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Ohio Football Topic
Topic: WMU class of the MAC So Far?
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TWT
10/10/2016 10:30 AM
colobobcat66 wrote:expand_more
I just dream of Solich with Fleck type personnel. I still cannot understand why a guy who coached in a National Championship game simply can't get MORE and BETTER players to Athens. Either it is not in his DNA to go after top talent or there really are some "structural" problems in athens...no malls, etc. Haha!
Balderdash. Ohio makes offers to dozens of 3-5 star guys. We just don't get many of them. Looking at the recruiting list for 2017, this site shows 47 recruits who we offered who have already committed to P-5 schools. So don't say that we don't "go after" top talent.

I would guess that recruits look at lots of things including head and position coaches, tradition, league affiliation, visibility, quality of facilities, quality of education, playing time available, offensive and defer defensive styles, etc
Frank coached in a national championship game, but that was a long time ago and he lost. He came to Ohio as a 61 year old or so. Frank is presently the second oldest coach in the FBS. Young kids may not be able to identify with someone that old. For those recruits who like Frank, they still have to wonder how much longer he will continue coaching.
It's facilities and tradition. Facilities we know what those are but tradition can be counted in bowl games made. Solich has put in both facilities and tradition taking Ohio to seven different bowl games. That in my opinion is counteracting the age factor for Solich since his improvements to the program are marked. Miami had the tradition but not the facilities and have been hurt. All those new programs at the FBS level are hurt by not having tradition. They don't do well on the recruiting trail and they go years without making a bowl game. Solich's arrival was perfect timing as he joined Ohio right as the MAC was becoming a multi-bowl conference. In the MAC only Toledo(15), BG(13) and NIU(11) have played in more bowl games than Ohio. Ohio with 9 bowls is tied with Miami and CMU and put distance on Akron(2), Kent(2) and Buffalo(2).
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TWT
10/10/2016 10:49 AM
GoCats105 wrote:expand_more
I just dream of Solich with Fleck type personnel. I still cannot understand why a guy who coached in a National Championship game simply can't get MORE and BETTER players to Athens. Either it is not in his DNA to go after top talent or there really are some "structural" problems in athens...no malls, etc. Haha!
Balderdash. Ohio makes offers to dozens of 3-5 star guys. We just don't get many of them. Looking at the recruiting list for 2017, this site shows 47 recruits who we offered who have already committed to P-5 schools. So don't say that we don't "go after" top talent.

I would guess that recruits look at lots of things including head and position coaches, tradition, league affiliation, visibility, quality of facilities, quality of education, playing time available, offensive and defer defensive styles, etc
Frank coached in a national championship game, but that was a long time ago and he lost. He came to Ohio as a 61 year old or so. Frank is presently the second oldest coach in the FBS. Young kids may not be able to identify with someone that old. For those recruits who like Frank, they still have to wonder how much longer he will continue coaching.

This. 100%

Just look at the final years of Joe Paterno, Frank Beamer and Bobby Bowden. Maybe kids just aren't excited to play with or for guys who can't relate to them at all. How do they know when Solich's last season might be? Is he on his way out? Who comes in after him? So many questions.
When Solich is down in Florida competing for a recruit against FAU or FIU they are going to see that FIU & FAU have both made 2 bowl games in their history and play in CUSA a conference full of programs with little tradition that to play at Ohio which has made 9 bowls and the MAC it sounds pretty good. The relative rise of the MAC the last few years can be explained by tradition. Once you have tradition it can't be taken away and it perpetuates.
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OhioCatFan
10/10/2016 11:13 AM
Mark Lembright '85 wrote:expand_more
I think we do have a Fleck with a Solich-type personality (but a little more outgoing than Solich); he just happens to coach the Men's' basketball team.
Great observation. And, I really, really like Saul. He's a great coach with a great personality. He's also very funny. Frank has a good sense of humor also, but it's a much drier wit. I like both.
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C Money
10/10/2016 11:19 AM
Uncle Wes wrote:expand_more
When Solich is down in Florida competing for a recruit against FAU or FIU ...

That right there is the complaint. We are competing against the F_Us of the world for recruits. We win our fair share of those fights. But what Fleck has done is gotten WMU to compete against the B1G for recruits, and he wins his fair share of those fights.
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TWT
10/10/2016 11:28 AM
C Money wrote:expand_more
When Solich is down in Florida competing for a recruit against FAU or FIU ...
That right there is the complaint. We are competing against the F_Us of the world for recruits. We win our fair share of those fights. But what Fleck has done is gotten WMU to compete against the B1G for recruits, and he wins his fair share of those fights.
Understood. Even what Frank is doing though winning 7 games a year and racking up bowl games is going to help the next coach sell the program. I know a lot of us want more right now but it will be coming. My theory on why they've let Peden deteriorate is when the next president walks through the stadium and see the condition he'll push for a major renovation. McDavis probably wants it but will let the next president have it as their initiative.
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Buckeye to Bobcat
10/10/2016 12:47 PM
Uncle Wes wrote:expand_more
I just dream of Solich with Fleck type personnel. I still cannot understand why a guy who coached in a National Championship game simply can't get MORE and BETTER players to Athens. Either it is not in his DNA to go after top talent or there really are some "structural" problems in athens...no malls, etc. Haha!
Balderdash. Ohio makes offers to dozens of 3-5 star guys. We just don't get many of them. Looking at the recruiting list for 2017, this site shows 47 recruits who we offered who have already committed to P-5 schools. So don't say that we don't "go after" top talent.

I would guess that recruits look at lots of things including head and position coaches, tradition, league affiliation, visibility, quality of facilities, quality of education, playing time available, offensive and defer defensive styles, etc
Frank coached in a national championship game, but that was a long time ago and he lost. He came to Ohio as a 61 year old or so. Frank is presently the second oldest coach in the FBS. Young kids may not be able to identify with someone that old. For those recruits who like Frank, they still have to wonder how much longer he will continue coaching.
It's facilities and tradition. Facilities we know what those are but tradition can be counted in bowl games made. Solich has put in both facilities and tradition taking Ohio to seven different bowl games. That in my opinion is counteracting the age factor for Solich since his improvements to the program are marked. Miami had the tradition but not the facilities and have been hurt. All those new programs at the FBS level are hurt by not having tradition. They don't do well on the recruiting trail and they go years without making a bowl game. Solich's arrival was perfect timing as he joined Ohio right as the MAC was becoming a multi-bowl conference. In the MAC only Toledo(15), BG(13) and NIU(11) have played in more bowl games than Ohio. Ohio with 9 bowls is tied with Miami and CMU and put distance on Akron(2), Kent(2) and Buffalo(2).
I also hate to say it, but Westerns facilities are pretty darn good to get the attention of the 18 year olds. Sure we now have a practice facility, but our stadium needs spruced up along with real football offices that don't get booted out on gamedays
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Casper71
10/10/2016 1:33 PM
Fine, I guess I can give you we go after a bunch of 3-star guys. That brings me to the second point: why don't many of them come to Athens? We have a coach and a bowl tradition. It is just facilities you say? Seems to me there have to be some other "structural issues". Other thoughts?
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MedinaCat
10/10/2016 2:28 PM
Casper71 wrote:expand_more
Fine, I guess I can give you we go after a bunch of 3-star guys. That brings me to the second point: why don't many of them come to Athens? We have a coach and a bowl tradition. It is just facilities you say? Seems to me there have to be some other "structural issues". Other thoughts?
The other thought is location. I-94 vs. Routes 33/32/50. Draw a circle around Kalamazoo with a 125 mile radius and you capture all of metro Detroit, Chicagoland and it puts you in range of Indianapolis. Do the same for Athens and you get Columbus, Canton and the eastern suburbs of Cincinnati.
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L.C.
10/10/2016 8:43 PM
Uncle Wes wrote:expand_more
It's facilities and tradition. Facilities we know what those are but tradition can be counted in bowl games made. Solich has put in both facilities and tradition taking Ohio to seven different bowl games. ...

Wes, I don't always agree with you, but I certainly agree here. I have made the point before that in the long run Solich's greatest contribution to Ohio football may be the changes he has made to tradition and facilities, and also the ties he has been building to high school football across the state. Those changes will outlive his term as coach.
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Casper71
10/11/2016 12:31 AM
Guys, I can give you all that but I still say why hasn't it translated into MORE and BETTER recruits, especially from the State of Ohio?
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TWT
10/11/2016 12:34 AM
L.C. wrote:expand_more
It's facilities and tradition. Facilities we know what those are but tradition can be counted in bowl games made. Solich has put in both facilities and tradition taking Ohio to seven different bowl games. ...

Wes, I don't always agree with you, but I certainly agree here. I have made the point before that in the long run Solich's greatest contribution to Ohio football may be the changes he has made to tradition and facilities, and also the ties he has been building to high school football across the state. Those changes will outlive his term as coach.
They do and building tradition and facilities is a process that is yet ongoing at Ohio. Ohio has participated in 9 different bowl games something few G5 schools can say and I expect a few more before Frank hangs it up. Before 2010 Ohio was only in 4 bowl games so the tradition is relatively recent. The IPF is only 2.5 years old and funds were raised before Ohio had won a bowl game. As long as we don't start repeating bowl games. Only 8 "Group of Five" schools have played in more different bowl game locations.

Air Force 16
Navy 14
Cincinnati 13
Southern Miss. 13
Tulsa 13
Houston 11
Colorado St. 10
East Carolina 10
Fresno St. 9
Nevada 9
Northern Ill. 9
Ohio 9
Rice 9
San Diego St. 9
SMU 9
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TWT
10/11/2016 12:49 AM
Casper71 wrote:expand_more
Guys, I can give you all that but I still say why hasn't it translated into MORE and BETTER recruits, especially from the State of Ohio?
If you haven't noticed the past couple of years in-state recruiting has been up with the class filling out early. This year it hasn't happened for whatever reason but Ohio did sign a couple of 3 star QBs and the quality per recruit so far is near tops in the MAC. Stars aren't as important as identifying guys who can develop in the next level and Solich's staff is pretty good about it. The talent level at Ohio is fine, you can ask Tennessee about that. The play calling is a different story.
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Bcat2
10/11/2016 12:56 AM
Casper71 wrote:expand_more
Guys, I can give you all that but I still say why hasn't it translated into MORE and BETTER recruits, especially from the State of Ohio?
So Casper, which Ohio starter are you ready to call out as unworthy of being a Bobcat on your team? I follow these kids closely and am very proud of them. Glad to have them, each and every one.
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GoCats105
10/11/2016 7:16 AM
Bcat2 wrote:expand_more
Guys, I can give you all that but I still say why hasn't it translated into MORE and BETTER recruits, especially from the State of Ohio?
So Casper, which Ohio starter are you ready to call out as unworthy of being a Bobcat on your team? I follow these kids closely and am very proud of them. Glad to have them, each and every one.
Don't do that. Don't spin his comment into making it sound like he doesn't appreciate the boys out there giving their all right now. By this logic, you would take Greg Windham at quarterback over Deshaun Watson. Stop it.
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Bcat2
10/11/2016 9:52 AM
GoCats105 wrote:expand_more
Guys, I can give you all that but I still say why hasn't it translated into MORE and BETTER recruits, especially from the State of Ohio?
So Casper, which Ohio starter are you ready to call out as unworthy of being a Bobcat on your team? I follow these kids closely and am very proud of them. Glad to have them, each and every one.
Don't do that. Don't spin his comment into making it sound like he doesn't appreciate the boys out there giving their all right now. By this logic, you would take Greg Windham at quarterback over Deshaun Watson. Stop it.
No spin required.
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bshot44
10/11/2016 10:17 AM
Bcat2 wrote:expand_more
Guys, I can give you all that but I still say why hasn't it translated into MORE and BETTER recruits, especially from the State of Ohio?
So Casper, which Ohio starter are you ready to call out as unworthy of being a Bobcat on your team? I follow these kids closely and am very proud of them. Glad to have them, each and every one.
Don't do that. Don't spin his comment into making it sound like he doesn't appreciate the boys out there giving their all right now. By this logic, you would take Greg Windham at quarterback over Deshaun Watson. Stop it.
No spin required.
The. Worst.
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C Money
10/11/2016 10:46 AM
Bcat2 wrote:expand_more
Guys, I can give you all that but I still say why hasn't it translated into MORE and BETTER recruits, especially from the State of Ohio?
So Casper, which Ohio starter are you ready to call out as unworthy of being a Bobcat on your team? I follow these kids closely and am very proud of them. Glad to have them, each and every one.
Here is a Heisman trophy watch list. Which of these players are you glad that they chose not to attend Ohio?

http://www.espn.com/college-football/heisman /
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OU_Country
10/11/2016 12:54 PM
Buckeye to Bobcat wrote:expand_more
I also hate to say it, but Westerns facilities are pretty darn good to get the attention of the 18 year olds. Sure we now have a practice facility, but our stadium needs spruced up along with real football offices that don't get booted out on gamedays
I've never been to Kalamazoo, though it's on my list if the MAC will ever schedule OUr teams up there on a Saturday. The football facility looks well ahead of Peden, I agree. The same can't be said for hoops, though it appears to have a neat little charm about it that I'd like to visit.

To your point though, this is something that should be encompassed in more of a 'master plan' for Peden, so that when we're building IPFs and Academic centers that all of these things are addressed at the same time. I'm not sure if that exists or not, but I sure think it should.
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RPO R6V
10/11/2016 7:36 PM
GoCats105 wrote:expand_more
I just dream of Solich with Fleck type personnel. . . .
I'd rather have a Fleck with a Solich-type personality! I simply can't stand looking at the guy's antics on the sidelines and other places. Now, I"m not an 17-year-old recruit, either. If that's what floats their boats, OK, but it's not something that appeals to me.
So just because a guy shows some charisma and some fire on the sidelines that means you don't like his personality because of his "antics?" Maybe that's what kids want to see. A guy who is going to go to bat for them. A guy who is going to be as excited to be there as they are.

I think there's a reason that top level recruits don't want to play here and it doesn't have anything to do with Athens, the school or the facilities. It doesn't even necessarily have to do with the coach Solich.
GoCats105, what reason are you thinking of if it's not Athens, the school, the facilities, or the coach?
Last Edited: 10/11/2016 7:39:45 PM by RPO R6V
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GoCats105
10/12/2016 8:20 AM
RPO R6V wrote:expand_more
I just dream of Solich with Fleck type personnel. . . .
I'd rather have a Fleck with a Solich-type personality! I simply can't stand looking at the guy's antics on the sidelines and other places. Now, I"m not an 17-year-old recruit, either. If that's what floats their boats, OK, but it's not something that appeals to me.
So just because a guy shows some charisma and some fire on the sidelines that means you don't like his personality because of his "antics?" Maybe that's what kids want to see. A guy who is going to go to bat for them. A guy who is going to be as excited to be there as they are.

I think there's a reason that top level recruits don't want to play here and it doesn't have anything to do with Athens, the school or the facilities. It doesn't even necessarily have to do with the coach Solich.
GoCats105, what reason are you thinking of if it's not Athens, the school, the facilities, or the coach?
When I say it's not the coach, I don't think it's because Solich is a bad coach or that he's necessarily a bad guy. But I wonder how much kids relate to a guy like him because of his age and how many kids look at his age and wonder how much longer he'll be coaching.

The other thing is the system. I don't think Ohio's offense really attracts the caliber of athlete that some around here want.
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Bcat2
10/12/2016 10:21 AM
GoCats105 wrote:expand_more
I just dream of Solich with Fleck type personnel. . . .
I'd rather have a Fleck with a Solich-type personality! I simply can't stand looking at the guy's antics on the sidelines and other places. Now, I"m not an 17-year-old recruit, either. If that's what floats their boats, OK, but it's not something that appeals to me.
So just because a guy shows some charisma and some fire on the sidelines that means you don't like his personality because of his "antics?" Maybe that's what kids want to see. A guy who is going to go to bat for them. A guy who is going to be as excited to be there as they are.

I think there's a reason that top level recruits don't want to play here and it doesn't have anything to do with Athens, the school or the facilities. It doesn't even necessarily have to do with the coach Solich.
GoCats105, what reason are you thinking of if it's not Athens, the school, the facilities, or the coach?
When I say it's not the coach, I don't think it's because Solich is a bad coach or that he's necessarily a bad guy. But I wonder how much kids relate to a guy like him because of his age and how many kids look at his age and wonder how much longer he'll be coaching.

The other thing is the system. I don't think Ohio's offense really attracts the caliber of athlete that some around here want.
On offense, I can think of Roger Lewis who chose BG over Ohio. Also Michael Robert (TE) who chose Toledo over Ohio. However, with the athletes listed below I like the caliber of of athlete who have chosen Ohio.

Basham, Hagan, Smith, Mangen, Sayles, Laseak, Brown, White, Irons, Lowery, McCray, Watson, Pruehs, Wood, Poling, Reid, Ouellette, Farkas, Robbins, Aloese, Cooper, Strobel, Cope, Williams, Davis, Ball & Belack.
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L.C.
10/12/2016 2:47 PM
The naming of names game is not helpful. I can also name many players who chose Ohio who have played very little, or none at all, or who didn't fit for whatever reason and transferred out. In the end the team we have is the team we have, and it's a good one. Let's get behind them and hope they can win 10+ games this year.
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Bcat2
10/12/2016 4:00 PM
L.C. wrote:expand_more
The naming of names game is not helpful. I can also name many players who chose Ohio who have played very little, or none at all, or who didn't fit for whatever reason and transferred out. In the end the team we have is the team we have, and it's a good one. Let's get behind them and hope they can win 10+ games this year.
+1
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MonroeClassmate
10/12/2016 9:28 PM
Zips host the 24th ranked Broncos at 3:30PM Saturday--I will be there. (two straight weekend drives to Athens is too much for me; rather scout)

What are the predictions for this game. Zips without starting running back, starting QB and flashy slot may all be injured.
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akroncat
10/12/2016 9:39 PM
Mike Roberts signed at Ohio but couldn't get in academically. He originally had chosen us.
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