Over the last 3 years, we as a fanbase have different reactions when the brotherhood is bandied about. This is not really a new concept in The OSU football program and has long proceeded both Ryan Day and Urban Meyer's time as head coach. It may not have been spoken about as much before, but it was always there. Lately, it has been derided more by a growing percentage of the fanbase as "love conquers all," or "soft," or an obstacle to winning conference and national championships. 

Every fan has their own perception/belief of what the brother hood is, but to me there are two basic ways of looking at it. One, a group of men (football players) coming together from all different backgrounds to achieve the common goal of winning championships. This is accomplished by competition at all levels in the program from the coaches to the players, building depth through recruiting and the portal, and having a support team from the nutritionist to the front office and weight room team that help the players accomplish this goal. The other aspect (second part) of the brotherhood is making sure that the players are not simply viewed as commodities or assets by the coaching staff, fans, and school. This is where Day's focus of mental health, real life Wednesdays, job fairs, internships opportunities, and developing well rounded young men in the community comes into play. This part of the brotherhood does not get as much news coverage, but I think that it is equally important. As an example, Harry Miller has indicated that he was close to taking his own life and that Coach Day's focus on mental health was a big area in providing him the help that he needs. This also balances the culture of ensuring that the only thing that bonds the football players is the pursuit of a championship. A championship pursuit can end if the team loses 1-2 games in a season. If that is all that is holding the team together, then the program struggles to maintain success because guys stop buying in. As an example, Florida State had more than 20 players opt out of their bowl game against Georgia and were not even competitive. Yes, OSU had their own struggles that have been well documented in the Cotton Bowl, but with the amount of draft eligible players returning, this has the makings of a competitive team next year and one that could win a title. 

Finally, we hear Coach Day say something like, "We are going to be aggressive in the transfer portal," and then throw up our hands when OSU does not offer every 5 star that enters the portal. What I think he means by this is, we are going to contact and setup visits with players that we believe can help this team win, but it may not be the flashy names that the fanbase wants. For example, Kacmarek out of Ohio University is an excellent tight end with a massive frame, ability to block, and a redzone threat, but since he wasn't from a brand name school, this gets taken as OSU not taking the portal seriously. I realize that I have already written way too much, so I will say that many of us have viewed assistant coaching hires as the same way. Day has always shown a willingness to make changes to the staff when needed and those changes almost always come near the end of January when contracts expire. I expect that will be the case this time around too. I want OSU to beat TTUN, win the BIG, and a national title too, but I do not think that the reason they have fallen short of those goals are caring about players too much, lack of physicality, or guys not caring. I think the reason is a head coach trying to do too much out of not wanting to let the fans down and he has spread himself too thin. That is why I believe we will see a new QB coach/OC and a new  DL or LB coach brought in so that Day can oversee the program and set a championship tone.