To any coach, complacency is just about as bad as losing a big game to your rival.
Luckily for Ohio State's Urban Meyer, he hasn't lost to his employer's biggest rival in his three seasons on the job, the University of Michigan.
The latest installment in that storied rivalry — a 42-28 Buckeye victory Nov. 29 — was another rung on the ladder to Ohio State's improbable run at the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship.
It's not the first time Meyer's won a national title, but it's the first time he's done it in his home state. As Meyer and the Buckeyes grind through spring practice, the guy who's 38-3 at Ohio State is battling against his team enduring the dreaded feeling of gratification.
"Complacency is comfort," Meyer said Tuesday. "When you sit in a meeting and you sit back in your chair, you’re sitting on the edge of your chair because you might get called on and if you’re not ready it could be a bad one."
Meyer was less than pleased with his team's work that day, its first session back on the field from spring break. That probably had something to do with it being a rough practice, but Meyer isn't about to sit back and accept that.
"This season, nothing we did last season will win us any games this year. What we do this year and how we prepare and how we develop our players will determine how successful we are."– Ed Warinner
"I’m sure there is. I don’t like to make excuses, but I’m sure there is," Meyer said. "It was a bad tackling day — we were incredible at that last year and it was awful today. I just watched and was like, ‘Is that the same team that had the fewest missed tackles in college football last year?’"
Another reason spring drills aren't as efficient and dynamic as they are in the fall is personnel. Meyer and company are keeping a watchful eye on those members of the "2,000-rep club."
There's no sense wearing your starters out at the point in the year, but this is the time for young guys to leave their mark. That way, the coaching staff can sleep easier at night knowing the team's depth as a whole is better than it was when they woke up.
"We talk to those guys about that. We gotta find a way to create discomfort so you can continue to grow," co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Luke Fickell said Thursday. "That's one thing about that never satisfied attitude. We're always going to push them."
All great college football programs find themselves working against that forbidden feeling of self-satisfaction. It's the reason places like Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon, Florida State and others are annually in the discussion for a national title.
"This season, nothing we did last season will win us any games this year," offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Ed Warinner said Thursday. "What we do this year and how we prepare and how we develop our players will determine how successful we are."
Repeating is not easy — Alabama and Nebraska are the lone schools to do so since 1990 — but if it happens, the people involved see their names immortalized forever. And while coaches are master motivators, it takes a special recipe to push their teams to do it all again.
"It's a constant thing," Fickell said. "It's something that, to continue to grow whether you’re a freshman or a senior."
"The pieces are there," Warinner added. "We just have to start from scratch and rebuild and put it back together again. That's what spring's for."
It's also about staying the course, even if you aren't three months removed from getting to the zenith of your sport.
"We're not trying to win a game yet. We're not crossing that bridge at this time but that's going to be the essence of 2015," Meyer said. "How do you somehow create that, with the leadership on your team, how do you create that? Because complacent and entitled teams can be really, really bad. A team that somehow has a chip on its shoulder like this team did is going to be the essence of the season."
