26 Feb I had the distinct honor of attending an hour long speech given by the legend himself to the Miamisburg, Ohio Rotary.  It was an outstanding event, and I truly applaud Urbans effort to even make it since, for the record, he did not get home from the cruise until 1am the night (morning) prior.  Had an engagement in Cleveland that mid-morning, and yet still managed to get all the way down to talk to us.  The Cleveland Cavs may or may not have flown him down on their plane (or so we heard)  ;)

Some cliffs of the speech below, some of this stuff you may have heard before, but its here for anyone that hasn’t. Also sorry for long post, but wanted you all to hear everything he said that I thought worth writing down…

-First and foremost it is an honor and privilege to Coach in his home state of Ohio, and at the best job in college football, THE Ohio State University.  Also, coaching in Ohio gives him the opportunity to watch his son play h.s. football in Ohio (at Bishop Watterson), For his son to play ball in the state of Ohio is a dream come true, because he firmly and honestly believes there is a toughness and respect for the game in this state at the high school level like no other. This is one of the most cherished thing in his life at the moment.

-His mentors that had the most profound impact on his life and where he is today are his father, coach Earle Bruce and Coach Lou Holtz

-He was ready to turn down the job at Bowling Green because it was a losing program at the time, and he was unsure of his ability to do well there.  Coach Holtz told him they (BG) want him for a reason, and told him go take that job and turn them around…"they want you for a reason"

-Talked about the pre-season injury to Braxton, and how hard it was on him and the team.  Not because of doubt in others’ abilities or for fear of what it meant for the season per se, but because he and everyone love Braxton so much.  He said means so much to this school, this program, and to his teammates, seeing him on the ground screaming in pain sucked the life out of everyone that day. He said the single hardest thing about coaching is watching young players get injured.

-The hardest part about receiving the news that Braxton was out for the year was breaking it to the coaches, not the players.  He said to get 100% of the team to buy in, it starts with getting the coaches to buy in, and not that he had any doubts in staff, but he wanted to make sure they understood what the team would be up against and their hearts and minds were in the right place so they could move forward and continue to lead.

-Wanted to ensure that everyone realized that even though it appears we have deep talent, and are loaded at every position, it was and always will be hard to replace departing experience.  Specifically he mentioned the losses of Hyde, Shazier, Roby, and Philly Brown.  One of the reasons why he had been saying for the better part of the season he though the team was a year away was because of the vacuums that those guys left, and we wasn’t sure if his young guys were ready to step in.

-Mentioned the challenge of overcoming the last 2 losses of the season in 2013, and how leadership on behalf of the coaching staff, and the 2014 seniors to step up and lead young talent in the face of a loss of momentum coming into the 2014 season was tremendous.

-Specifically mentioned he had the utmost respect for Naval Academy for the way they play the game, and that they are always a hard team to prepare for and play based on their game plan.  Said we got away with a win there.

-He said JT Barrett is all heart, and one of the toughest, smartest, and most hard working players he has ever seen play the game.  Called him a “tremendous leader”

-Talked about the VT game, said that after that loss, he thought the team would go 8-4 and they would reload / coach the hell out of the team in the off season, and with his talent getting a season under their belt would be ready to make a serious run at the 2015 season.  (Oh if he only knew ; ) )

-Mentioned that the game in State College was the defining moment of the season.  He said it was the 2nd hardest environment he has ever coached in, but didn’t mention what number 1 was. He said JT didn’t have a great game, and before JT ran that last TD in he was already going over in his head the script to address Buckeye Nation about the posture of the program going forward from what he thought at the time would be a loss against Penn State.  Said after JT beasted up and ran it in, he said screw that script and knew they were going to win that game.  He knew then and there he had a special team.  He said that was when the team began to truly trust one another, and he them.  He said if we don’t win at Penn State, we punt on 4th and 1 against Meatchicken, but it was the trust developed in that game that allowed them to do such things later in the year.

-Later would again mention that 4th and 1 play against Meatchicken, saying he was un easy after Cardales first few snaps in that game, but when he looked in Zeke’s and the offensive line’s eyes at that timeout he knew, he trusted that they could get it done, and “they said coach lets go for it we can get it”…

- would go to specifically mentioned the extraordinary growth and play of Darron Lee, Raekwon, and Eli Apple, saying they deserve more credit for the 2014 run than they have been given, and he is excited for their capabilities next season.

-He said we have a great group of talent and they are all completely bought in.  He said it is miserable in Columbus right now (I thought he meant the weather haha) he was referring to how hard they are getting their ass kicked in the weight room and in conditioning drills.  He specifically mentioned some trust and team building exercises that they have incorporate into their training sessions.  Building a trust and bond with one another now through pain and suffering.  Specifically said they are training right now for 4th and 1 on 28 Nov 2015.

-He said Cardale Jones is a great kid.  He said he made the decision 100 percent on his own to come back.  He said he was promised nothing.  Cardale wanted to return so he could be the first person in his family to graduate college.  He credited Ted Ginn Sr, and Cardales academic advisors who pushed him and turned him around.  He said Cardale struggled at first with his attitude, but they had many meetings with the three of them in his office and Ginn and the advisor didn’t protect Cardale or deflect blame away from him, they called him out and held him accountable, and helped him realize it was going to take effort and attitude on his part to get where he wanted to be.

-He said Cardales upbringing was tough, one of the toughest he had ever seen.  If it were not for guys like Ginn and educators that cared about him he would be another statistic, and not the good kind.

-He mentioned Kosta, saying what happened was a terrible tragedy, they played every snap for him after we lost him.

-He said in the game plan for the Wisconsin game Cardale was not allowed to throw to the middle of the field, only the outside.  He said early in the game he made a mistake and threw right down the middle of the field which almost resulted in a pick off. He said Cardale came right over the sideline and said Coach that was my mistake, no one else’s, I am sorry it won’t happen again.  He said at that moment he knew he, he had seen a new level of maturity in the way he handled it, and knew he could trust him to win that game.

-He said the final practice before Bama was the best quarterback practice he had ever been a part of in his entire coaching career.

-He said there needs to be a case study done on this team, not just to document what they all went through, but how the power of everyone buying in, putting the team before self, can create an unstoppable force, said that translates to any work environment.

-Not surprising at all he gave not even the slightest comment about next years QB situation, but did say other than all will be back, all will be ready to go, and all are "bought in"

-He is in a much better place in terms of his health, and the burden of coaching on his family etc.  He feels great and has no intention of stopping any time soon.  He also said he does not worry about any increased pressure to win the title again.  He said the expectation at Ohio State from the players and fans is to win one every year.  That may seem unrealistic but it is just the standard that has been set, and he wouldn’t want to coach anywhere where greatness wasn’t the standard and expectation.

Finally he said that toughness and team before self are not just a mantra at Ohio State, but are a mantra for the whole state of Ohio.  He is thankful and grateful that his team was able to bring a championship back to the great state of Ohio, and it was literally a dream come true.  He said he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world than fulfilling his life long dream of leading the Ohio State buckeyes.  Again, he said it’s a great time and exciting time to be a Buckeye and the future is very bright at Ohio State.