Will JT Win Another NC at tOSU?

[LordJeffBuck]

This is not a "fire Tressel" poll, but poses a serious question. The poll is also "private", so your opinion will not be known unless you post it in this thread.

If you believe that JT will win another NC at Ohio State, then the question is moot.

However, if you (like me) believe that he will not, then what to do? Tressel is an excellent ambassador for Ohio State, he runs a clean program, he is a great role model, he emphasizes academics and character development, he wins 80% of his games, and he almost always beats Michigan. Is this good enough for extended job security at a program whose fans expect (rightly or wrongly) their team to win national championships on a fairly regular basis?

Even if it isn't good enough, is there really anyone out there who is any better? Saban? Too old and has character issues. Meyer? Has health issues, and suddenly can't beat anybody, even with all that southern speed. Stoops? His NC drought is two years longer than JT's, and who has squandered more talent than him? Pat Fitzgerald or some other "young" coach? An insider like Luke Fickell?

This isn't the NFL, but college football is still a "business", and winning is the number one job responsibility of a college football head coach. And at a school like Ohio State, "winning" means national championships. If Ohio State's head coach can't win it all, can he survive? Remember, Woody and Earle and Coop are all Hall of Famers, and each of them was fired....

 

[wadc45]

Frankly I just don't believe that winning national championships is the barometer by which we should measure a coach's success...but having said that I find it hard to believe he won't win another one while at OSU. The deck will always be stacked against OSU and JT given past results and mesia perception but if they continue to win Big 10 championships, eventually the Bucks will have that magic season like in 2002.

 

[cincibuck]

Neat to see the choice so clearly stated.

My own wonder is if any Big 10 team can win an NC. They are the only major conference guaranteed to have to play the NCG out of their region. They are not allowed to over sign. They are monitored by an athletic board made up of university presidents and not ADs.

And you can't ignore all the empty factories and the subsequent loss of population. It will (probably already has) become more and more necessary to recruit out of region talent to remain competitive -- and increasingly difficult for that talent to cut it academically to be eligible and remain eligible.

 

[exhawg]

If the past 9 years equals failure we should all be so lucky. The biggest difference that I've noticed between winning the BCS in 2002 and the good to great Buckeye teams that have fallen short in the years since is the defensive line. IMO Heyward is the one DL this year that would have sniffed the field in 2002. That group was truly special and the key to winning the BCS. Every team since 2002 has seemed to have at least one critical flaw that resulted in a loss. This year and almost every year since 2002 physicality on the defensive front has been a key weakness.
Maybe it was a mix between Coopers players and JT's coaching and JT can't do it on his own, but if I had to put money on it I'd bet JT would win another NC in the next 10 years. So far he has 1 NC, 3 NC games, and a BCS game in every season but 2. Tell me scum wouldn't be happy with those stats for their head coach over the past 9 years.
I think JT is a great coach, but he is far from the perfect coach. I'd love to see him find a great offensive mind to call the plays. I don't think it is ever in the head coaches best interest to call the plays on either side of the ball. If JT has one flaw it's that he doesn't see his own weaknesses as a coach.

 

[y0yoyoin]

I think JT is a great coach, but he is far from the perfect coach. I'd love to see him find a great offensive mind to call the plays. I don't think it is ever in the head coaches best interest to call the plays on either side of the ball. If JT has one flaw it's that he doesn't see his own weaknesses as a coach.

agreed...this has to change now...people have been screaming for this to happen for years...and now that we have miller coming in next year it would be a perfect time to do this...someone who is knowledgeable of the spread offense...hopefully someone down the JT tree at youngstown state fits this mold otherwise this is all a dream

 

[DaBears]

There is no coach, pro, college, whatever, who I would rather have than Tressel. Will he win another championship, I hope so, but there's no guarantees. Is he a perfect coach, no - but no coach is perfect. If he had Les Miles' luck, he would have already won his second championship.

Although there are lots of factors working against him, talent and population leaving Ohio, never getting to play a bowl game even remotely close to home (like cincibuck mentioned), I still have faith. I think Tressel has one of the best reputations of college coaches amongst ex-players and as long as he keeps putting talent in the NFL, Ohio State will remain an elite program. Recruits know, or at least they should know, that Tressel cares more about them as men than as football players and that's where I would want to go to school.

 

[BuckNut65]

There are so many intangibles involved in making it to the NC game. In the 2002 season, we easily could have lost 3 or 4 games but found the way to win. In 2007, we lost in the last month of the season and still made the NC game. Was it rising to the occasion or luck or a combination of both?? I think this is a common factor among all the teams that make it that far....you need a little of both to go the distance.

That being said, Tressel has made not 1, but 3 NC games since he has been here. He made 6 at YSU. That is not luck but the ability to find ways to win games. I would find it hard to believe that he won't win another.

 

[Zander42]

I don't think our fans any other fans can seriously expect to win national championships on a regular basis. Before 2002, it was what almost 30 years since the previous championship?

I think the best anyone can hope for if you really get them talking about it, is to be "in the discussion" about 6 out of every 10 years or so. After that it's luck; no key injuries, ball bounces your way a couple of times, players have "off days" (and they will) against the right teams (Cinci, Purdue); get those breaks and your good to go.

JT is certainly getting us in to the discussion more often than not. Is he going to win another championship? Statistically, I would say no, especially since I don't see him being here past 2014. But will he have as much of a chance as he did most of the years he's been here (including 2002)? To this, I would say definitely yes.

--Edit--

Oh and after reading the text of the poll quesiton - CAN JT win another.... To poll question, I still have to say yes. If the question was: Will JT win another... I would have had to say no.

 

[t_BuckeyeScott]

I'm just not sure that any team can win the title by only playing defense anymore because the offenses are so varied that it's hard to defend everything. This defense is built do defend the spread teams. So because your defense will be outplayed at some point because of the matchup you better have some plan on offense to be consistent. I thought it took to long for the coaches to adjust to the 2-high look Wisconsin gave them. They should have started giving Boom the ball on the 2nd drive at least. I think our coaches have shown to be slightly slow on adjustments in the gameplans. I do think it was clear that Pryor didn't have his speed Saturday, but they were running well out of I-form and maybe didn't need it.

It seems obvious that these last 2 years Ohio State hasn't had the special teams advantage in the beginning of the Tressel tenure. What if this has less to do with JT than everyone else learning from JT and Beamer that special teams are important. There's no longer the advantage of 2002 because all teams are devoting time on special teams.

Also, I think Pryor needs to be further along than he is. I live in Oklahoma, and I was talking to a good friend who asked how many good quarterbacks have we hadsince JT became coach? I could realistically say only Smith. Krenzal was a great Buckeye, leader, and clutch player. QB? eh. Pryor is a great athlete. He is not accurate enough to be called a good QB yet. He is halfway through his junior year. He completes alot of passes because the recievers have been good at diving on the ground and getting balls. Sanzenbacher has been outstanding. Posey has had some alligator arms but he has been making some shoestring catches.

I bring up these 3 issues that characterize the current Buckeyes because I think they have been Characteristic of almost all JT's teams. 2002 was a perfect storm and I'm just not sure that it is repeatable. Therefore it's awfully hard to predict another championship for Tressel. It however is impossible to fire a coach who has 6 straight Big 10 titles, is 8-1 versus scUM, and has the impeccable character we all desire for a man leading young men.

 

[cbrian815]

Love Tressel, have no use for another head ball coach. He used every bit of luck he had in 2002. There is no way possible for that to happen again.

Again this year we have no offensive identity. Oline didnt pick up where we left off last year and the d line is not as good as I thought it would be, last years was better. Defensive depth and loss of key players tells me this team will take another hit or two this year.

Coach Tressel will have to hire a new OC to win the big one again. I think its in his head now because he knows that all of the world knows that our true problems are scoring points consistently in big games. I have no doubt with his competitive nature that he wants to show the world that he is capable of having a great offense. He did show us that in 2006, but one year out of 10 isnt a good indicator of continued success. 8 years out of 10 would mean that you are the right person for that particular job. Go Bucks

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

Probably not, but it'll kill me when he leaves.

 

[buckeyeintn]

What he said.

Probably not, but it'll kill me when he leaves.

 

[UpNorthBuckeye]

If he coaches for another 8 or 9 years, yes.

He is also smart enough that he could retire in a couple of years.

 

[Jaxbuck]

To answer the original question: No. I don't think he will.

To echo LJB's post I think Tress is the single best ambassador/CEO of the program OSU fans could hope for. That said he is human and he has weaknesses.

I think the main weakness is a stubborn refusal to accept change along with excessive loyalty to certain people who probably don't warrant it (based on football only results, no dispersions on anyone's character are intended).

I fell off the "Tressel can do no wrong" wagon the day USC humiliated the Buckeyes in early 2008. From that day since I have been willing to acknowledge the teams/programs shortcomings (sometimes probably a little too vocally). I have also tried to remind myself that we are all human and you have to weigh the good with the bad and, make no mistake, I think JT brings a ton of good to the equation. Overall I think the good still outweighs the bad and am glad JT is the coach.

I made my peace this year with just being a regional power and beating the hell out of scUM. That is good enough for me. However, I see more and more people who used to go ballistic at the slightest criticism of JT now asking some hard questions. If that segment of the fan base is starting to sway the overall noise level is just going to keep rising, and getting back to my earlier point of Tressel being overly stubborn/loyal, I think that's where the potential for disaster lies.

If I had to handicap this thing going forward I'd say there is about a 10% chance Tressel sees the need for change, makes it and we see improvement. There is probably another 30% chance Tress just decides to call it a day on his own terms in the next couple of years and exits gracefully. Finally, there is probably about a 60% chance nothing changes, the criticism keeps getting louder and Bollman/the offense turn into Tressels Charlie Bauman within the next 5 years.

 

[muffler dragon]

Chose: No, but Great Ambassador.

I've stated before that my order of importance goes as follows:

1) Beat Michigan.
2) Win Big Ten Title.
3) Win Bowl Game/NC.

Without delving into too many random thoughts, I'll say that I see that there are two major predicaments that come into play with Coach Tressel and National Championships:

1) The amount of things that have to go right (even in a perfect season) to play for a NC let alone win one.
2) The major glaring "weakness" of Tressel coached teams is the paradoxical difference of his greatest strength. Just as Tressel rarely lets teams get back into games when he has the lead, he can rarely (if ever) bring a team back from a deficit for a win.

To state explicitly... there is no other coach that I want as long as Tressel wants to coach.