NFL News: Eric Mangini Now Has More Investigations than Games Coached (Updated)
September 16, 2009While We’re Waiting… Avoiding the Browns, Tribe Training Staff, and the USC Non-TD
September 17, 2009
This is a conversation that I had with my good buddy the Red Headed Yeti about an absolutely awesome article at We Will Always Have Tempe about whether or not Jim Tressel should be fired. Go read it. Your life will be better for it, and hopefully you won’t be angry and over-reactionary afterwards.
At some point I may write an “article” with a “thesis”, etc. on this topic but most of what I think is in this conversation. Here goes:
RHY: are you reading FJM on deadspin today?
Denny: ive read a bit but not a ton
Denny: you should read this though: Attention Knuckleheads
RHY: yeah i saw that on your facebook
RHY: so i read it
RHY: it was solid work that i 100 percent agree with
Denny: OSU needs an OC
Denny: but there aren’t many people that i’d rather have in charge of the entire team
RHY: i think the other part of that is look how many more games we played against top 5 teams
RHY: no keep tressel
RHY: and get some young blood on the o side of the ball
RHY: yea that’s something that you don’t hear from people that are clamoring for him to go
RHY: i think the blog generation of people are too young or too new of fans to remember the cooper era
Denny: there’s no way urban meyer would leave florida for anywhere besides notre dame
RHY: urban meyer may win a lot but i think he is a sleaze ball
Denny: at this point, OSU isn’t on the same level as UF, there’s no way he’d leave
RHY: i want him no where near my team
Denny: well there’s that too
RHY: he and ND are the perfect match
RHY: in my totally biased opinion
Denny: pete carrol and SC are the perfect match too
Denny: mack brown is going to retire when he leaves texas
RHY: yeah
RHY: Pete Carrol is amazing
Denny: chris pederson is going to get picked up by someone else
RHY: ill bet you $10 peterson stays at BSU
Denny: im not taking that bet because it’s one i’d lose
Denny: les miles isn’t the answer at OSU
Denny: if he turned down UM he’d never come to OSU
Denny: the people calling for tressel’s head are so disillusioned that they just assume any coach would leave any job ever for the OSU spot
Denny: and that’s not realistic, at all
RHY: yeah
RHY: and tressel has been great there
RHY: only florida and lsu have won two BCS titles it is not like it is a common thing to happen
RHY: we got one and i think next year the team could be dangerous
Denny: exactly
Denny: this wasn’t supposed to be the year we win a NC
Denny: SC was ranked higher
Denny: we were supposed to lose by 3-7 points looking at the difference in rankings
RHY: yeah
RHY: and that’s what happened
RHY: and what was the vegas line?
RHY: USC by 7 i think
Denny: something like that
RHY: and frankly the bookies are pretty good when it comes to the better teams
RHY: so by their standards OSU overperformed
Denny: yea – i understand it’s frustrating to lose, but people need 1) perspective and 2) less watching of the ESPNs
Denny: i’m tempted to make this conversation into a post haha
RHY: well correct all my miss spelled words then
Denny: yea i will
RHY: i was thinking about doing a post a week about college football on my old blog again
RHY: i might have to do that
Denny: im gonna start blogging again for myself
Denny: just need to take the time to get it going again
RHY: yeah, i think i am going to just go back to pointing out the weekly games, give a little BS about each and maybe a quick comment on the last week
RHY: holy —- the guy sitting in my office is reading the results from his gausian calculations outloud
Denny: out loud?
RHY: where is my samurai sword when i need it
RHY: yes out loud
Denny: HAH
Denny: congrats, that part is going into the post.
RHY: fair
20 Comments
You are the laziest person ever.
I was in the fire Mike Brown camp last year until someone pointed out “who is going to replace him?” Change just for change is terrible, if there was a better option I’d listen, but there really isn’t anyone close (as you pointed out).
@ Eli – I’d respond, but don’t feel like thinking of a comeback.
@ Swig – exactly. If there’s no good replacement, then what’s the point? At this point it’s hard to say that getting a head coach from USC or UF is a lateral job move; it’s most likely a step down, as much as I hate to admit it.
“I’d respond, but don’t feel like thinking of a comeback.”
Better come back with a GD sandwich…
Great article, I’m passing it along to all of my “Fire Tressel” friends who have already grabbed their torches and pitchforks. I’m soooo rundown from already hearing the “Fire Tressel” talk. I hate that the lynchmob has already formed and continues to grow. Tressel’s early success has spawned all of the criticism b/c now people don’t hope we win the championship, they expect it.
#4 – Better come back with donuts.
“Denny: i’m tempted to make this conversation into a post haha
RHY: well correct all my miss spelled words then
Denny: yea i will”
@ Tapin: irony is a tool that I sometimes use.
I like Stewart Mandel’s response:
Four straight Big Ten titles, six BCS appearances in seven years, a national title and a 7-1 record against Michigan — and you want to fire the guy? Really?
Read more: Si.com
#6 – Even if you have to fly.
I’d also like to point out that all those coach’s are in climates that average about 65 degrees in the winter time, if not higher. There’s no snow, MAYBE some rain, no freezing rain, no single digit temps. It’s tough to say if some run n’ gun or spread offense is going to work when it’s snowing out or it’s -5 windchill and the players are freezing. I.E. Michigan 2 years ago was 14-3, freezing rain/sleet and a negative windchill I believe. Would a spread offense have beat OSU that day? Doubt it, because they wouldn’t be able to sling it around the field. What won that day was pounding the rock and defense. Something that is a must in the mid-west and something Tressel is great at.
Show me where OSU was supposed to win a national title this year, or even beat USC! With arguably a worse team this year we played them better than last year at there place. Get off the fire Tressel ship. ANY coach with those numbers would be welcome to coach my team.
Replace him with who? At least they get to important games, which is more to say about basically every other major team in Ohio.
Okay, I love this website and its part of my daily sports blog rotation….but did you guys seriously just post a simple AIM conversation you had with a buddy as an article – with a note in the heading of “Your life will be better for it.”
I was expecting some groundbreaking analysis – I mean, its gotta be ground breaking in order to warrant posting an AIM convo as an entire post. But to be honest, everything you guys said is common sense for any true OSU fan.
And sorry ahead of time for writing this b*tchy post, but the absurdity of this article just had to be called out.
Cheers.
I was referring to the original article at WWAHT – I hope you didn’t think I meant my AIM conversation was worthwhile… but it seems like you did. Joke’s on you!!
Re: the fact that it’s common sense – I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but there are lots of impatient and dumb people everywhere, and a LOT of people (largely press/ESPN types) are calling Tressel’s job status, based on recent big game performance, into question. And seriously – let’s stop with the “true fan” crap. It’s worthless.
And Re: the fact that I posted an AIM conversation – it sums up my feelings about the whole situation and came through clearly in conversational form, so I felt no need to rewrite it (and essentially steal half of the thoughts from my buddy). Just because it’s not written in standard form doesn’t mean there isn’t worthwhile information there.
The bit in that Tempe post I have the hardest time with is this: “Earlier in his career, Tressel’s teams frequently won these games, and lately, he just hasn’t. The chips just haven’t fallen our way.”
What’s happened to the Buckeyes in recent big games has to be more than just random chips falling.
It’s been said a few times already however I’m going to say it again….
Tressel has been gold for OSU Football. He has brought the program to an elite level. He has won a National Championship. He has taken THREE teams to the NC Game. He has won Big Ten titles. He has won vs. Michigan. He brings in top 5 talent every year. The team is always is in NC game talk.
WHAT MORE do we need, and if he is fired then WHO replaces him? Not Meyer, Brown, Paterno, Carroll, Stoops.
Look at Tenn with Lane Kiffin Vs. Fulmer. Now they don’t even know where their program is going. DO WE WANT THAT?
While Coach Tressel was very successful at Youngstown State, I doubt he would have made a list similar to the one on WWAHT during the “Fire John Cooper” era. So, the Fire Tressel crowd may remain undaunted – particularly if he does not do some OC shopping. Remember when the Browns lost Lindy Infante? Coach Marty would not go OC shopping, and the Browns, arguably, are still reeling from his stubbornness, which sapped the momentum of the Infante years (Sports momentum is hard to come by, we see. Best maintain it when it happens.).
One major difference between Tressel and Marty, however, is that Tressel is part of a University – so good coaching is measured in many more different (and more important) ways than winning certain games. For that reason alone, I think keeping Tressel is tantamount to keeping a good thing going – he is involved in the University in a very positive way (in a way not seen since Woody, I think).
The point of the first sentence of my post above is this: people can legitimately hope that a great coach can come from a small school (see, Tressel), so the list of luminaries does not end the inquiry.
@mgbode – My point exactly. It could be better, but not by much.
[commenters note: 8-1 vs. UM after Nov. 21]
@11 – I’m with you on the weather thing. The fact that no major BCS bowl games are played in any kind of discouraging weather is one of my biggest pet peeves of college football. There are plenty of venues for it, OSU, ND, UM, just to name a few locally, that could all easily accommodate a BCS game. It seems unfair that most of the “elite programs” of the south never have to learn to play in cold weather.
In the future I’d be interesting if we could schedule our big games (Texas, USC for example) for a game later in the year, and bring them into some cold weather. Fair is fair.