I have to respond to this.

You claim there is no "State University of New York" because the SUNY system has over 60 campuses. Is there also no University of California? What about the University of Wisconsin? Both systems have multiple campuses just like SUNY and yet there is one flagship University that everyone calls by the state name. Our situation is no different.
SUNY has 64 campuses and 4 University Centers (although according to their wikipedia page SUNY Buffalo is the only "flagship"). Of the 4 centers, SUNY-Buffalo has by far the largest number of students at 30,000; we have an endowment that is larger than all of the other SUNY endowments COMBINED; we are an AAU member; we are the only comprehensive SUNY with a medical school, a tier 1 law school, and an architecture and urban design school; we are the only ones playing FBS level sports. We are the obvious choice to take the name State University of New York just like UC-Berkeley takes the name "California" or UW-Madison takes the name "Wisconsin". It's no different. Comparing us to Syracuse makes absolutely no sense because they are a private institution. We are a state school that receives money from New York residents and we should be allowed to call ourselves by a portion of our official name - The State University of NEW YORK at Buffalo. It's exactly the same at other major state universities throughout the US, the only difference being that our athletics are a joke. That's where Jeff Quinn's firing comes in.

Coach Quinn was wayyyy over his head from the beginning. He took over a decent team in 2009 and immediately drove away a bunch of starting players (including starting QB Zach Maynard who went on to start for "Cal") when he started spewing his Macho Man Randy Savage Car Salesmen cliches about football. He tanked everything Turner Gill had built in just his first year, including a season-ending loss to 2010 Akron - one of the worst teams in MAC history. He may have slowly improved us from there and everyone likes to point out that we went bowling last year - but with Khalil Mack and Branden Oliver on the roster (thanks to Turner Gill) I don't think anyone was happy with 4th overall in the conference and a royal butt whuppin in the Idaho Potato Bowl. He needed to keep showing some level of progress or he was going to be shown the door. Danny set him up with one of the easiest schedules in the world with Army and 2 FCS schools, and he failed miserably.

Witherspoon should have been gone way before White got there though, right? Still, why fire him in the middle of the season? Is the situation that bad that merited a kick to the curb ASAP? You're closer to the situation than I am, so I'm just looking for an opinion. I find it hard to believe that Buffalo was in such bad shape that a coaching change was needed immediately. Plus, it's not like the new guy will start right away. The system is still going to be the same is it not? This will probably ruin the season.

It's a fair question and I don't have a great answer. I think Danny just thought the season was already over the second we lost to EMU. Like someone said before, we played 2 FCS teams this year so we need to win 4 out of the next 5 games to even be bowl eligible. With you guys, Central, and Akron on the slate, it appears that we're done (wait until you guys see our defense. It's lower level FCS bad). I think Danny's entire mentality is around keeping up attendance to make money for the IPF, so he scheduled a bunch of terrible teams with the hopes that winning would bring fans. It backfired, the fans are annoyed, and the only way to keep interest in the program is to start over. With Quinn's low buyout it isn't going to break the bank on the IPF.

It's funny you mention that because that's almost exactly the formula that Ohio used to build the program when Frank got there. Before Frank, I think Ohio was playing 11-12 games a year, usually only 4-5 were at home and two of the away games were money games from power schools. Frank gets here and it's totally different. Home and away games are split evenly 6-6, and most of the OOC home games are against FCS or low level FBS to pile wins up. There was still a money game every year though on the road. There were some odd years like 2009, where we had a rather marquee opponent at home (UConn) and money road game (Tennessee). So it sounds like White has the right theory just not the right coach.

My use of "might" was with regards to "soon". Yeah, Muschamp and Hoke will be unemployed in January. But both ADs have said that they'll wait until the end of the season to review.

But if you only look a the last 27 athletic events...

+1 -- excellent points in here




Here's another reality: a good number of us truly believe that we ARE a basketball school first, and care less about football. We go to the football games as as source of entertainment and camaraderie with fellow fans and alumni. And we go for the tailgating and fantastic fall environment. Being legitimately fun to watch and going to a bowl game are what many people care about. When they win 9-10 games a year, that's a bonus.

I have not suggested getting rid of Solich. I believe we are all either green and growing or ripe and rotting. It has nothing to do with age, but everything to do with trends. For the first 7 years the staff was here, they did a good job changing the culture, the offense, the defense and the talent pool. For whatever reason, the program has regressed for a while and it does not feel like the team is trending forward.

My biggest complaint is the inability to consistently recruit top talent. There should never be a few rebuilding years in a row for a staff that has been together for a decade. They repeatedly did a poor job building on the momentum. I also believe the offensive schemes are always two steps behind the rest of the nation. Am I the only one that thought it was odd that the offense was only changed after a complete ass-whipping by Troy in a bowl game? Our players are not put in a position to succeed often enough. Daz between the tackles, Cochran repeatedly underthrown to, single coverage on defensive backs that are constantly getting beat, etc. When the moron fans (most of us) can call the play out before it happens, the offense might be too predictable.

Also, I do not understand the complete lack of discipline on the field this year. The coaches have to prepare the team to not make mistakes like we are seeing in the punt return game. They also need to fix the stupid penalties. I still don't understand how 12 guys were in the huddle on a placekick. The 11 players who are on that team should 100% know that before the game starts.

Recruiting is sore spot. I don't want to take anything away from the players currently on the roster. I really respect those that were walk-ons. They wanted to be part of the team so badly, they sacrificed everything to try out. Ohio is a special place, and the football team has been one of the most successful, consistent programs in the conference for the past 10 years. How is that such a hard sales job to make to the targeted recruits? There has obviously been some disconnect in delivering that message in the living rooms of a whole bunch of talented kids. I believe this team should be reloading every year with slightly better young players as opposed to rebuilding because the cupboard is bare. That was a reasonable excuse when Knorr left. I don't buy it now.

I hope they fix it. Solich has a good track record, and I'd rather not see him leave. This season is probably shot, but it would be nice to see them finish the season on an upward swing. I'll still be there for every game, but it sure is more enjoyable to see a competitive product on the field.

Yep. I would only change the 7 years to 8 years. I truly believe that 2012 team was killed by injuries. They beat Penn St. to start the season. But by the time they got to the Miami game (the week following Jordan Thompson's knee injury I think), they were running on fumes. They got just a few guys back (see Tremayne Scott) and won decidedly in the Bowl game.

The problem was last year. It should have been a good year that would have kept people patient with this year's rebuilding effort.

I would not be shocked at all if that ends up being a bone thrown by the NCAA to those left out. At the same time I would more likely put money on that not happening as there will be many shallow efforts made to maintain some veil that all teams have the same chance blah blah.

Ha!