Coaching, beating MichigAAn and so forth.
Jim Tressel may or may not be the best coach in Ohio State Football history. He could be the brightest defensive and special teams mind in the country(suck it Beamer). His stoic nature and family values are a perfect fit in Columbus, yet there's something fundamentally wrong with the way he goes about his business. He won it all too early. Think back to a time before Coach Tressel. JHC was roaming the sidelines, doing Big Bear commercials with Jimmy Crumm, recruiting the pants off of everyone in the nation. John Cooper even was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno after a last second victory over Arizona State in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State's first in years.
Everything was great, sunshine, lollopops and unicorns except for one thing, we'll call it "2-10-1". "LLLoydd" Carr was John Cooper kryptonite. Some would say, and I would tend to agree, John Cooper had some of the most talented teams in OSU history and in the country at that time. It seemed that the 1993-1998 squads were on par with some lowly NFL teams with names like Andy Katzenmoyer, David Boston, Dee Miller, Dan Wilkinson, Eddie George and Mike "all I do is catch touch downs" Vrabel. Just like that, John Cooper was let go and fans rejoiced.(While I did/do agree with his firing, John Cooper is a great person who I have had the privilege of meeting in person. I don't believe he deserves the beating he takes. But he takes it with grace somehow.)
Enter Jim Tressel, pre-2001 football season. The Schottenstein Center at halftime. Coach promised that we would be proud of our Buckeyes "most importantly in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan", and we fell deeply and madly in love. The Buckeyes would enter the game a less than stellar 6-4, most of those 4 losses coming by the smallest of margins save for Illinois. We doubted him. Why would this team be any different? We felt like we had been there before. We wouldn't be so foolish as to get our hopes up this time. As we all know, Johnathan Wells ran right up the gut of the defense all day long. We all peed our pants in shock. A win? In Ann Arbor?? 2002, after another bowl game loss to South Carolina and Dr. Lou, the team heads in to the season with enormous preseason hype. Mike Doss is on the cover of ESPN the magazine, it reads "Party School", eluding to the 2003 championship being played in the Fiesta Bowl. (I still have my copy).
Clutch kicking, close games, solid run game and a stout defense. Holy Buckeye happens, we all have several heart attacks, and then we get to the biggest of them all, The Game. Our hopes are high but not too high, we've been left at the altar too many times to truly believe that it's our time. The Freshman catches a pass, touch down Mo Hall, and Will Allen seals it with the pick. "Let's party Columbus". We all do. Some of us get a bit carried away. Tempe, Arizona. January 3rd 2003. The Miami Hurricanes are favored by 11.5, no one outside of the state of Ohio gives OSU a chance, and even them some of us must have mortgaged our souls to Satan herself for even a sliver of hope this game.(don't kid yourself, she's a she) Some of us are still hungover from New Years, and we can't quite believe were here, that we're up late in the game and then crap, Miami ties it. Overtime, "the call" and Ken Dorsey crying. Scarlet and Grey confetti. Jim makes his happy face and the crystal is ours. The drought has been broken. Let's really party Columbus.
2003 rolls around, a loss at Camp Randall snaps the nation's largest winning streak. A loss at Ann Arbor keeps us from repeating, back to the Fiesta Bowl we come. Another bowl win for Tressel. 2004 is a bit of a down year; another win over That Team Up North (this time a surprise win) and a trip to the Alamo Bowl to Play Oklahoma State. Another Win. 2005, Ann Arbor, Gonzo and "the catch". Another win at Michigan sets up a date with a "resurgent" Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. Jim Tressel owns the Fiesta Bowl. There's an offensive explosion, Brady Quinn gets up close and reeeeaaaaal personal with his future brother in law. Half Jerseys make people puke. Another Fiesta Bowl win. Jim Tressel is the greatest big game coach in the country according to some major media pundits. Then 2006 happens.
Preseason #1 or #2 depending on what publication. A road demolishing of Texas in Austin. Blowing people out. Teddy ball game, Gonzo and Troy Smith are on another level. THE Game, #1 v. #2 for all the marbles. 3:30 game and extra pitchers at the Northberg with friends. A nervous energy fills Columbus, but there is no shortage in confidence. Touchdowns all around and we rush the field. It tastes like pepper spray. H2-0-and4 says the defense isn't special and that he'll get us next year. Bring on whoever they throw at us. Then it unravels. Troy wins the Heisman and hits the "banquest criquit" as well as professes his love for In-N-Out. Roy Hall ends TGII's season after he takes the opening kick to the house. Blue and Orange confetti rains down from the sky. The Big Ten is slow and Jim Tressel is overrated. LLLoyd's services are no longer needed. It's 2007 and we're in the hunt.
Seriously, WTF Coach? Arm punts all around. 2009 is the time for revenge. Oh crap, Navy! Navy?!?! People jump from window ledges. USC beats us at home in prime time on national TV. Armchair coaches come out of the woodwork. Tressel is THE WORST big game coach in OSU and NCAA history. Purdue Harbor. Bauserman for president. Then something unexplainable happens. Pandas are again sad as the Buckeyes find a way to dominate in Happy Valley. Barclay's kick in OT is good and we're off to Pasadena, after we beat MichAGAIN. Tate Five-cier has multiple entries for his hall of shame. Rose Bowl. Pasadena, CA. There's no way we win. Oregon destroyed USC. They're too fast and we're too slow. The spread option, Pryor sucks. Tressel is the worst big game coach EVER. Please no more field goals. Pryor can't be stopped. We have a tight end? Did you see that pass to Posey?!?!Ball game, the big O defeats the little o. No more Duck calls. What does it all mean? Let's get some perspective.
Jim Tressel is 94-21 overall, 5-4 in Bowl games and 8-1 against Michigan. Also, keep in mind that OSU's overall bowl game record is a losing one. It could very well be that if Woody Hayes wasn't so legendary, and responsible for OSU being OSU that Jim would be considered the best coach in the history of Ohio State football. Period. So why is everyone so down on him all the time? Tressel-Ball went from being the cure for cancer, AIDS and Michigan/The greatest thing ever to the black plague. He went from being the best big game coach to the worst. We loved his loyalty, then we couldn't stand it. Now we're not too sure what we think about it. Let's also take in to consideration a coaching legend who recently passed, John Wooden, and his career arc. Another "Midwestern" coach with strong family values, stoic presence and a family-like connection with his players. John Wooden didn't win his first title for 16 years. Granted he won 10 total, but what would John Wooden be today if took that long to win it all? Fired. Granted Tressel hasn't brought home 10 titles, but neither has anyone else.
The problem isn't Tressel-Ball, or Coach himself. It's not the fact that "we need an offensive coordinator". The problem is: Jim Tressel won too early and too often. We got spoiled. Before the 2007 championship game he was 3-0 in BCS games and 4-1 in bowl games all together. He was Hurricane Ditka. If the Buckeyes wouldn't have won the 2003 MNC, and had instead won in 2006 or 2007 what would we think? We probably "should have" lost to Miami,(Although, I truly believe that Tressel-Ball fried Coker's mind and won us that game in the end.) and back then it wouldn't have been that big of a deal. People were saying that The Canes could beat whoever the worst NFL team was back then by 2 scores. So losing to them would have been no shame. Once we did win, the bar was set high, and rightfully so.
He knows what you say, and he's still here.
Once someone is successful they want to continue to be so, and once you're at the top the only place you can go is down. Some day the vest will retire and we'll have a new coach. In fact, there are already rumors and speculation as to when that will be and who will be the next in line. Let me say this: No one will replace Jim Tressel. The next man in line has his work cut out for him and then some. My hope is that while we still have him, we keep his accomplishments, the team and everything else in perspective. As there are no guarantees in life, there are no guarantees in Ohio State Football and the next guy may not be as lucky. Should we expect to be great every season? Absolutely, we're a national powerhouse. Should we curse Jim Tressel's name and "offensive ineptitude" after a few hiccups? No.
