M-Borg vs. THE Flavortown U Thread, Orig. by Buckeye Paul, absconded w/by talent.

[iam416]

John Simon Defensive Player of the Year and Braxton Offensive Player of the Year (2nd team QB on Coaches team!). Really happy for Simon, though I'm sure he'd have traded that to play against M. But that guy is all football all the time.

[WM Wolverine]

Thank goodness you graduate him and Hankins goes to the NFL.

[iam416]

Yeah, I'm going to miss him. And Hankins. But, I do like the youngsters on the DL.

Roby is coming back barring a huge change of heart. That's big because the secondary is young.

And UFM needs some OL. Would probably trade one OSU's skill players for one of M's OL. Oh well.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Last Ohio State coach to win B1G Coach of the Year: Earle Bruce in 1979.

Since that time prestigious coaches such as Leon Burtnett, John Mackovic, Ron Zook, and John L. Smith have won the award. Sounds about right.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Overlooked Denny Green who, in 1982, ended Northwestern's 500 game losing streak. They finished 3-8, 2-7 in conference.

[hack]

People respect those who take on a challenge and exceed expectations. They do not respect those so dedicated to the art of cheating that they fetishize their Ghost of Cheaters Past. Perk up tho -- once the conference has an award for best Cash, Cars, Tats and Whores Coordinator, Ohio will get it plenty.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I see what you mean. Carr never won COY either. Guess they knew something smelled about that program too

[WM Wolverine]

It's given to those who exceed expectations, that's hard to do when your expectation are to be in the top 5, top 10, play in BCS bowls and win B10 titles.

[Dr. Strangelove]

It's given to those who exceed expectations, that's hard to do when your expectation are to be in the top 5, top 10, play in BCS bowls and win B10 titles.

Well, it's not consistant about that either. Bo & Woody used to win. Joe Pa won three times. Ohio State's 2007 team had lost boatloads of guys from the 2006 squad and was heading to a second straight title game. Tressel still lost out to Zook. He lost out again in 2009 to Ferentz, who was winning for the THIRD time. And as it turned out, that Iowa team was far from having no NFL talent. So it's not like Ferentz pulled in a couple farmhands from the rabbit patch and taught them from ground up.

Other conferences don't insist it go to a "plucky underdog" team either. Pete Carroll won Pac12 COY 3 times. Bob Stoops and Mack Brown have won multiple awards each. Nick Saban has won in the SEC at least three times.

[WM Wolverine]

That is the trend I see, coaches that significantly exceed expectations. Usually there is a team in the B10 that's suppose to be middle of the pack that wins 9-10 games. When your expected to win 10 games, it's difficult to earn COY unless nobody else from the conference significantly overachieves/ exceed expectations.

[iam416]

Bah. Craft was horrendous. Too bad. That game was there to be won, and it would have been nice to break that 12 year-96 game streak.

Oh well.

[iam416]

I understand the trend re CoY. I think it's wrong. I think it sells short the scope of the job. Getting players into the program and developing them is a significant part of the job. A team predicted to go 4-8 is a team that has, at least in the eyes of prognosticators, done a shit job of that. And to that point, "overachieving" is based, IMO, on pre-season expectations, which are erratic. I also think it discounts/ignores the pressures associated with meeting expectations in Columbus or Ann Arbor (though, I'm told those expectations are lower these days). Going 8-4 in West Lafayette is a joke in comparison.

Anyway, some great names that have won CoY since Earle won in 1979:

Dennis Green 3-8 -- apparently ending a long losing streak merits CoY
Leon Burtnet 7-4
John Mackovic 6-5-1
Joe Tiller 8-3 (in 1997!)
Glenn Mason 8-4
John L. Smith 8-4
Ron Zook 9-3
Bill O'Brien 8-4

It's a crazy award, IMO.

[Hannibal]

Meyer probably should have been coach of the year. A six win turnaround is a six win turnaround, and I at least expected a full on rebuilding year on offense. Bill O'Brien benefitted from expectations that were too low. Their most important contributors, other than Silas Redd, stayed. They had a lot of upperclass talent on defense, and outside of Jay Paterno, JoePa had a lot of great assistants. In 2014, the program will be faced with the consequences of not only the NCAA penalties, but also the shitty recruiting in the previous couple of years. If O'brien goes 8-4 in two years, then he deserves CoY.

[iam416]

If O'brien goes 8-4 in two years, then he deserves CoY.

100% agreed.

He went 8-4. I'll give him some credit for squeaking out wins at home against nFw and Wisky. I'll ding him for losing to Ohio. Otherwise, as the season played out, he pretty much won the games he should have won and lost the games he should have lost (they were better than UVa, but I'm not going to blame him for the kicker).

So, if I were to go back to August knowing what I know now, I think PSU's projected wins ranged from 6 on the low end to 10 on the high end with 7.5 being my O/U. If I were to do the same thing for Ohio State, I'd say 8 on the low end and 12 on the high end with 10.5 being my O/U.

Truth be told,I thought Fitgerald did a really nice job this year, too. He had two disastrous 4th quarters on the road in tough, at least by B10 standards, environments. The 4th quarter against UNL as horrid, too, but UNL sort of kicked their ass most of the game.

[hack]

Those awards are always stupid. It's obvious that Meyer is the best coach in the league and he went undefeated with a team that went 6-6.