Is it safe? Am I OK to emerge from hiding yet? What an off season! I feel like I am crawling out of a 1950's bomb shelter into some weird scene created by Rod Serling on The Twilight Zone. Have I ever mentioned that I hate, really-really hate the off-season. Quite simply, from the end of spring practice to the beginning of fall camp absolutely nothing of a positive nature can or ever does happen. Only bad things can happen. No victories, no letters of intent, no first round draft choices; only bad things. Oh yeah, and a basketball program can disintegrate before your very eyes. So, I think you can understand why I have been in hiding. I have made one improvement, though, since you last heard from me. I have hired an intern/personal assistant. He isn't all that good, or all that bright for that matter, but hey, the kid needed a job. He is a young man who once had a lot of prospects, but things didn't exactly work out for him the way he had hoped. So I thought I'd offer him another opportunity. I need coffee. Where is that intern any way. Excuse me��.. Maurice! How about some damn coffee in here?
This train wreck of an off season just can't end soon enough. Aren't we glad we worked so hard to recruit Louis Irizarry . Obviously, he belonged with the Canes all along. One dropped pass and two arrests for assault. Thanks for your contributions Louis. Since football season is still months away and we are past March Madness, the NBA Finals, the College World Series, the Masters and US Opens what is left? Even the Triple Crown fizzled out with a furlong or so left. You can tell that we are deep into off-off season when poker dominates ESPN. I even miss Trev Alberts (not really). Where is the pony in all of this????
I can't avoid this topic any longer. What in the name fiberglass back boards was Jim O'Brien thinking? I don't care if it was an act of charity. He broke major NCAA rules, and in doing so, screwed Ohio State. I liked this guy and was willing to put up with his recruiting inadequacies because I thought he was a good coach and represented our school in such a classy manner. I feel betrayed. What a mess, and all of this for Boban and a guy who never even played for us. I guess he was a really bad recruiter to get popped for a kid who never even came to OSU. Please don't tell me we cheated to get Brandon Fuss-Cheatham.
Watching Andy Geiger's search process is just plain painful. First, he ignores the only big name willing to help us, and make no mistake about it, we need help. Bobby Knight would have provided it. OK, so if we had hired Bobby we all know how it would have ended before it even began. Still, at least we would have made Sports Center. I know Bobby can be a jerk, but he is a successful jerk who wins games, graduates players and runs a squeaky clean program. And he is our jerk. It would have been nice to see him pass Dean Smith as a Buckeye. Of the coaches since Fred Taylor built our basketball program only Gary Williams has been worthy of Fred's legacy. So now Andy tours the country looking at every gym rat of a coach from schools we would be embarrassed to even schedule.
I see Karen Holbrook's fingerprints all over this mess.
Memo to President Holbrook:
Wake the hell up! This is Ohio State not Yale. We need a basketball program that is good enough so as not to embarrass our football program. When football recruits visit campus in December and January how are we supposed to explain the comic opera taking place in a half empty (and not half-paid for) Value City Arena? Quit trying to make OUR (not yours) university something we do not want it to be.
Could we start a fund raising drive to buy her out and send her back to Georgia, preferably the former Soviet Georgia. She, no more wants excellence in our athletic program, than she wants herpes. Yes, I'm still bitter about her efforts to destroy tailgating. How can anyone from a school which annually co-hosts the "World's Largest Cocktail Party" have such a snooty attitude toward athletics. Pretentious cracker!
So when we finally settle, and I do mean settle on the coach of the East Middle New Jersey State Fighting Clay Pigeons, it will be because he took them to the semi finals of the Bergen County Night Basketball and Bowling Conference tournament last year. His overall record will be a stellar 22-48, but his graduation record will be great and he will be so accustomed to fighting uphill recruiting battles that he walks with a limp. He won't create enough excitement in Columbus to fill a Schottenstein store let alone the Schottenstein Center. Our new basketball jerseys will have built-in pocket protectors. The players will have lofty GPA's but won't be able to jump over their term papers. Makes me miss Eldon Miller and that is just so sad. I can't wait for us to annually compete with Northwestern for that coveted NIT bid. Enough about basketball. Sadly, that statement will be repeated in Columbus as early as December.
On to football. Our former tailback, not satisfied with sullying Ohio State's reputation, set out to mess up all of college football�.. and damn near succeeded. Thank God for the NFL's high priced lawyers. Do you suppose #13's advisors and attorneys are doing some kind of penance now? Even though the NFL draft provided evidence of the monumental loss of talent incurred by the Buckeyes, I can't wait for the new season. Last season was nothing but stress. The cloud #13 cast over the entire season, trying to "not lose" games, defending the title, enduring of the idiot fans up north, all conspired to make the 2003 season less than enjoyable, despite an 11-2 record. 2004 has a fresh feel to it, an air of newness. The expectations aren't quite as unreasonable, so hopefully the enthusiasm will be high. The Buckeyes will be young and inexperienced, but not without talent. If they can find the leadership to go with the enthusiasm and talent they might surprise folks. I'll have more to say on that at a later date. Also on the positive side of the ledger is the fact that we play both Wisconsin and the dreaded weasels in Columbus this year. Any year in which I don't have to travel to Ann Arbor is a good year. We have a new Defensive Coordinator, a new Recruiting Coordinator, and a new coach for the running backs. It is sad to see guys like Coaches Conley, Spencer and Dantonio depart. They were great Buckeyes and contributed much. I find some of their replacements to be odd choices, but in Tress we trust. The loss of Dantonio scares me. Hopefully the D Staff has enough continuity to survive the loss. Tim Spencer - great Buckeye player and great person. He coached a Heisman trophy winner, but he also coached lot of underachievers such as Pepe Pearson and Mike Wiley, Jonathan Wells etc. One can only wonder how much the Clarrett debacle influenced his decision to depart. I was surprised with the brotherly choice to fill Spence's shoes, but we shall see.
So it has been tough in Columbus, but does anybody want to trade places with Colorado fans. What is wrong with Gary Barnett? If there was ever a case for falling on one's sword this was it. I know CU can't afford, financially, to fire him, but why, why, why has this guy not resigned. I'm sure he will be welcome in the living rooms of recruits across the nation. The only positive from the mess in Boulder is that it is so bad it makes everybody else look clean by comparison. Where but in Colorado does the term "defensive staff" refer to their attorneys.
Did anyone notice who just got two years of probation? Oregon. How long ago was it that Buckeye fans were upset that Mike Bellotti didn't want to come to Columbus?
Since then we won a national championship and we have watched the Ducks get lost in Pete Carroll's dust.
College football fans take heart. The light at the end of this long dark tunnel is but two months away. We can look forward to seeing many amazing things in 2004. Nebraska in something other than the I-formation? Sightings of Steve Spurrier shopping for a homes in South Bend, Austin and Tempe. Marshall fans in Ohio Stadium? As part of our hospitality for the Marshall fans the athletic department has agreed to, for one game, to change the seating chart for Ohio Stadium, realizing that A, B and C Decks would be way too complex for the Thundering Herd fans. For that one game A Deck will be "Yonder"; B Deck will be "Up Yonder"; and C Deck will be "Way Up Yonder". It is just for the one game. I can't wait!
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