The best of times, if not the best of aimNine years after coaching his last game and well over a year since the honor was announced, John Harold Cooper made his way into the College Football Hall of Fame over the weekend.
That he'd ever have the chops to join Lou Holtz, Troy Aikman and others in this class was never really in doubt. At his first stop as a head coach, the man built Tulsa into a winner, going 25-2 in the Missouri Valley Conference his last five years at the school.
From there he was off to Arizona State where he turned around a 5-6 Sun Devil team to 8-4 and a Pac-10 runner-up his first year on the job. In his 2nd season in Tempe, he went 10-1-1 capped with a 22-15 win over Michigan in the Rose Bowl. It was his coaching, more so than the fresh banana pants he wore for the game, that caught the eye of athletic director Jim Jones and the Ohio State search committee and on December 31, 1987, Cooper became the 21st coach at Ohio State.
In Columbus, Cooper greatly expanded the reach and success of the recruiting operation and proceeded to win 111 games, which included a stretch of six years in the mid-nineties that saw the Buckeyes as something they hadn't been since 1980: national championship contenders.
Even more impressive than the wins (which included some of the most lop-sided preseason games against BCS foes than you can possibly imagine including two Notre Dame spankings and a 5-3 mark against Joe Paterno before he was all zombie) was the talent. Eddie George, Orlando Pace, Terry Glenn, Robert Smith, Antoine Winfield, Dan Wilkinson, Joey Galloway, Korey Stringer, David Boston, Shawn Springs: all Cooper products. Every time you see a stat highlighting the number of Buckeyes drafted over the past X years, Cooper is largely to credit for that. He simply got the type of elite players that Earle had been failing to pull in before his ouster.
Ah, coaches shortsBut Coop wasn't to be remembered for his many successes in town. He'd leave as persona total gratis in the eyes of Michigan fans, thanks largely to his 2-10-1 record against the Wolverines. In 1993 and 1996 (damn you, Tai Streets), a gut-wrenching season-ending loss to Michigan yanked the Buckeyes out of national championship contention. His 1998 team, perhaps the most talented team assembled in Columbus in the past 25 years, lost suffered its only defeat of the year at the hands of the other Big Ten representative from the state of Michigan, Nick Saban and his Spartans (damn you, Plaxico and here's your free title, Tee Martin).
And then there was his 3-8 mark in bowl game, which includes three Citrus Bowl defeats -- or 1/3 of the celebrated/despised 0-9 mark the Buckeyes hold in bowl games against the SEC. There was the contract extension the morning of a 31-3 blowout at the hands of the hated Wolverines and another instance in which a tie against Michigan was heralded as one of the program's greatest wins by Gordon Gee.
And mind you, this all came about after he got off to a rough start in Columbus by not being an Ohio guy and he did little to help his own cause, making hot tub and Big Bear commercials, complaining of the slow white kids he had inherited and biting his finger nails on the sidelines of close games, engendering absolutely no trust in his ability to coach in the biggest of games.
But despite all of this, despite Cooper leading teams into defeats that completely destroyed my adolescence, I've gone soft on the old man. I no longer choose to despise him for his many shortcomings or 2-10-1. Instead, I am remembering him for all of the good he did in Columbus. I'm remembering him for the folksy man that summed up freshman by saying "If a dog is going to bite, he's going to bite as a pup." Tressel's success has certainly made this easier, and I wonder if I'd feel the same if he hadn't done what he's done the last nine years, but if you can't at least bring yourself to recognize and appreciate the good that Cooper did at Ohio State, then you're either clueless, or hold irrationally long grudges. Neither is healthy.
Comments
No matter where he come from, John Cooper was, and is, A BUCKEYE! For all of you who still hold a grudge against him for his failures should remember, most of the starters on the 02 team were JC recruits. He was a great coach and a better man.
Cooper was one of the best recruiters I've ever seen. He got talent from all over the country, sometimes at the expense of Ohio. When was the last time we pulled guys from Texas, California, and Florida in the same class. The Boston and Wiley class was crazy good.
Coopers problem was not getting talent it was using talent. He was a horrible in game tactitian and made what looked like zero adjustments during games. Tressel and Cooper are opposites in many ways, Tress makes great adjustments and wins the big ten games. Coop would let it loose and then shit the bed against Michigan. Coop won the big out of conference games but in conference was another story. Tressel can beat the Big Ten but loses against USC, Florida and LSU. I often wonder if the same people that got Cooper out would be calling for Tressels head if he hadn't won the NC against Miami.
Help me out - what year did we beat Penn State when Dudley caught a pass over the middle to win the game? Walt Harris was the offensive coordinator. To me this was one of my all time great games to watch - one of Coop's better games. I'm thinking 1995 or 96 and then we went up to Michigan and well you know the rest of the story about Cooper and Mich.
Just a correction. The reference to Tai Streets should include 1996 not 1998. 1996, tOSU was a Shawn Springs slip away from an National Championship. Many people forget that 1995 came very close to one as well.
Coach Coop has always been a class act around Columbus in his post-coaching career. Congrats on the honor.
...1993, 1995, 1996---Potential NC teams that went down in flames due to a loss to Michigan at the end...
....1998 Loss to Nick Satan and Mich St took care of NC that OSU deserved by beating #2 Arizona state in the rose Bowl
... Ok I am definitely not going soft on the old man. I lived that fiasco called the Cooper Era,,,, sure, it was nice to kick the crap out of Notre Dame, but putting it into perspective--it doenst really look like much of a feat now. Coop lost every year (2 wins and 1 tie in 13 years) to Michigan and looked bad doing it... he looked like a deer in the headlights on the sidelines of those games and Moller/Carr did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted in those games. 1996 game OSU had the ball inside Michigan 5 three times in the first half with only 9 points to show (we know how it ended). At the half-time interview Coop said something like "we arent going to change anything"--- my friend and I knew we were done.. he sat on a 9 point lead and let Michigan win. Our teams were NEVER prepared for bowl games and looked ridiculous against lesser opponents (Air Force anyone?).
Sure the man could recruit, absolutely. What good is it if you cant coach them??? and what about the kids not going to class?? Reggie Germany and 0.00 GPA--- you'll never see that with Tressel.
All in all, Coop should have been fired when Jimmy Crumm called for it on TV--- good bye and good riddance. All the recent big games that OSU has lost... Florida, LSU, USC.... Coop travelled with the team--the man is a jinx... keep him home. Send Cindy cooper in his place!
I agree - you could tell he was out the door during the south carolina game. But you have to admit the man could recruit. I wonder who the captains were during his time? Got to have some senior leadership.
WAY too many bitter memories for me to fall for this revisionist history crap. Yes the talent was great and those guys have represented OSU well (on and off the field). But it does not make up for all those years of SUFFERING. No I was much better under Bruce (How many number one teams did Coop knock off?) Can't recruit? Quick survey who would you rather have on your team Katzenmoyer or Spielman?
I am as Buckeye as they come, but I cannot help but feel that the Hall of Fame has somehow come down a peg.
I am much better now.
I actually really liked John Cooper. I've 28 years old and the first game that they smoked Notre Dame is when I became an Ohio State Fanatic. I was about 12 years old and I went to a catholic school in Northern Kentucky and everyone LOVED Notre Dame. I did not. So I watched that game and they just killed them, and in an interview after the game Cooper bascially said Notre Dame sucked, only in a much nicer tone. After that, I thought man I love that team. Then, after they beat Arizona State in the Rose Bowl Cooper's speech was awesome too. He said he knew they were the best team and that they would fly to Florida or pay Florida to fly out to Pasadena and play them. I loved his attitude and the way he talked about his teams. It was rough losing to Michigan every year, and then his last couple of years, his teams were pretty bad, but overall I really liked John Cooper, if it weren't for him I would have never become a fan of Ohio State football, and I've had a lot of great years cheering for this team.
I'm a little young to remember Cooper years in great detail, but my two impressions are michigan choke, and off the field shenanigans.
The first has become less painful with distance. Every win we get now is that much sweeter. It is so much more satisfying watching their pain when you know exactly what that pain feels like - know that every time they brush it off as unimportant is a dirty, soul-killing lie.
The second is harder to forgive. Is it just a side-effect of that sort of recruiting? Kids get in trouble, yes, but he didn't seem bothered by it. That's not the expectations I want set for this program.
In JTs inagural speech he said 'I will make you proud'. JC may have gotten the mechanics, but he did not get the pride.
this isnt really a big surprise, but i thought id pass it along. a buddy of mine is an iowa fan, and he sent me this. its just a post from their rivals site.
don't know if it this has been posted or not but it is REALLY obvious what game the coaches are looking at. I know they all say each game is important and take it one at a time but seeing as there are OSU helmets EVERYWHERE in the weightroom and every piece of weight eqiupment has an OSU helmet and one of three other OSU based motivations, I'd say they're looking at OSU pretty hard this year. Just an fyi...
I like Iowa, but they don't scare me as much as Penn State and maybe even Illinois this year. Illinois is a weird team but the typically put up a good fight againt us and they have a lot of talent on offense.
Thanks -- that's fixed now.
I think the answer to that is obviously Spielman, knowing what we all know now. But if you think that Bruce was a better recruiter than Cooper, then you're mistaken. I'm not trying to discount the heartbreaking losses (because there were plenty of them). But at least with Coop, you were in the running instead of the annual 9-3s Earle delivered.
...and why in the world is Cooper in the Hall of Fame?? How many N/C's did he win???? What noteable accomplishments did he have??? He turned around a few good teams--that is what a good coach does! Hall of fame should be for some outstanding achievements... losing to Michigan 11 times is not outstanding! At least Holtz (former OSU asst.) won a N/C..... but all those scandals though, yikes. They will let anyone in these days, it seems!
[...] way Jul.20, 2009 in Uncategorized This morning, our old friends at Eleven Warriors published a brilliant piece on John Cooper and his recent induction in the College Football Hall Of [...]
I just published my own Cooper article at The BBC - but I'd like to say that while I take a somewhat contrary position in my post, it's only because I'm kinda proud to be one of those who holds an unhelthy, long grudge.
Cheers!
I didn't follow football at all until my freshman year at Ohio State in 2001 (that campus seems to have that effect on people). So, I missed the Cooper years as a fan, but certainly realized his legacy the minute I stepped on campus. Michigan owned us, and they had just won the Orange Bowl and were clearly the top-dog in the conference. Who knew if we'd ever beat them while I was in school?
But as I have come to learn the history of Ohio State, and watch the countless hours of videos on YouTube posted by the Our Honor Defend guys, many of which are of Cooper's teams, it was scary just how explosive they were. He may have lost 3 games against the SEC, but he beat top-10 LSU in a late 4th Quarter comeback in 1988...bringing OSU's regular season record against those boners to 7-2-1. He won the Rose Bowl after the 1996 season...one of the best games in college football history.
The 2-10-1 lingers, of course, but he sure laid utter destruction on most everyone else. He turned Ohio State into a wide-receiver factory, which has remained intact. So, he did good things.
Nice retrospective.
Spielman is also the answer because he's the greatest OSU linebacker of all time, and also one of the greatest linebackers in college football history
I met him at the Kroger over in Grandview Heights when I still lived in Columbus two years ago. I still greeted him as Coach Cooper because that's who he will always be to me and even though his record against a certain team isn't the greatest I appreciate what he has done for my university and it's football program. I have respect for 'Ol Coop, and so should every one else.
T is right, the man is a class act.
Cooper was 7-21-2 in games against his key rival (Michigan and Arizona), and in bowl games while at ASU and OSU. He did win 2 Rose Bowls, but otherwise was the epitome of a poor big game coach.
btw That 1988 LSU team finished 8-4 and out of the top 25 in the Coaches Poll and 19th in the AP. Coops win was in Columbus.
The team that was top 5 was the previous year in 1987 when Earle tied them in Baton Rouge 13-13. LSU only lost 1 game that year to Alabama.
So are we just going to pretend that there isn't a video of a naked Erin Andrews on the internet?
Is it real tho?
...if there is, please post the link :-P
TMZ is on it: http://www.tmz.com/2009/07/20/...
i think all of the links that were up last week that contained the video were taken down for legal reasons. if and when this guy gets caught he's in pretty deep.
ESPN(disney) has more lawyers than they know what to do with. i think when caught this guy will get passed around prison like a carton of cigs at a domino game.
A good coach? Maybe. A class act? I don't think so. Calling a pass play on fourth down leading 38-6 with 1:35 to play immediately after Adam Taliaferro was carted off the field paralyzed from the neck down. But hey, he was fired following that season and not a moment too soon.
We miss walt harris. Don't make cooper out to be a hero. He had the most talent in the nation a couple of times and came up short. The 95 team was loaded with glenn, george, and pace.
This years team has a good chance to be better. No defense we see will be able to contain pryor. He was learning on the fly last year and after having the just the spring we all saw improvement in his passing. I feel the this team could put up 40 plus a game this year. They have the recipe for success with a speed rusher on d in thad and an offense that will put the other team behind early and often. This has been said many times but if we handle USC its a clear path to the title.
The team is hungry, young and pissed off at the lack of respect on a national level. A team with this much talent should be ranked top 5 preseason, however they will be 8th at best. A big win over USC puts them in the top 2 by the time the BCS starts its rankings. Im ready to hit somebody. Hurry up and get me to sept. go bucks!
Iowa has no chance. TP is a winner. He has won at every level. He will win at Ohio state.
Not to downplay your comment, but Im pretty sure OSU is circled on everybody's schedule. A win there either gets you in title contention or gets you recognition. Its good to be king.
Iowa is no better than the slow division 60 teams that Pryor made look silly in high school, f*** Iowa.
...too bad, I would have love to see that... she is one hot babe!!
That being said, you are right... if this dude gets caught, ESPN/ABC are gonna unleash the hounds of hell on this guy and make an example of him. He is going down hard.
Illinois regressed back to their actual talent level last year. the best is behind them
and Iowa.... not worried about them. PSU is the only real "threat" ,if we want to use that word, in the b10 and that's because the game is in crappy valley with that white out thing(how original and not gimmicky at all!!!)
Please God in heaven, someone find that video.
Iowa has prob done stuff like this for year's and what has really come of it? One win over tOSU during a TERRIBLE year.
them and their pink locker room don't worry me. shonne green is gone and with him went their offense. oh and so is that douche of a QB they had(his name escapes me) the one that likes to wave his arms in the air like a moron and also get an unsportsmanlike call for slamming his helmet in to the ground in disgust at the shoe. who is that guy?
your chance to see it was prob last week. it's long gone now.
I remember now. Drew Tate, or as my friend's and I called him "Drew Taint"
fair enough. thats why i said, "not really a big surprise" I'd be willing to bet that many big 10 teams do this
bit torrent
Yeah it's almost certainly on bittorrent - but I doubt it's very exciting, I mean, the poor woman didn't even know she was being filmed, and (for me at least) I'd feel too guilty to enjoy it.
I have the vid got it a few days ago. its pretty funny its about 6 min long shes doing her hair and doing sqwats but its pretty grainy. you can still tell its her though
Is "ruining everything and being a general nuisance to every other fanbase by failing to start and sustain rivalries with our inconsistent play and thus becoming altogether more annoying thereby" part of the Penn State alma mater?
My Coach Coop thoughts:
Helluva recruiter, unforgivable because he couldn't be scUM, and I always believed guys quit on him in Bowl games. I mean losing to Auburn and Tenessee are one thing, but Air Force and South Carolina (w/ Ohio's Mr. Football no less), it sucked.
My lasting memories:
1.) Between him and the Fab Five, all my friends, both white and black where scUM fans ( in
Columbus!)
2.) 95 and 96 Notre Dame was great
3.) As a student in 95 some jack ass was walking around campus decked out in scUM gear. I hated him and Cooper.
4.) Shawn Springs 96. I was brand new in the Navy, and amazingly my barracks room-mate was also a former OSU student. We literally had 20 people on a base of 100 standing outside the galley ( where you eat) waiting for us. I can't figure out which loss was worse, 96 scUM or 06 FLA. I think 96.
5.) Rose Bowl 97. I was on leave and watched the game on campus, and when ASU took that laye lead, I thought, Cooper blew it again, and somehow, he pulled it out. Still can't believe it.
Overall, he chocked under pressure, produced some great players, but had share of thugs.
Before I forget, RIP Jason Gwinn. (I hope you all remember him).
BTW anyone know what Anthony Gwinn is up to now?
Way to crush the accomplisment, guy.
Not trying to crush it, but I look at it this way, I have been blessed with John Cooper, the Mets, the Indians and the SEC.
He won a ton of games, went 2-1 against Lou Holtz, and couldn't win when it mattered.
nope, still hold a grudge. i was and am still angry over the 1998 disaster against michigan state. that game was replayed last season before ohio state tore michigan state to pieces.........and i have to say.....the playcalling was atrocious. i never really watched intently back then because i was in the 7th grade and i thought the game was out of reach for the spartans. there were opportunities for ohio state to put points on the board when they had a comfortable lead....but they stalled (terrible playcalling when i re-watched that game 10 years later this past season), were penalized on stupid stuff, and incurred many a misfortune (special teams where the ball hit someone's leg on the punt return). no free pass. no get out of jail free card for this man. he was owned by michigan. i found it funny though that when they won against michigan in 1998, they still blew it to a michigan team under this coach. now i have to top it all off for you guys. when i re-watched the '96 rose bowl, after winning, cooper ran to the middle of the field to shake hands and said on his was out there, "how's that for a big win?" uhhhh, i decided that was a bitter comment toward the fan base for giving him grief. dude, maybe that was warranted, but you failed in terms of what you were given. the fans had a legitimate case. good coach? he was a great coach. hall of fame coach? not in my book.
No way! Illinois completely underachieved last year with their talent!!! There's a lot of talent on that team, it's just up to Zook and assistants to not blow it in games... definitely a team to watch out for, much more so than Iowa.
If Cooper would've won the initial BCS Title in 1998, there would be no Jim Tressel in Columbus right now.
I am remembering a homecoming loss to Minnesota...is that right? Cooper was an excellent recruiter, but you can do that when you have no academic standards. One summer session I believe Katzenmoyer's schedule consisted of AIDS awareness and swimming pool management.
And golf.
as long as juice williams is QB they will be spotty at best.
he burnt us one year but i think that was the apex of his talent right there.
a "better man" doesn't make excuses by referring to "slow white guys" he inherited. AND A "BETTER MAN" DOESN'T GET CAUGHT FALSIFYING HIS EXPENSE ACCOUNT AND HAVE TO PAY HIS EMPLOYER (OSU) BACK BIG $. BET YOU FORGOT ABOUT THAT ONE!!! GOOGLE IT-COOP WAS APPALED AT BEING ACCUSED OF THIS AND THEN QUIETLY PAID BACK OSU FOR THE PHONY EXPENSES!@!!! WE'RE NOT TALKING SMALL $ HERE EITHER.
Do you think madoff is a "good man" also?
Came close???
You mean the 95 undefeated OSU team that went up to play a FOUR LOSS MICH and got hammered. I think the Mich RB made himself a first round pick that day by rushing for almost 300 yds.That game was never close.
Just another in a long line of Cooper Mi flops.
At least the man was consistent when it came to MICH.
The 96 Mich game. You mean the one where Coop changed QBs the week of the game? Jackson takes OSU to 10-0 and gets benched? I was a big fan of Germaine but what do you think it did to the confidence of the team?
"Guys you've done a great job and you're undefeated with a tough schedule and we've got Mich coming here with 3 losses so whatever you've done all year won't be enough and we're going to change QBs"
I'll bet that filled everyone with confidence.
Surprised at the outcome??? I wasn't. Coop scared the team and the team played scared!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Represenetd OSU well off the field"????
During the Cooper era it was a joke. Players weren't going to school. OSU had the lowest graduation rates of any of the majors and by far the lowest in Big 10.
Kat tells SI that he needs to pass a few dummy courses to stay active. Germany pulls a 0.0 by not going to class while the staff ignores it.
Geiger finally had to impose academic requirements to stop Coop from bottom feeding.
Even Bowden would have been embarassed to have a situation like that at OSU.
Coop win a big game??? That wasn't likely to happen. His legacy will always be an amazing inability to win when it counted. 2-10-1 vs Mich and 3-8 in bowls.and how many of those losses were to 4 loss Mich teams? In 93,95.96 he "led" undefeated NC contending OSU against 4 loss Mich and came up empty.
Coop was a very overrated coach who was also an embarassment off the field.
The Hall of Fame should be ashamed.
This is a man who completely ignored even the minimum academic standards required and took the student out of the student athlete equation.
He won 3 Big 10 titles in 13 yrs, was 2-10-1 vs Mich and presided over the biggest academic joke in college football.
I look forward to Jackie Sherrill being inducted next yr to bring some class to the HOF.