I really could care less what the school up north of here decides to do with their head coach. It seems that they are in a lose-lose situation. The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Paul Daugherty, “The question The Ohio State University needs to be pondering is this: At what point does its soul matter more than its football coach’s ability to beat Michigan?”
Well, a 1984 graduate of “The” Ohio State University, my dad, Steve recently took to everyone’s favorite quote machine to answer these questions. In response to a question posed to him by my former co-worker Joe Stanek, my dad said, “I say fire the coach and never let the players step foot on the OSU field again. Cleaning house is not a bad thing. OSU will still win games. They fired Woody, and lived through Earle Bruce.”
My dad, Steve (on the right), is a 1984 graduate of Ohio State. He's pictured here with me (left) and my brother Tony (middle) before the 2007 Brickyard 400
Well, they fired Woody Hayes right before my dad got to Ohio State, so he actually lived through the Earle Bruce era, and he always says that he was a part of the only class to go through Ohio State that never beat Michigan.
In fact, Tressel is revered for his record against Ohio State’s biggest rival. There’s even a counter on the Columbus Dispatch’s website counting the days it has been since Michigan last beat Ohio State on the gridiron.
“Tressel has done far worse damage than Woody’s 68-year-old weak right cross that player didn’t even feel. FIRE him,” my dad continued.
It’s always fun to hear my dad talk about Ohio State because he doesn’t necessarily care too much about the Buckeyes anymore. After all, he’s paying for his two sons to attend the University of Cincinnati (and one of them actually works for the UC football program—that’d be me, in case you were wondering). When Ohio State is on, he pays attention, and he wears Buckeye shirts, but he’s by no means a diehard fan of the program.
Which makes his argument stand up even more in my mind. Diehard fans of the OSU program are way too often blinded by their own fandom to see the facts. When I suggested in late 2007 that Ohio State was ducking UC and buying out a portion of the contract because they didn’t want to play against the Bearcats, I was mocked. A few months later, lo and behold, an official announcement was made that Ohio State was buying out UC.
Call me a hater, but I knew the facts before super fans wanted to admit. Not that they’ll ever tell me I was right beforehand.
And what about the five players, who now look like saints up against their head coach and protector. “Also, the players have disgraced the reputation of the school and should never set foot on the field again,” my dad said.
One grad has spoken. Do you agree? I don’t mind the reasoning behind my dad’s argument, but I could care less what Ohio State does. Until they want to play us.
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