Tressel out at Ohio State

Wise One said:
Let the Urban Meyer courtship begin

:N1pickme:
Click to expand...

Per ESPN Insider:

1. Urban Meyer
This would be the grand slam hire for Ohio State, given Meyer's pedigree, track record and age. Meyer grew up in Ohio, graduated from the University of Cincinnati and was a graduate assistant for the Buckeyes in 1986-87. He stepped down at Florida after the 2010 season and is now spending more time with his family and doing TV for ESPN.



In the book Meyer wrote in 2008, he said that Notre Dame, Ohio State and Michigan were the only coaching jobs that his wife had no power to veto. "If those ever call, then your majority now goes to a 49 percent veto," he recalled telling his wife in a conversation they had over a decade ago. Since then Meyer has won two national titles and energized three programs: Bowling Green, Utah and Florida.



I've suspected that at some point down the road, Meyer, 46, would be compelled to come back to coaching and OSU would seem like an ideal spot. Of course, when I first mentioned it in December, I figured it'd be three or four years from now. Who knew then that the Tressel situation would implode the way it did?



2. Bo Pelini
The fiery former Buckeyes safety grew up in the football hotbed of Youngstown. He got his coaching start as a graduate assistant under Hayden Fry at Iowa and then spent a decade in the NFL.



Pelini has one of the sharpest defensive minds in college football. Other defensive coaches are very impressed by the system he runs. In three seasons since taking over the Nebraska program, Pelini has restored much of the power to the Huskers brand, leading them to a 30-12 mark that includes back-to-back 10-win seasons.



He has a very good job, and the Huskers are the favorites to win the Big Ten title in their debut season. He also has a boss, in Tom Osborne, who casts a pretty large shadow in Lincoln. However, I doubt Pelini could pass up the chance to take over his alma mater if offered.



3. Gary Patterson
The 51-year-old Patterson has elevated TCU to a legit big-time program by winning an eye-catching 66 games in the past six years. No head man working in the college game is any more driven than the Kansas native. He is very hands-on, running practice and developing his players into a tough, physical, disciplined team. His style would play well in Columbus. Although Patterson is in a better place now, with the Horned Frogs set to move into the Big East after the 2011 season. Still, the heft of TCU -- which has dealt with attendance issues for years -- simply doesn't match up with Ohio State.



4. Jon Gruden
I know this guy is a natural on TV talking football, but at some point you'd think he'd be tempted to try out all the scheme studying he's been doing at the college level. Gruden spent hundreds of hours going to school on Chip Kelly's system and several others. I suspect it would be quite a lab for him.



My hunch is that Gruden, whose charisma is off the charts, would be the ultimate closer as a recruiter. In terms of fit, there aren't many college jobs that have the luster Ohio State has. The 47-year-old Gruden -- a Sandusky, Ohio native -- was a college QB at Dayton and was a college assistant in the late '80s. But would he want to be digging out from under NCAA sanctions? I'm skeptical of that part of it.



5. Mark Dantonio
Seeing as how Dantonio is a Tressel protégé, it's very possible that this might be too awkward a move for either party. But you can't dismiss Dantonio's credentials. He was the Buckeyes' defensive coordinator when OSU won the BCS title. He did a nice job in his first shot as a head coach at Cincinnati and has Michigan State on the upswing. In 2010, he led the Spartans to an 11-2 season and a share of the Big Ten title. It's worth keeping in mind, however, that the 55-year-old Dantonio did have to deal with significant health issues last season.



6. Mark Stoops
If there's a Stoops who would fit at this point for Ohio State, I suspect it'd be Mark, not Bob, whom I doubt would ever leave OU for another college job, knowing the set-up he has in Norman (elite program, history, great boss). Mark, the FSU defensive coordinator, is a product of Youngstown and played defensive back at Iowa in the late 1980s. He was a high school coach in Ohio and has gone on to coach in every time zone in the country. Stoops actually coached against and lost to the Buckeyes in the BCS title game while he was the defensive backs coach at Miami.



Since then, he's done a good job as defensive coordinator at Arizona and now at FSU. The 43-year-old could've gotten the Youngstown State head coaching job after the 2009 season but opted to remain at the FBS level. My feeling is that if he can't get this job, he'll have a shot at running his own program before too long.



7. Gary Pinkel
Like many guys on this list, Pinkel is an Ohio guy. He was born in Akron, played at Kent State (where he roomed with Steelers legend Jack Lambert), and spent a decade winning a lot of football games at Toledo. Since leaving the MAC, he has done a very nice job as head coach of the Missouri Tigers and has won 40 games in the past four seasons. Is there much more realistically he can do for Tigers football? Then again, does OSU, which is going to be dealing with the fallout of the end of the Tressel era and NCAA sanctions for a while, want to hand the keys to a coach who just turned 59?
 
Good for tOSU. Obviously trying to preempt and even heavier blow from the NCAA. Wonder if Chapel Hill will step up?
 
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