The Ohio State football team returns to the practice field today. The Slobs are ready:
First day in pads tomorrow... IHOP opening around 9 a.m. #BuckeyeOline
— Patrick Elflein (@elflein65) March 24, 2015
(I assume Waffle House is reserved for postseason competitions.)
Special thanks to redshirt freshman Brady Taylor for this:
@elflein65 pic.twitter.com/t7Xezp6hxr
— Brady Taylor (@beTaylor79) March 24, 2015
It's good to have the football team back in our lives.
THE PASSION OF GENE SMITH. Gene Smith catches a lot of heat in these halls. Yes, he arguably cost Ohio State a national title shot by refusing to instill a self-imposed bowl ban. (You can go straight to Hell, 2012 TaxSlayer.com Bowl.)
But since then? It's hard to argue with the results.
Jason Belzer of Forbes.com posted an insightful profile of Smith's tenure, but this maybe my favorite passage:
In the late fall of 2011, Gene Smith faced one of the most difficult decisions of his tenure at Ohio State. Months earlier, revered Buckeyes football coach Jim Tressel had resigned amid a tenuous NCAA investigation into the program. Just weeks from the start of practice for the upcoming season, and it being all but impossible to launch a thorough national search, Smith had little choice but to promote longtime assistant coach Luke Fickell to replace Tressel.
As an alumnus of the university and a member of the coaching staff for over a decade, Fickell was beloved by the Ohio State community. Under extreme circumstances, including the critical eye of the national media, Fickell had done an admirable job in leading the Buckeyes during the 2011-12 football season. As a result, there was now enormous pressure for Smith to remove Fickell’s interim tag. Yet deep inside, Smith knew that Fickell just wasn’t ready to become the program’s permanent leader.
As director of athletics, Smith has final authority in making all decisions concerning the department. He could have simply said, “We’re making a change.” The president, while disappointed, wouldn’t have made a fuss, and the other administrators would have bit their tongues and turned a cheek. But he didn’t. Instead, Smith sat down with his staff and constituents and they discussed what the best choice of action was. Through much debate, the consensus became clear: Ohio State needed a head football coach with more experience and an established pedigree.
Did OSU's elders make a tough judgement call? Or did they look out onto the horizon, see Urban Meyer glistening in the sunlight and add 1+1? I'd wager it was the latter.
I guess, however, there's something to be said about not bungling the search. (See: Michigan's first attempt to abduct Jim Harbaugh.) Since then, Smith has stayed out of the way, and his teams have prospered. (Before you mention his incentive-laden contract [that everyone here would've signed at their jobs], do know that he altered it.)
Besides, nobody keeps a 1.000 batting average at their job. (Last I looked, I'm batting somewhere around .220 around here.) But when the dust settles, I think history will rule decidedly in Gene Smith's favor, despite his Notre Dame degree (which I hope was burned at the stake in a ceremony in the bowels of the Horseshoe upon his hiring).
Smith haters would be wise to read the profile in full.
WOMEN BASKETBUCKS FALL TO TARHEELS. Well, it happened. Both the men's and women's basketball teams are out of their respective tournaments.
The women's team fell to North Carolina last night in brutal fashion:
Fighting back from 23 down in a tourney game, tying things back up with 5.1 seconds left, then a buzzer beater in your face? Brutal.
— Adam Jacobi (@Adam_Jacobi) March 24, 2015
There were some folks lobbying for a technical to be called when UNC players spilled onto the court in delirious celebration before the clock expired, but the cookie will never crumble like that:
National coordinator of officiating told the AP rule about rushing the court was enforced correctly in OSU-North Carolina game
— Marcus Hartman (@marcushartman) March 24, 2015
And while it's no doubt a kick in the stomach, there's no reason to be down about the future of the women's program:
Kelsey Mitchell has now set the OSU single-season scoring record with 848 points. #onlyafreshman
— Charles Kuehn (@Charles_BBC) March 23, 2015
Kelsey Mitchell broke NCAA single-season record for most 3-pointers in a season. Also broke NCAA record for most consecutive games with a 3
— Mike Dyer (@MikeDyer) March 24, 2015
... That is, unless, Kelsey Mitchell doesn't declare for the NBA draft.
WELL, HELLO THERE, BIG FELLA. It's a massive recruiting weekend for Ohio State — a lot of highly-rated names will be on campus — but the (literal) biggest fish of them all will be the headliner.
As reported by @TomVH - #Buckeyes expecting a big weekend visitor - The nations top overall prospect, 2016 DT Rashan Gary (@RashanGary33)
— Jeremy Birmingham (@Birm) March 24, 2015
Ohio State lags behind Alabama and Michigan in Rashan Gary's Crystal Ball selections, but I wouldn't count out the tandem of Ed Warinner and Larry Johnson Sr. The Buckeyes are quite thin at DT, and immediate playing time is always a perk to top recruits. Plus, OSU is the only team of those three that employs Urban Meyer.
JIM TRESSEL: STILL ON THE LAM. Aiding and abetting fugitive lawbreaker Jim Tressel ain't no thang to the Skull Session. Last time we received an update on America's Most Wanted, he was helping shape the minds of future world leaders.
Today's update is a grainy Vine that appears to have been smuggled out of Syria, where the rogue warlord was last seen:
I don't care if he's a wanted fugitive with a $2,000,000 bounty on his (dead or alive) skull. Jim Tressel will always be silky to me.
HARBAUGH!!!!!!! Todd Sibley is one of, if not THE, top Ohio running back in 2017, and it looks like Harbaugh!!!!!! made some inroads with the Akron product:
All I can say right now is... Go Blue
— T Sib (@ToddSib23) March 24, 2015
Not sure what bemuses me more: that Michigan literally can't succeed without Ohio blood or that Urban Meyer busted Michigan's Cass Tech pipeline just to be a dick.
Probably the latter.
But, don't fret, Todd Sibley fans: Ohio State's 2017 cornerstone, QB Danny Clark, transferred to Akron's Arch Bishop Hoban last month, and those two will be backfield mates for the next two seasons.
THOSE WMDs. Psst, Fellas: How to Talk to a Woman at the Gym... This Humidity-Powered Seed Plants Itself by Drilling into the Ground... Very Cool and Good: Chimpanzees See the Blue Sky for the First Time... Insufferable Assholes Dupe Public Into Crowdfunding 38 International Weddings... NASA compiled an amusing list of quotes by Predator pilots during a crash... Online "Swatting" Becomes a Hazard for Popular Video Gamers and Police Responders... WHO IS THIS MYSTIC?
