From: doel@bae.bellcore.com (Michael Doel)
Subject: Re: Two Losses Could Cost Cooper His Job
Organization: Bell Communications Research
Distribution: usa
Date: 19 Nov 92 11:11:26


David Nason writes:

> Here's some excerpts from George Strode's article in this morning's
> Columbus Dispatch.  I present this exactly as the article reads, and
> without my own comments (and believe me this was hard to do):

Well if you won't, I will.


> John Cooper is not expected to survive as Ohio State football coach
> if he loses a fifth atraight time to Michigan and a fourth straight
> bowl game, high-placed university officials told The Dispatch.

If he loses both in embarrasing fashion (say, last year's Michigan game and
the Liberty Bowl) then I can maybe understand.


> If Cooper wins both games and goes 10-2 or beats Michigan and loses
> in the Florida Citrus Bowl for a 9-3 record, he likely will continue
> into his sixth season with the Buckeyes.

I would hope so.


> If Cooper loses to Michigan and wins the bowl game, also to be 9-3,
> he may not survive.

Great, fire a guy after his best season.  I'm sorry, but that's bullsh*t.
If the Buckeye's can manage 9-3 this year, they will have improved just
about every year under Cooper.  To fire a guy after that kind of record
would be horrible.


> After the bowl game, Jan. 1 in Orlando, Fla., university president
> Gordon Gee will make the decision after he consults with athletic 
> director Jim Jones, the board of trustees, and key administrators 
> at Ohio State.

Oh good, let's consult the trustees again.  They showed such incredible tact
and class in the Earle Bruce situation.



> Jones would announce a decision to buy out Cooper, sources say.
> 
> ...
> 
> Sources say Gee was upset when the Buckeyes started the Big Ten
> with back-to-back losses, 20-16 at Wisconsin and 18-16 at home
> to Illinois.  It put the Buckeyes in sole possession of last
> place for the first time since 1947.

I was upset too.  I was also positively gleeful after the Syracuse game.
I'm also pleasantly surprised at the turnaround they've made since then.
Why look at only the bad?


> Gee detests the continuing losses to Big Ten teams other than
> Michigan, a source said.

So do I, but Cooper's slowly eliminating them.


> Sources indicate Cooper's status has created divisiveness within the
> university, the community, and the alumni.  Therefore, Gee is
> concerned about making the best decision for the university and
> eliminating the divisiveness.

If he wants to make the best decision for the university, then he should get
some juevos and stand behind the coach.  This guy runs a clean program which
is steadily improving.


> The university will buy out the remaining three years of Cooper's
> annual base contract of $114,000.  The total buyout would be
> $342,000 under terms of the contract, signed by Cooper in July and
> scheduled to run through Dec. 31, 1995.
> 
> The money would come from the athletic department, not the
> university's general fund, a source said.

Great.  For months now, every Ohio State alumni magazine has had an article
from Gee telling us how strapped the university is for cash.  Even if the
money comes from the athletic department, that still affects the bottom line
of the university.  Now I know that a national championship football team
would tremendously boost alumni contributions, but $342,000 is an awful lot
to bet that the guys who's shown improvement won't win one & some new guy
will. 


> University insiders say Cooper has little or no support from the
> nine voting trustees.  Moreover, some trustees were upset last
> year with Gee when Jones announced a new four-year contract
> moments before the Buckeyes' 31-3 loss at Michigan.

Tough.  The trustees shouldn't give a whit about the football team.  That's
the job of the athletic department.  If they think the football team is
reflecting poorly on the university, they should be making changes in the
AD, not demanding a new coach.


> Sources say the university may consider retired Michigan coach
> Bo Schembechler, 63, to replace Cooper, at least on a short-term
> basis, with one of Schembechler's assistants being elevated to the
> head coaching job when Schembechler retires again.
> 
> Schembechler said during the Ohio State - Indiana telecast last
> Saturday that his chances of becoming a college coach again were
> "slim-to-none".

Especially at Ohio State.  How much allegiance is he going to have to
Michigan?  How will he be able to sell recruits on the superiority of Ohio
State over Michigan when he spent the best years of his coaching life with
the enemy?  How is he going to like it when he loses for the first time and
the wonderful Columbus community comes calling for his head?  He had enough
of that in Detroit.


> Two former Ohio State assistants, head coaches Glen Mason of
> Kansas and Gary Blackney of Bowling Green, and Southern Cal
> head coach Larry Smith are considered leading candidates to
> replace Cooper.

If Cooper's gone, I hope they can lure one of these guys.  I just think it
would be a horrible mistake to fire Cooper now (provided, as I said, we
aren't embarassed in our last two games).  The guy has shown progress.  Take
one of two fluke plays against the Illini away & we're playing for the Rose
Bowl and outright Big10 championship this weekend.  That sounds pretty damn
good to me.

Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mike Doel				<doel@bae.bellcore.com>
444 Hoes Lane RRC 1B-209
Piscataway, NJ 08854

"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat
 and wrong." - H.L. Mencken
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Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.college