Could 2009 Be The Beginning of The End For Coach Jim Tressel?

by HD Handshoe
Founder
BlockONation.com


I consider myself to be a true, die-hard, never fairweather fan of the all sports teams I follow, especially the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Some may, and many have, even accused me of blatant, non-objective homerism!

I will admit I am kind of a homer, but I do not subscribe to the idea that being a homer means I cannot be objective as well.

And since when is being a homer fan of the team you root for a bad thing?

It doesn't mean I don't see things that I don't like or that I live in a Utopia as far as my teams go.

When there are issues, I acknowledge them and want them addressed just as much as the so-called "objective" fan, or fairweather bandwagon jumpers as I like to refer to them.

For example, I have often been critical of Ohio State's coordinators, especially Jim Bollman and their play-calling, which falls solely on the head of Jim Tressel.

It has become a common practice across the college football landscape for schools looking for head coaches to hire coordinators from successful programs like USC, Florida, etc.

Ohio State has been one of the most successful teams of this decade, yet nobody to my knowledge has inquired about hiring Jim Bollman or Jim Heacock.

There's obviously reasons no other teams have hired them away from Ohio State. I'll leave it at that.

I wholeheartedly believe that Tressel should have replaced Bollman this past off-season, and while he was at it, replaced himself as the de facto offensive coordinator with Bollman's replacement.

But alas, none of this happened, so I'll file away my off-season Buckeye wish-list until next January.

While this does worry me that we, as fans, are going to see more of the same old, tired, predictable, and uninspired play-calling of recent years, I'm not a booster, the AD, or E. Gordon Gee. I'm not in a position to implement the changes that seem warranted, so therefore, I digress.

Most sensible OSU fans will take a similar wait-and-see approach before passing judgment on our 2009 team.

But some "fans", still with 38 days to go before the start of the 2009 season, already have the Buckeyes losing three to five games, including blowout losses to USC and Penn State, and are predicting, if not outright calling for, Tressel's head on a stick.

Here is just some of the negativity our own (fairweather bandwagon) "fans" are spewing about our program, players, coaches, etc. over at my least favorite OSU site, Bucknuts.

"Since Michigan in 2006, we haven't won a big game on the national level. Some of those losses were embarrassing blowouts with the Texas game close but still a loss.

All those games were played on fields a long way from Columbus. This game will be at home and if we stink up the place, especially on offence (Tress and Bollman's department), then it will start to shake confidence in the locals about Tress's ability to match wits with the top programs."

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"Beating Michigan, which is basically a MAC level team means little in 2009. Tressel is safe of course—he is a great person, good for any program but only an average game day coach.

The fact that he is 0-6 vs. the last six BCS bowl teams cannot be ignored. Objective OSU fans know something is wrong and Tressel needs better assistants and massive help in play calling. Losing to USC will not help but can be expected as Carroll and USC's talent is still better the OSU's."

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"I think if we lose the USC game and our bowl game JT has one more year to get his **** together. It happens. Fulmer and Carr both won a national title early in their careers at their schools and they both became average coaches.

It's sad to say but I think the game has already started to pass JT by. How long can he live off one NC title while getting his ass handed to him year after year by the SEC and other top programs? His offensive play calling is a joke and he shows no signs of changing his mind.

I watched the Michigan game from last year over the weekend. I have never seen a team win 42-7 and look like ****. But we pulled it off nicely. The play calling in that game was awful. Tressel got lucky that Wells broke a long run or two.

Calling the same running play 5 times in 2 quarters and hoping your back finds a hole isn't coaching."

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"You're right. I am very happy to win the JV conference that is the Big Ten and get our asses handed to us EVERY time we step out of conference and play a real school.

If you want to go through life with blinders on than so be it. I for one think it's alright to question the bible by Jim Tressel. I am tired of a school that makes as much money as we do, recruits the type of players that we do, and sells out EVERY home game like we do being the laughing stock of college football.

For you blind ass homers let me spell it out for you.............

Winning the Big Ten and beating Michigan doesn't mean a damn thing. It's not good enough. I would rather beat USC and lose to Penn St and not win the Big Ten. At least that way we can show we can play with the big boys.

And I hope you're right about TP changing the way Tressel calls plays. Anything would be better than the sissy playing calling we've seen since Troy left. And you can't blame it on having a bad QB. Who's fault is that? Perhaps the head coaches for not bringing in a better QB?"

There are plenty more like these but I think you get the picture.

Some of these comments are worse than others and some hold more validity than others, but here's the blunt truth as far as I am concerned:

Some of you seriously need to get a clue or get a new team if you're so unhappy with Tressel and company consistently thumping Michigan, winning at least ten games per year and winning the Big Ten title nearly every year!

There are about 115 DI FBS football programs that would love to have the "problems" Ohio State football has had since 2006.

Of course, this is just one man's opinion and I could be wrong...

Or not.


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