Last Friday we had a technical snafu that made a mess of the blog. Not many people got to see the post in its entirety. I want to run it again, at least part of it, as I think everyone would want to see it.

Was anyone else as floored as I was to hear JT has been nominated by a faculty member at YSU as a possible President of the school? JT was supposedly speechless for a moment when told he had been nominated but then offered that he "loved" that school but did not want to give the impression he did not love what he is doing now. I wonder about this. Jim Tressel has always been about young people and getting an education. Buckeye Nation always talks about him moving up in the administration when his time as coach is over. I doubt he is going to take the job but I don't believe he loves what he is doing right now either. He may love being the head coach at Ohio State but right now it is not alot of fun. Taking a job he may aspire to at some point may be alot more appealing than being the Ohio State head coach in the current climate. For that reason I think the odds are a little better than anyone thinks.

With the possibility of his title changing from coach to president out there, unlikely as it is, here is my replacement list:

1. Butch Davis. I know many in Ohio are going to have a problem with that after his tenure with the Browns. Great college coach. Great recruiter. Bad loss last night but he has rebuilt a program on life support overnight. As far as Florida State has fallen, the pre-Butch Davis North Carolina would still not have been in the game at halftime.

2. Urban Meyer. The Ohio roots are deep.

3. I think Brian Kelly should be on the very short list. He might even be the first guy offered the job as we are likely to learn very quickly whether Meyer and Davis are interested or not.

The Job is highly unlikely to get by Kelly but if it does:

4. Greg Schiano has so many of the attributes we love about JT and JoePa ain't going anywhere soon so the Penn State job he is supposed to covet is right now a pipe dream.

5. The most prominent alum out there is Bo Pelini. He has such a small recruiting base. I question whether Nebraska will ever be what they were again. He seems very frustrated.

6.Gary Pickel has impressed me very much. He has Ohio roots.

7. Dantonio has an impressive pedigree with his Ohio roots, he was the DC of the championship defense and has been successful as a head coach. He has taken four of his five teams to bowl games and won two. I think he has recruited beyond expectations as he is not the personality that JT is, though I still have reservations if he can take it up another notch in recruiting. He is a straight no chaser kinda guy. You are not competing with the rest of the Big Ten like Michigan State is when you are at Ohio State. You compete against USC and Florida for recruits here. That is the thing that keeps him from being odds-on in my mind.

8. Luke Fickell. If he had head coaching experience he would be much higher on this list.

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Comments (15)

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written by Butch?, October 26, 2009

Does Butch have any Ohio roots? This is the first I've heard of him in these parts besides the Browns thing.

Does Urban still have the tOSU clause in his contract?

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What about??
written by Ron Krumm, October 26, 2009

Gary Patterson from TCU. Built a top 10 team with arguably the 3-4th best talent in the state.

Jim Leavitt at USF. Has had some very good teams, with once again very little talent. Known commodity to coaches in Fla.

Tim Spencer. OSU alum. Has OSU coaching experience, NFL rep.

Butch Davis would be a great get. Is doing good recruiting at UNC. MUCH better team now than when he came.

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written by GaBuck26, October 26, 2009

interesting mention of Gary Patterson. Not sure buckeye nation would like it. He is a big defense guy. I go to the Air Force Academy and we play every year. He is a lot like JT where he plays smart offense and great defense. He has had alright offenses, but not great improvement from JT. I think the only difference maybe that he would allow someone to take the reins of the offense.

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written by RipsManifesto, October 26, 2009

Jim Leavitt at USF. Has had some very good teams, with once again very little talent. Known commodity to coaches in Fla.

Tim Spencer. OSU alum. Has OSU coaching experience, NFL rep.

I hope not Leavitt. That guy acts like the biggest ass on the sideline.

I'm not sure Spencer has enough experience yet to be considered a head coach, especially at a place like OSU.

It doesn't look like Butch Davis has ties to Ohio aside from his time with the Browns. Maybe I missed something though when I glanced at his Wikipedia entry.

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written by RipsManifesto, October 26, 2009

Oh, and Duane, you guys should look into reorganizing how you save blog entries. Just save it via date instead of title, and then you could probably have a post titled "Buckeye Notes" every day if you wanted without it sending users to previous entries titled the same.

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written by Duane Long, October 26, 2009

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written by RipsManifesto, October 26, 2009
Oh, and Duane, you guys should look into reorganizing how you save blog entries. Just save it via date instead of title, and then you could probably have a post titled "Buckeye Notes" every day if you wanted without it sending users to previous entries titled the same.

Now he tells me. After I FUBAR'ed that one like nobodys business.

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written by mab, October 26, 2009

Duane,
Would OSU ever consider some of the NFL coaches that are unemployed at the moment? Shanahan, Cowher, and Gruden are all unemployed and will probably be so until after the season, which is when JT would accept the Presidents job (if he so desired). I understand that this is very rare for an elite NFL coach to become a college coach, but it would be interesting if OSU went after them. Each of them would bring instant credibility for recruiting purposes and each of them know how to coach (Superbowl Champs).

FWIW, I want JT to stay, but if he moves on then why not get the best coach for the best damn university in the land!!!

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written by mab, October 26, 2009

Obviously money would be an issue with each of the coaches I mentioned above also.

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written by Miko, October 26, 2009

Ohio ties and roots key .... Scratch 1, 3, and 4.

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written by marks-gforce, October 26, 2009

Butch Davis is 60 years old. Outside of a glorious 2 year run at Miami, what's the big deal? 16-16 at North Carolina and going the wrong direction.

Dantonio is late 50s. Solid but not spectacular. And if the fan base finds JT a little too dry and buttoned down, yikes.

Urban is on top of the world right now. He is very opportunistic. Not sure he would see Columbus as more opportunity but it's a close call.

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written by Stevie, October 27, 2009

I can't imagine anyone being able to recruit better in Florida than Urban. It would really be a dream come true for recruiting, offensive woes, etc.

If Tress were to leave, he would be my choice.

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written by Duane Long, October 27, 2009

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written by mab, October 26, 2009
Duane,
Would OSU ever consider some of the NFL coaches that are unemployed at the moment? Shanahan, Cowher, and Gruden are all unemployed and will probably be so until after the season, which is when JT would accept the Presidents job (if he so desired). I understand that this is very rare for an elite NFL coach to become a college coach, but it would be interesting if OSU went after them. Each of them would bring instant credibility for recruiting purposes and each of them know how to coach (Superbowl Champs).

FWIW, I want JT to stay, but if he moves on then why not get the best coach for the best damn university in the land!!!

It would depend on the coach. Most pro coaches are not interested in being college coaches.

I think the ranks of those who just want JT to leave have gone up recently but they are still a clear minority.

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written by Duane Long, October 27, 2009

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written by Miko, October 26, 2009
Ohio ties and roots key .... Scratch 1, 3, and 4.

Why does it matter? I have never understood that. Someone explain it to me.

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written by Duane Long, October 27, 2009

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written by marks-gforce, October 26, 2009
Butch Davis is 60 years old. Outside of a glorious 2 year run at Miami, what's the big deal? 16-16 at North Carolina and going the wrong direction.

Dantonio is late 50s. Solid but not spectacular. And if the fan base finds JT a little too dry and buttoned down, yikes.

Urban is on top of the world right now. He is very opportunistic. Not sure he would see Columbus as more opportunity but it's a close call.

JT is 56. You want a younger guy? Fine with me but that means going way off the reservation. Not alot of younger guys with both the resume and the connection to the program that it would take to put them in the running. Love to see a list from you that we can kick around.

Dantonio is going to appeal to a certain group of fans for the reasons you mention. I see a more diverse offense out of Dantonio and one that makes more sense.

Butch Davis is 65-35 overall. He is 16-16 at North Carolina after 2 years. He replaces a poor recruiter and a poor coach in John Bunting who went 3-9 the year before Davis arrived, and North Carolina did not have a winning record since 2001 until Davis went 8-4 last year.

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written by OSUProf, October 27, 2009

I guess we'll see whether YSU *offers* him the job. Hell, has he even made the short list? Let's not be counting eggs when it's chickens that we need to count. I know many people want to get rid of JT but let's not get too excited about a "nomination by a faculty member" Dunno what YSU's like but at Ohio State that probably wouldn't be worth much. At least not when I was there 20 years ago. (Ahh, retirement!) It's all up to their Board of Trustees if they're anything like Ohio State was when I was working. And faculty opinions are usually the last thing Trustees are interested in. Well, maybe their opinions rank ahead of the students'. Maybe! :-)

I don't believe that any faculty committee recommended the current retread. You know, the one who apparently thinks that "New pastures are always so green." Even old "new" ones. lol

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