What's going on in Columbus?

[Michchamp]

I was reading this article on OSU on espn.com, about how they basically dumped money on buying kids to try to win it all in 2024.

They’re going the route Texas A&M tried with Jimbo Fisher. OSU hired the AD that gave Fisher his big extension (Ross Bjork) - and then paid him a record breaking buyout to go away! - all because Fisher had a good 2020 year, when college football was a mess b/c of COVID. That’s like MSU-Mel Tucker contract level incompetence right there. Bjork’s Wikipedia page shows he’s been the head of several scandal-plagued institutions during his tenure, with the Houston Nutt/Hugh Freeze scandal occurring on his watch, and only coming out because of Houston Nutt suing Ole Miss for defamation after they tried to blame him for all Hugh Freeze's misdeeds.

This is insane to me to hire a guy with THAT track record when you’re trying to win. Not only does he have a lousy ethical track record, but he hasn't ever produced good results.

Also, on the Chip Kelly hire, it says he took a $4MM pay cut to ditch his UCLA job and go to OSU, but… who does that? And the article goes on and on about Kelly’s ties to Day, going back to their roots in New Hampshire, but also mentions Day’s first choice for OC was former Penn St HC and failed Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien, so he didn’t even plan to hire Kelly.

The ESPN.com article quotes one of the boosters who put the financial packages together with this ringing endorsement of Ryan Day:

"We've got the best. Every position group is stacked, with depth. So we have no choice but to win the national championship," Powell said. "A lot of people love Coach Day. I think he's a really good coach. [He has] all the resources that he possibly needs to win it all. And if he doesn't, then the writing's on the wall. ... Nobody's really hearing any excuse.

Nothing like the pressure of losing your job to motivate the team… hope his players like him.

All these moves seem inspired by things I’ve seen the dumbest fans suggest programs do… basically throw money at the problem to hire big names and hope everything works out. Nothing about working harder, building team chemistry & morale, developing players, etc.

OSU has an unbelievable soft schedule this season (after all their fans ragged on ours last year), so on paper at least, everything lines up for them to make a run. They have only 3 road games (@MSU, PSU and Oregon), and one against Northwestern being played at Wrigley Field. But I could see this team imploding with too much talent and too big egos like A&M did.

Also, this is weird: the players are also going to the fundy Christian route and doing mass adult baptism in Columbus (see link: "Ohio State Football Stars Preach the Gospel to Thousands of Students, Leading to Many Baptisms: 'The Most Incredible Night'") and link to a less insanely religious coverage of the event.

 

[byco42]

You know the funny thing is ... your team wins the national championship, and then what? Seems to me the prize isn't worth the effort to attain it anymore.

 

[Michchamp]

You know the funny thing is ... your team wins the national championship, and then what? Seems to me the prize isn't worth the effort to attain it anymore.

I suppose your comment could take us into a deeper philosophical discussion about the very nature of sports, and the point of competition.

Former Dallas Cowboys running back, Duane Thomas once posed a similar question:

If the Super Bowl is the ultimate game, how come they're playing another one next year?

The obscure Norwegian philosopher Peter Wessel Zapffe viewed athletic endeavors (specially in his case, mountain climbing) as a solution to the pointlessness of life. We do them to give ourselves a purpose and meaning during life.
Essentially we're here for the same reason as all life: procreation. But we have this higher consciousness & self awareness that is on one hand superfluous to that reason, but also exists because it was beneficial to that reason, i.e. our more conscious and self aware genetic ancestors were better able to survive and procreate and so passed those genes on down to us. But consciousness and self-awareness is also a burden in that it allows us to recognize the pointlessness of life. So his solution was, instead of just killing yourself, find something constructive, or at least pleasant to do to occupy the mind before you die.

Plus, here, college football makes a bunch of assholes a lot of money, and makes the players a little money, and gives them something to do while waiting to die. And its "bread and circuses" for those of us not into some of the other bread and circuses our society maintains.

My $0.02.

 

[Spartanmack]

People who live in glass houses...maybe Bjork can go to uofm for his next job. Or maybe it's too dirty even for him...

 

[byco42]

MC: maybe you've heard of Saint Alphonsus Liguori. He talked about the value of living an interior life that did not involve organized competition, but valued the importance of organic play. The hype, the hyperbole, and the vitriol, even now evident on this thread unfortunately, for reasons unknown, of college football fandom and competition, I consider an unhealthy development spurned by vicarious motives. I've managed to boil it down to the fact that these are young men with souls worth saving, no matter what uniform they wear.

 

[Michchamp]

MC: maybe you've heard of Saint Alphonsus Liguori. He talked about the value of living an interior life that did not involve organized competition, but valued the importance of organic play. The hype, the hyperbole, and the vitriol, even now evident on this thread unfortunately, for reasons unknown, of college football fandom and competition, I consider an unhealthy development spurned by vicarious motives. I've managed to boil it down to the fact that these are young men with souls worth saving, no matter what uniform they wear.

I have not heard of him, but sounds reasonable.

I think the internet by its nature drives a lot more negativity. But I gather there was always a tendency toward more unhealthy hype and vitriol in Columbus, for whatever reason. I don't know what the rivalry was like in person in the 70's or 80's. Or the early 90's.

I remember them rioting & burning dumpsters after we won there in 2000. And the videos from the game weekend there in 2002 making the rounds on the old ESPN.com boards, and being surprised how ugly the vibe was... and I've been really drunk & surly at college football games myself, so it's not like I'm being a prude here.

Bob Ufer made his "10,000 fans and 70,000 truck drivers" comment about OSU fans though even way back then, so maybe he could see it back then too?

I recall the stories of Woody having to face down OSU boosters and threaten to pay scholarships himself to get them to back off. It seems like OSU football has been a ethical cesspool for decades. I really don't know why. Maybe because there's only one Big Ten program in the state, it attracts a critical mass of scummy used car dealers and other hangers-on?

Oh, and speaking of that, Art Schlichter was back in the news, getting busted for cocaine possession. A Michigan fan on twitter told everyone to read his wikipedia page if they weren't familiar with just HOW long of a rap sheet he has now, and I noticed this gem:

During his college career, Schlichter was frequently spotted at Scioto Downs with a prominent Ohio gambler. Although the Columbus and OSU police departments became suspicious, the athletic department felt it lacked enough evidence to notify the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).[8] Schlichter turned his attention from horses to sports betting by his junior year at OSU; by the end of that year he had lost thousands of dollars gambling on college and professional sports.[1][2] On several occasions he was seen at Scioto Downs with Hayes' successor as head coach, Earle Bruce, a fact which helped cover up early problems emerging while Schlichter was at OSU.[3]

THEIR STARTING QB WAS CONSTANTLY AT A RACE TRACK IN THE COMPANY OF GAMBLERS - KNOWN TO THE POLICE - WITH HIS HEAD COACH ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS, BUT THEY DIDN'T THINK IT WAS A BIG DEAL!!!!

Any way, I'd like to see that program implode. Way, WAY overdue.

 

[Cam]

I didn't even realize Ohio State brought in Chip Kelly to be their OC, until I saw Bill O'Brien coaching Boston College against Florida State the other day. Last I heard, O'Brien was the new OC, but apparently he was hired there and then was offered the BC job.

I really don't understand why Kelly would take that big of a pay cut, but he has rapport with Day. Maybe he thinks he'll be offered a more lucrative job after hanging around as OC at OSU for a year or two?

 

[Michchamp]

I didn't even realize Ohio State brought in Chip Kelly to be their OC, until I saw Bill O'Brien coaching Boston College against Florida State the other day. Last I heard, O'Brien was the new OC, but apparently he was hired there and then was offered the BC job.

I really don't understand why Kelly would take that big of a pay cut, but he has rapport with Day. Maybe he thinks he'll be offered a more lucrative job after hanging around as OC at OSU for a year or two?

I assume Kelly has realized UCLA is a dead end job, and views having a big year as OC at OSU as an opportunity to springboard to something better.

He likely wouldn't do better than grinding through 8-5 / 9-4 seasons at UCLA, likely to get harder now in the Big Ten.

He crashed and burned in the NFL, and his Oregon tenure was marred by actual NCAA violations and a show cause getting issued

 

[byco42]

I have not heard of him, but sounds reasonable.

I think the internet by its nature drives a lot more negativity. But I gather there was always a tendency toward more unhealthy hype and vitriol in Columbus, for whatever reason. I don't know what the rivalry was like in person in the 70's or 80's. Or the early 90's.

I remember them rioting & burning dumpsters after we won there in 2000. And the videos from the game weekend there in 2002 making the rounds on the old ESPN.com boards, and being surprised how ugly the vibe was... and I've been really drunk & surly at college football games myself, so it's not like I'm being a prude here.

Bob Ufer made his "10,000 fans and 70,000 truck drivers" comment about OSU fans though even way back then, so maybe he could see it back then too?

I recall the stories of Woody having to face down OSU boosters and threaten to pay scholarships himself to get them to back off. It seems like OSU football has been a ethical cesspool for decades. I really don't know why. Maybe because there's only one Big Ten program in the state, it attracts a critical mass of scummy used car dealers and other hangers-on?

Oh, and speaking of that, Art Schlichter was back in the news, getting busted for cocaine possession. A Michigan fan on twitter told everyone to read his wikipedia page if they weren't familiar with just HOW long of a rap sheet he has now, and I noticed this gem:

THEIR STARTING QB WAS CONSTANTLY AT A RACE TRACK IN THE COMPANY OF GAMBLERS - KNOWN TO THE POLICE - WITH HIS HEAD COACH ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS, BUT THEY DIDN'T THINK IT WAS A BIG DEAL!!!!

Any way, I'd like to see that program implode. Way, WAY overdue.

Hell, my cousins were taking his money at that track. They worked the windows there. Schliester was betting thousands a pop and losing most of the time.