Will Tennessee be another Ohio State?

#51
#51
Youngstown, Ohio also produces it's fair share. Warren is also in the same area.

Schools named Youngstown Ursuline and Cardinal Mooney (remember the names Brandom Beachem and Zordich at PSU next season) along with Warren G Harding (Maurice Clarett) ahve put out a bunch of D1 and pro talent.
 
#52
#52
I grew up on the PA/Ohio line, 14 miles from Youngstown, Ohio. I'm a YSU grad and attended while Tressel was winning his titles...for what it's worth. Lets be clear...The Ohio State job belonged to Tressel 3 years before Cooper was even fired. Everyone knew it. He was gonna be the replacement once the alumni got sick of all of the losses to Michigan. That's why noone else appeared to show interest. They never had a chance.

That being said...is there a small college coach in Tennessee who worships the Vols and whom the residents of Tennessee covet just as much?

I'm sure that's news to Jon Gruden (who reportedly turned down the Buckeyes), Ty Willingham, Chris Speilman, and Glen Mason. All these men interviewed or met with OSU Athletic Department. Coach Mason was a finalist with Tressel.
 
#54
#54
No, another Nebraska. Frank Solach won 9 games a year for the Cornhuskers but that wasn't good enough for the AD. He fired Solach and hired Callahan fired him and then hired Bo Polini they are now a six to seven win team now. That's the direction I see TN program headed.
 
#55
#55
The fact that so many games are televised could delay the "get well" process of a program such as the Vols, I think. No longer do the big boys have that carrot to dangle in front of young recruits because everyone is on television these days.
 
#56
#56
The fact that so many games are televised could delay the "get well" process of a program such as the Vols, I think. No longer do the big boys have that carrot to dangle in front of young recruits because everyone is on television these days.

You would hope, as a competitive athlete, that the young man would want to be tested and play against the nations best competition on its biggest stages.....not just go play in the MWC or similar conferences just to light it up statistically.
 
#57
#57
I'm sure that's news to Jon Gruden (who reportedly turned down the Buckeyes), Ty Willingham, Chris Speilman, and Glen Mason. All these men interviewed or met with OSU Athletic Department. Coach Mason was a finalist with Tressel.

I am clearly wrong since OSU's coach isn't Tressel.
 
#58
#58
I'd put Cincinnati's talent up against Cleveland's any time.

I'm sure there is plenty of talent there too. I am just more familiar w/ the Cleveland area. Cincy is over 4 hrs away from me. Clev is an hour.
 
#59
#59
You never know. We could be in limbo for 10 years like Bama and Notre Dame.

I am 57 I have gone through 10 year rough spells for the VOLS...see mid 70's to Suger Vols, can't take 10 years, I can live with 3 to 4 to get things rolling again.

I just want to see 11 fellas on the field giving it all they have and a couple of fellas on the sideline busting theri tails to do the best for those 11.
 
#60
#60
I'm sure that's news to Jon Gruden (who reportedly turned down the Buckeyes), Ty Willingham, Chris Speilman, and Glen Mason. All these men interviewed or met with OSU Athletic Department. Coach Mason was a finalist with Tressel.

Uh.....Chris Spielman? Seriously?

The OSU was Jim Tressel's way before it came open.....that was common knowledge up here.
 
#61
#61
Tressel, who coached earlier in his career with the Buckeyes, headed to Youngstown State in 85, came back in 2001 to OSU. Who are the coaches that coached in the earlier years at UT besides Gruden(only one I know) that could possibly become our next head coach?
 
#63
#63
I am clearly wrong since OSU's coach isn't Tressel.
Yeah, I guess the fact Tressel's the coach makes it so. In that case, I'll go on the record as saying Urban Meyer had the Florida job three years before Spurrier left for the NFL. I guess I'm clearly right since Meyer's the coach there. :thumbsup:
 
#64
#64
Ohio also has 720 high schools that play football compared to roughly 320 in Tennessee. Ohio also has six state championships (1 per 120 schools), Tennessee has eight.

Glen Mason was able to stay moderately competitive at Minnesota by keeping the pipeline to Columbus open; even by getting average players out of the area, they were middle-of-the-road in the Big 10 (which is about the maximum of reasonable expectations).
 
#65
#65
Perhaps, but as long as we get our Tressel, I'll have no complaints.

Dude, if we beat our conference rivals, win the SEC, and lose in the national championship game, I'll be ok with that. Seriously.

I could care less about the national championship. Our championship is in Atlanta, and beating Georgia, Alabama, and especially Florida on a regular basis is ok with me.

So here's to getting our Tressel. Bring it on.
 
#66
#66
Ohio also has 720 high schools that play football compared to roughly 320 in Tennessee. Ohio also has six state championships (1 per 120 schools), Tennessee has eight.
Excellent point. Perhaps is just a matter of population.
 
#67
#67
Ohio also has 720 high schools that play football compared to roughly 320 in Tennessee. Ohio also has six state championships (1 per 120 schools), Tennessee has eight.

Glen Mason was able to stay moderately competitive at Minnesota by keeping the pipeline to Columbus open; even by getting average players out of the area, they were middle-of-the-road in the Big 10 (which is about the maximum of reasonable expectations).

Thats a great bit of info. I didnt realize the population was THAT much different. What is the pop. of Nashville and Memphis? There are over a million here in Columbus alone. OSU gets a ton of players from the Cleveland area, Troy Smith, Ted Ginn, Ray Small, Robert Rose, etc. Even still with the population, I would expect TN to produce more D1 talent. I do know one thing.....HS football is taken much more seriously up here than in East TN.
 
#68
#68
Excellent point. Perhaps is just a matter of population.

It's not just the population (which is declining in Ohio, and will continue to decline rapidly).

The way that the OHSAA season and playoffs are structured ensures an extremely high level of play from start to finish. The best players play against the best players. The TSSAA system (some games are basically exhibitions, the early playoff games are a joke, and there's an entire split between types of schools) means that the top players may be going against no one at any point in the year.

The results of the Herbstreit Classic involving Ohio schools bear this out. These national powers from outside Ohio come in and don't exactly dominate (if they win at all) a group of average Ohio schools.

Frankly I think the TSSAA system is an embarrassment; it's a case of a governing body trying to be all things to all people.
 
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#69
#69
Thats a great bit of info. I didnt realize the population was THAT much different. What is the pop. of Nashville and Memphis? There are over a million here in Columbus alone. OSU gets a ton of players from the Cleveland area, Troy Smith, Ted Ginn, Ray Small, Robert Rose, etc. Even still with the population, I would expect TN to produce more D1 talent. I do know one thing.....HS football is taken much more seriously up here than in East TN.

Glenville also poaches players from all over the place, which the OHSAA should have been investigating a long time ago. When kids are going from St. Ed's, Ignatius, and University School to a place where metal detectors went in back in 1990, it's sure not for the academics.

Columbus tends to lag behind the other major cities in terms of HS talent. Glen Mason got a bunch of raw kids from the City League and turned them into decent players, but I think Gary Russell is the only NFL player out of the group. Tressel gets some OCC kids, and Watterson and DeSales normally have one or two D-1A players in a given year. The rest of the area is going to be dominant players from non-playoff teams.
 
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