Certainly the facilities upgrades such as the IPF and the Academic center will change the dynamics from the past. The same can be said for the fan-building efforts, which has spread Bobcat fandom to the north and west, and the closer ties to high school programs across the state.

That's why I've said that the contributions Solich have made go far beyond "coaching", and constitute "program building". To merely focus on what has (or hasn't been) achieved on the field significantly understates the contributions that Solich has made to Ohio long term.

I've been frustrated at times (Remember my Austin Everson rants? No? Well, I do.) ...

Certainly the facilities upgrades such as the IPF and the Academic center will change the dynamics from the past. The same can be said for the fan-building efforts, which has spread Bobcat fandom to the north and west, and the closer ties to high school programs across the state.

That's why I've said that the contributions Solich have made go far beyond "coaching", and constitute "program building". To merely focus on what has (or hasn't been) achieved on the field significantly understates the contributions that Solich has made to Ohio long term.

Most MAC coaches come in with the plan to come in and coach for a few years, hopefully do well, and then move up and out. Maybe that was what Solich has in mind when he arrived, I don't know, but what he has actually done, from day one, is to constantly try to build the fan base, facilities, and ties to Ohio high school programs across the state, which is something only someone with a long term perspective would do. If you're only planning on being at a place 3-4 years, why worry about an IPF, which would take 5 years of lobbying to get started, a couple more years to raise money, and then another 1-2 years to build?

Because of where Ohio is, I agree, Jeff, I don't think that there is any chance that Ohio will regress to the extent that they were in the 90s. Yet, look at Ohio's history, and you see that after Peden came Widdoes who was pretty good, but not quite as good as Peden. Similarly, after Hess came Burke, who was pretty good, but not quite as good as Hess. (I know I skipped Wise and Kappes who were both very short term). That's more what I was picturing when I talked about regression to the mean, a coach who was close, but not quite as good. Another similar example from another school would be at CMU, where it took a few coaches for them to regress, but they regressed from the top of the MAC to the middle of the MAC West.

In any case, my point is, Ohio could continue to move up, but they could also go the other way. A move in either direction is certainly not a given, and it will be interesting to see how it develops.

No win over a MAC school what ended up with a winning record n 2.5 years must also be factored in, So must the fact that somewhere between 3-5 games a year are cannot lose games for us (Idaho, tomorrow, Miami, kents, 'kron this year, I imagine).

I've posted that we've generally played well and the D against stupd cow this year was great. So, I think I'm reasonably balanced (unlike bcat2).

Why should someone be fired (didn't say Solich) for the lousy short-clock management. Because it's been here forever. For those of you who see most of our games, do you see 2-4 times a year such bad clock management?

If we glory in our 3-0 home record vs. stupd cow recently, fairness demands an answer to this:

What's our record over the last 6-8 years vs stupd cow at their place or neutral?

The athletics mall has become a great front door for the university and South Green Drive has become the prettiest stretches of campus outside of college green. Athletics facilities were rated #12 in the country I believe in one of the publications. Uptown has spirit stores and sports bars. OU feels like a sports school these days. The next coach in Athens I suspect will be another big name with FBS experience since that approach worked last time. Ohio these days is within the Top 10/Top 15 jobs outside of the power 5 conferences.

Please provide source link about the facilities. Does Ohio pay commensurate to "the Top 10/Top 15 jobs outside of the power 5 conferences."?

Because of where Ohio is, I agree, Jeff, I don't think that there is any chance that Ohio will regress to the extent that they were in the 90s. Yet, look at Ohio's history, and you see that after Peden came Widdoes who was pretty good, but not quite as good as Peden. Similarly, after Hess came Burke, who was pretty good, but not quite as good as Hess. (I know I skipped Wise and Kappes who were both very short term). That's more what I was picturing when I talked about regression to the mean, a coach who was close, but not quite as good. Another similar example from another school would be at CMU, where it took a few coaches for them to regress, but they regressed from the top of the MAC to the middle of the MAC West.

In any case, my point is, Ohio could continue to move up, but they could also go the other way. A move in either direction is certainly not a given, and it will be interesting to see how it develops.

The athletics mall has become a great front door for the university and South Green Drive has become the prettiest stretches of campus outside of college green. Athletics facilities were rated #12 in the country I believe in one of the publications. Uptown has spirit stores and sports bars. OU feels like a sports school these days. The next coach in Athens I suspect will be another big name with FBS experience since that approach worked last time. Ohio these days is within the Top 10/Top 15 jobs outside of the power 5 conferences.

College Football isn't like derivative trading where historical volatility can be compared with implied volatility to predict the likelihood of price movement. As a general rule football programs are constantly improving year to year on talent evaluation, facilities and technology. When programs do drastically decline it happens for a reason. SMU fell apart with the death penalty and that event was a huge boost to TCU's program. UConn's program has slipped from 5 years ago because they need to be in a BCS conference to get the players up to Storrs. Miami's program has dropped as Cincinnati's program has risen. The improvement at UC started in the 90's in CUSA but Miami's program stayed strong for a while afterwards on coaching continuity but UC's recruiting accelerated moving into the Big East. That made UC an automatic loss on the schedule for Miami and led to coaching turnover at Miami that made the program collapse further. Ohio had latent potential in the MAC with its student support and over time built a great atmosphere other MAC programs can't touch giving it an edge on recruiting in-state players. With the academic center coming online its going to give the next Bobcat coach even more ability to recruit.