For all the cries of nepotism and stagnancy, Jim Tressel's coaching staffs were nothing if not stable.
Sure, you had departures here and there: defensive coordinators Mark Snyder and Mark Dantonio, running backs coach Tim Spencer and defensive backs coach Mel Tucker spring to mind, but for the most part, Tressel's staffs remained remarkably intact (for better or worse).
Jim Bollman joined him as his offensive coordinator and remained in that role all the way through the horror that was the 6-7 of 2011. Ditto for Jim Heacock, although, he started off as the defensive line coach on Tressel's first team, a holdover from his position on John Cooper's staff. Luke Fickell signed on in 2002 and is still with the program.
After just one season, life under Urban Meyer is proving to be quite a bit different.
Last week brought rumors of co-defensive coordinator Everett Withers being a candidate for the job at Southern Miss. Sunday, it was revealed that running backs coach Stan Drayton interviewed for the vacant Temple job:
OSU asst Stan Drayton interviewed at Temple today. Dave Clawson, Matt Rhule, Chuck Heater (interim) and Todd Bowles in mix.
— Pete Thamel(@SIPeteThamel) December 9, 2012
And we can expect more of this, if not this year, then certainly in future years.
Yesterday, Football Scoop named Ohio State co-offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Ed Warinner its Offensive Line Coach of the Year:
There are only a handful of places that most coaches would consider leaving Notre Dame for and, for Ed Warinner, Ohio State was on that short list. Warinner joined Urban Meyer's staff at Ohio State back in January and made an impact the day he stepped on campus.
Coming into this season, many college football prognosticators tabbed Ohio State's offensive line as one of the team's weaknesses as they came off a 6-7 year in 2011. Once offensive line coach Ed Warinner got an opportunity to mold the group, he proved that notion to be not only premature, but flat out incorrect.
Truth be told, the offensive line turned out to be one of the major strengths of the Buckeyes this season. After the unit shed a total of 133 pounds, Warinner took a determined and focused offensive line group and molded them into one of the best units in the country.
As Kyle pointed out last week, losing coaches is as familiar to Urban Meyer as winning football games. Five members of his first Florida staff are now head coaches, with a sixth, Greg Mattison, serving as Michigan's defensive coordinator.
If Meyer can replace expected losses well, we're in for more good times. If not, we may have to endure some growing pains.
THE YEAR OF THE BRAX. Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel became the first freshman to capture the Heisman Trophy over the weekend and the A&M marketing team wasted little time hyping the milestone, hoisting yet another nickname for the quarterback upon us, both in Times Square and on the web. It's catchy, but we're pretty sure there's already a Johnny Heisman and he is, well, the namesake for the award.
Manziel had a fantastic year and deserved the award, even if the field was relatively weak, but we're already turning our attention towards 2013 when Braxton Miller should be a heavy favorite heading into next season. Heisman Pundit:
Braxton Miller, Ohio State – This year’s fifth-place finisher in the Heisman vote is the front runner for 2013. He plays for a traditional power coming off an undefeated season and he should explode for big numbers in his second year in Urban Meyer’s offense.
[Nods.]
To snag the Heisman, Miller will have to improve upon his gaudy 2012 numbers in which he set a school record for total yards in a season with 3,310. His offensive coordinator, Tom Herman, went so far as to say he fell short of his enormous potential:
“He is probably going to hate me for saying anything, but in my opinion, any time you are capable of one thing and you achieve something less than that, that’s called underachieving,” Herman said. “So he didn’t always play to his capabilities.
“Is it encouraging that his capabilities are still out there, and that myself as his coach and him as the player can continue to work toward him playing up to those capabilities every single snap? Yeah, that’s immensely exciting.”
Is it September 2013 yet?
If Miller needs any motivation, show him this photo of Mike Rozier's suit and tell him that he'll get to witness fine threads like that in person next December.
SEASONS GREETINGS [Via @atj1971]GONNA MISS YOU, ALL FLANNEL TOPS. John Simon's hometown paper caught up with him for a Q&A session. Simon's thoughts on missing the final game of his Ohio State career:
We definitely did everything we could. We did some drastic stuff the morning of that game to see if we could get it going and unfortunately we weren’t able to do it. I had to make that decision [not to play] probably about 15 minutes before kickoff. So I had to deal with some demons there in the locker room a little bit. But my team picked me up fast and let me know that they were behind me every step of the way. They went out and played lights out. I’ve really never been more proud of a group of guys. I really appreciate what they went out and did.
On Urban Meyer's quote about naming a son after him:
(Laughing) I don’t have any part in the decision on whether to have another son or not. That’s between him and Shelley. I’m not getting involved there. But coming from someone with his track record and all the success he’s had and the kind of person he is — he’s a great guy — for him to say something like that about me is a tremendous honor. He’s the type of coach you want to play for every day.
Simon also confirmed that he'll take part in the Senior Bowl in January as part of his preparation for the NFL Draft. I think it's safe to say Buckeye fans will be pulling harder for this guy than they do for most.
RECRUITING SMACK TALK. Chris Hauser, Wisconsin's Director of Recruiting Player Development, tried to talk a little trash to Mike Vrabel and Mark Pantoni and Vrabel responded like a boss (don't read it as a retweet, I'm not quite sure why Hauser formatted it this way):
“@chrishauserjr: RT @coachvrabel50 @markpantoni U will find out tomorrow ur not welcome in Madison!" Relax jr! I will #PlantTheFlag
— Mike Vrabel (@CoachVrabel50) December 9, 2012
Owned.
THE ANNUAL "SABAN TO THE NFL" RUMORS HEAT UP AGAIN . This time, Cleveland is the destination. Please God, prove that you exist.
ETC. Terrible free throw is terrible... Reminder: The 11W Bowl Challenge gets underway this week (password = urbtopia)... The University of California has a new logo... WVU to mascot: Stop being so mascot-like... SI's Thayer Evans left Johnny Manziel off of his Heisman ballot because Manziel still faces charges for fight last summer... Illinois launches a statewide billboard campaign to sell the fact that it's better than Northwestern... It's not often that we get to witness the greatest of all time in a given sport. When we do, we should appreciate it.
