5th year QBs at the school where they started their college career.

Both guys were starting in that bowl game: it was the Cal-TCU game, which was easily the worst combined QB play I'd ever seen in a bowl game. Maybe those two guys were still at their original schools because nobody would take them.

This graphic was pretty good

12. ESPN chose to give [whatever this spotlight honor is] to a player with zero normal yards, and it was a fair decision!

He later ran for the two yards that would help set up the potential winning field goal’s angle, so I think this is extra fair.

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

You sure about that? Cuz if we dial back a week or so i did say his twitter comments were the remarks of an insecure person... and you guys jumped on it.
He's so alpha, a competitor, etc.
I was right and got what was going on.
Now im saying that the coaching staff could have handled this better as well... but they can learn from it.
And here you all are again jumping on a neutral nuanced viewpoint.

Go figure.

Dude, at least half this board "got what was going on". Did you not see my quote of myself? I said he seemed scared. I wasn't alone. You're not some mensa because you figured out that Tate was All Hat No Cattle. A LOT of us could see that. Some folks might have felt he's "an Alpha" but most of the rest of us just didn't want to get into a pissing match over what felt a bit like bashing a Buckeye.

Meanwhile, your original premise is that Day somehow fucked this up. Well first, you don't know anything about what transpired between Day and Tate. You also don't know what Day has seen day in/day out to know what he thinks of Tate's prospects. Second, if you are to believe your own gut instinct that Tate doesn't have the killer instinct, then why the hell do you think it's a loss or mistake on Day's part to let Tate find a new path? If Tate really is avoiding the competition, then this is addition by subtraction.

 

[MaxBuck]

Buh-bye, Tathan.

 

[buckeyebri]

This is going to end up being another dildo thread, isn't it?

Might be the best thing that could happen too the thread....I mean what’s better 25 more pages of the same rehash or 25 pages of dildos....