Last seen directing juggernautsAs most of you have probably already heard, Al Davis has gone ahead and drafted first year coach Lane Kiffin's letter of resignation, cementing his legacy as bat-shit craziest owner in NFL history (what, you can't win a Super Bowl in year 1?). Kiffin, of course, is refusing to sign the letter, setting up an epic showdown between owner and coach.
What Al wants, Al usually gets, so expect Kiffin to walk out soon with a pile of cash. What do Lane Kiffin and the Raiders have to do with the Buckeyes? Not much, other than a hotshot young offensive mastermind will soon be on the market and not-so coincidentally, that was the difference between Ohio State and its last two SEC opponents.
Similar thoughts were floated when Norm Chow was cut loose from the Titans, but in o-coordinator years, he's getting up there. Ohio State needs an offensive coordinator that designs plays on a Blackberry. The Buckeyes should be looking for a guy that shows up for an interview with his NCAA playbook on memory card.
Kiffin, head of the only offense in NCAA history to field a 3,000 yard quarterback (Leinart), two 1,000 rushers (Bush and White) and a 1,000 receiver (Jarrett), would bring all that and more.
Of course, the Buckeyes are not likely to be looking and there's no saying whether a guy that's lived his entire life on the West coast would come to the Midwest, but it's fun to dream, isn't it?
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read this again and then think about how great this guy is (special attention to the names inside the brackets):
Kiffin, head of the only offense in NCAA history to field a 3,000 yard quarterback (Leinart), two 1,000 rushers (Bush and White) and a 1,000 receiver (Jarrett), would bring all that and more.
Sure, the skeptics would be quick to point out that Kiffin had the likes of Leinart, Bush, White, and Jarrett at his disposal and it should be easy to produce plays with those guys, but give Kiffin credit for coming up with the schemes that utilize those players to the best of their abilities. I'm not sure what his recruiting impact is, but if I'm Ohio State I at least think about it. I'm sure Kiffin would be much more eager to return to USC as an assistant though instead of come to Ohio State as an assistant.
I say...
Kiffin as OC
Dantonio as DC
Ah, we can only dream.
Ofcourse the school might have to bump the assistant coaches' pay up like $2-3 million, but it's only money!
Here is an outside the box thought.....who was the most productive OC that OSU has ever had? I'll give you a couple hints.....he played for OSU.....he is dying to be affiliated with OSU again.....and he has been out of college coaching for 1 year now.
Who is Walt Harris?
wow, this gravitar thing is fun!! yea!!
I'd LOVE it if walt came back. it certainly seems like we need something to spark our offense. i'd like to imagine that after 52 effin days off we could game plan a little more imaginitively than what we've shown the last 2 bowl games. oh well, next year beanie will be able to hoist the whole effin' team on his back & will a victory!!
I admit I'm kinda new to the Buckeye thing, but what about Walt's two years as QB coach for the Buckeyes was so special? Bobby Hoying? I don't see Walt working for Tressel anytime soon if the accusations of being overbearing are true. Tressel apparently runs a very quiet coaching program, placing emphasis on teaching moreso than disciplining.
How does this gravitar thing work?
Walt Harris did not play at tOSU.
very good point about the type of coaching program tressel runs not being compatable with harris' style (or rumored overbearingness).
however, i believe he was around for the transition from Hoying to the Germaine/Jackson tadem that was sucessful there in '96 & '97. not sure when he left, but i remember him working with germaine for a while.
Thanks TLB, I was just guessing at Wil's trivia question, but I have no idea now. I don't know who he was referring to, perhaps Fake Wil.
I just hope he doesn't mean Elliott Uzelac
wil is talking about glen mason, i'd bet, not walt harris. I could be wrong, however, 'cause i don't remember the Minn being spectacular offessively during mason's tenure.
corey was wrong with the quess. I, however, was joining corey on his little fantasy trip of "how awesome it would be if harris came back as OC".
Ding Ding Ding! It was Glen Mason. And Minnesota actually did have great offenses with him as the Head Coach (particularly in the running game). He's defenses however left A LOT to be desired!
Walt Harris however was masterfully at developing QB's....it would be nice to have that to dangle in front of Pryor's face lake a carrot!
I wouldn't mind seeing what Glen could do with our offense. I think our quarterback play would suffer, but the way Kool-Aid and Marion Barber ran around inspires hope I guess.
aww....I got so excited about my picture that I forgot to sign that last comment...
If I'm a Raiders fan I think I would just go into hibernation. Nothing worth watching any time soon.
I'd hire Glen Mason to be my offensive line coach any day of the week. And if I were a mid-level program looking to come up a little (Rice, Baylor, Washington State, Arkansas) I'd be all over Mason as head coach. Of course, Arkansas just signed a meaningless contract with a fellow who changes jobs like Seinfeld changed TV girlfriends, so I guess that's out.
Tressel isn't going to cut ties with Bollman. I don't think he believes that Bollman is the problem, and I don't, either. OSU was crippled by a lack of athleticism and consistency at quarterback and tight end. Teams figured out quickly enough that OSU's offense relied on Beanie Wells and an occasional toss-up downfield to Robiskie. In fact, OSU reminded me of the Raiders - an attempt at a strong running game and a vertical passing attack.
Bollman showed what he could do as OC when Smith was at quarterback, and we had some playmakers in the passing game. I didn't hear many complaints about OSU's unimaginative offensive scheme in '06.
Great players and great execution can usually overcome unimaginative offensive schemes, but it appears to catch up to OSU when they play equal talent with better schemes. We can run the same play over and over to beat Iowa, but do that against USC and they'll drop you on your head in a dumpster outside the stadium.
OSU's problem is not the scheme, though. They are limited by the tools they have at hand. Boeckman simply isn't that good a quarterback, and they have to run plays oriented to his strengths.
We utilize a vertical passing game because - as awful as his underthrows are - that's what he's best at doing. If he were the kind of quarterback who had the quick decision-making ability, and arm strength, to throw quick-outs and slants, we'd use them. We don't throw to the tight ends because they have trouble separating themselves from defenders. Look at the film.
I should be able to sleep better at night. I thought we got our tails whipped because of poorly-executed, crappy plays but knowing it's lack of talent at key positions I feel much better. Thanks, Joe.
"I should be able to sleep better at night. I thought we got our tails whipped because of poorly-executed, crappy plays but knowing it’s lack of talent at key positions I feel much better. Thanks, Joe."
You're welcome, Travis. No one should seek to "feel better" after two straight collapses in a national title game, or relatively easy runs through a poor Big T(elev)en conference. The task at hand is to see - clearly, not with scarlet-colored blinders - what went wrong in those games, and how we can improve.
Ohio State needs to get quicker and stronger up front, in the trenches, find some size and speed at tight end and get a quarterback who can move around and create on the fly. There are ample problems on defense, and I'm more than a little mystified when I hear that Bollman's "crappy plays" are to blame for losses in games where the defense gave up 70+ points. Does Heacock use "crappy plays?" Why are we only talking about the offense?
A Power-O always works when well-executed. It's not the plays you draw up - it's how well you execute them - and we simply don't have the kind of talent, athleticism and creativity at quarterback to do what we could do in '06. You cannot apply Troy Smith's playbook to Todd Boeckman's ability. It just isn't there. "Crappy plays" and poor execution are not two sides of the same coin, nor are they synonymous.
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