Grooms had next to nothing to do with facility improvements or the IPF...his role in more day-to-day operations, travel, etc. All the fundraising was done by the Ohio Bobcat Club staff. Fundraising isn't really the role of his position.

In the words of Vince Lombardi,

He goes on to show how an entire offense is built on the back on that key play, taking advantages of shifts in the defense to stop the #1 play. In the case of BUTM, a play that takes advantage of defensive shifts to stop it would be the play action to Cochran, or to a tight end. Ohio's success in 2006-2012 was built on the back of the power running game, and that was true from both the I-formation and the spread.

To answer your question with a question, what coach does the power running game "express as a coach"? Is that coach still here? If he is still here, then I would guess that you will continue to see power runs, in which case the next question is, will a change in the QB coach and the OL coach make the power running game more or less successful?

yeah right, when something is not going well, just wish that something is done, regardless if that the problem area

Check their staus. Ganz is still GA. This might be leverage for Ganz to get the OC to make him the QB coach there.  Everson, however, is listed as operations support staff, asst. dir. of ops, director of high school relations.  Seems to me Ohio could offer them better.  JMHO.

Under Gdowski, the passing efficiency has been, by year:
2005 - Everson - 87.7 (47.7% completion, 4 TD, 11 Int, 5.23 yds/attempt)
2006 - Everson - 102.0 (54..2%, 7 TD, 8 Int, 5.36 yds/attempt) 10th in MAC
2007 - Bower - 125.7 (54.7%, 11 TD, 10 int, 7.62 yds/attempt) 8th in MAC
2008 - Jackson - 137.8 (60.5%, 19 TD, 12 int, 7.7 yds/att) 6th in MAC
2009 - Scott - 128.5 (57.8%, 20 TD, 11 int, 6.89 yds/att) 5th in MAC
2010 - Jackson - 136.2 (60.8%, 18 TD, 17 int, 7.74 yds/att) 3rd in MAC
2011 - Tettleton - 148.9 ( 64.2%, 28 TD, 10 int, 8.01 yds/att) 5th in MAC
2012 - Tettleton - 141.2 (62.1%, 18 TD, 4 int, 7.75 yds/att) 2d in MAC
2013 - Tettleton - 138.8 (62.0%, 21 TD, 12 int, 7.69 yds/att) 3d in MAC

Under Lightner
2005 - 19 sacks (??? in MAC), 4.5 yards/carry (3rd in MAC) (McRea 5.5, Owens 5.2)
2006 - 20 sacks (2d in MAC), 3.9 yds/carry (5th in MAC) (McRea 4.9, Owens 3.7, Everson 3.4)
2007 - 26 sacks (6th in MAC), 3.8 yds/carry (6th in MAC) (McRea 4.9)
2008 - 23 sacks (10th in MAC), 3.9 yds/carry (9th in MAC) (Garrett 4.5, Harden 5.2)
2009 - 29 sacks (10th in MAC), 3.4 yds/carry (11th in MAC) (Garrett 4.2, Davidson 3.9, Harden 3.9)
2010 - 22 sacks (3rd in MAC), 4.3 yds/rush (3rd in MAC) (Davidson 3.9, Harden 4.8, Bates 6.7)
2011 - 23 sacks (8th in MAC), 4.6 yds/rush (4th in MAC) (Harden 5.3, Boykin 4.1, Blankenship 5.0)
2012 - 27 sacks (10th in MAC), 4.4 yds/rush (6th in MAC) (Boykin 6.0, Blankenship 5.1, Patterson 5.7)
2013 - 19 sacks (6th in MAC), 3.8 yards/rush (9th in MAC) (Boykin 3.9, Blankenship 4.5, Patterson 5.6)

Looking at the stats, I think Gdowski's record is very impressive. QB's under his guidance moved from 10th in the MAC in the early years to being the top 3 three of the last four years, and the top 5 all five of the last years. Even more impressive is that this was done exclusively with QBs that had few if any other offers other than Ohio. Imagine what he might have done with a highly sought after QB recruit.

Lightner's record is less convincing. In sacks given up, Ohio started out well in 2005-2006, but once the Knorr recruits were gone, the only year Ohio was higher than 6th was 2010. In terms of establishing a running game, Ohio again did well in 2005-2006, using Knorr recruits (Coppage, Knabb, Shelby, Miller, Paul Johnson, Eynon), but since then has averaged about 7th in the MAC.  Lightner's best group of linemen was from 2010 to 2012,  (Strum, Carlotta, Allen, Herman, Flading, Lechner, McGrath).

I'd take Lobo back.

Honest question, if Albin and Gdowski were co-Coordinators, why did all threads transpire by name of only one?

A former player told me years ago "If Grooms were ever to leave, the whole thing would just fall apart."  He may have been speaking more about logistics, but that plays a big role.

I'm sure Lightner was hired at Vandy because the coach there thinks he's lousy. Dont think so. Mason has been around a lot and has a lot of connections I am sure, so he probably is making a good choice. I'll still say that he's one of the best position coaches we had.

Like any profession, no one is irreplaceable. Looks like these guys have been here for 9 years each. By then, not only do they perceive the grass to be greener but they will flat out make more money. Looks like they make:

You do not get OBC credit for donating to the Lockerroom project! So if you are NOT a member after making a $1,000.00 plus donation how does that equate to being recognized?????? Currently all gifts of this type fail to be recognized by the OBC. So maybe you should check your facts.

I am absolutely not saying he is lousy. I'm saying that the stats show very clearly that Gdowski was outstanding, but that with Lightner, the stats are mixed. There are lots of reasons why that could be, such as recruiting, injuries, changes in offensive philosophy, etc.


QB mobility would also be a factor, as some QBs, such at TT or Scott were more mobile than some others. That's why I used two measures, the second being average gain per rushing attempt. That measure is about as independent as I can get from the number of rushing attempts, as opposed to using a stat like total rushing yards.

Here is the complete data for the last decade:
      R Att   P Att  R Yards  P yards  Rush Pct  Yds/Rush Yds/Pass  Yds/Play
2004   408     346    1190     2202      54.1%     2.92     6.36       4.50
2005   427     264    1915     1303      61.8%     4.48     4.94       4.66
2006   525     331    2067     1806      61.3%     3.94     5.46       4.52
2007   472     344    1810     2544      57.8%     3.83     7.40       5.34
2008   392     386    1542     2795      50.4%     3.93     7.24       5.57
2009   455     402    1568     2774      53.1%     3.45     6.90       5.07
2010   496     272    2129     2110      64.6%     4.29     7.76       5.52
2011   599     428    2769     3480      58.3%     4.62     8.13       6.08
2012   596     402    2643     3139      59.7%     4.43     7.81       5.79
2013   462     425    1742     3190      52.1%     3.77     7.51       5.56

It's interesting to note that there isn't as big a shift as you might think in terms of what percentage of times they rush the ball. The change in formation did not change that at all, really. Instead I would say that they tend to run the ball a higher percentage of times in years when the rush is effective, and tend to pass more in years when the pass is more effective.

Thus, in 2013 when the running game wasn't effective, while some posters might give you the impression that they continued to run the same percentage of times as usual, actually they shifted the play mix, and ran the ball less times than usual, and passed more. Because of the shift in the mix in 2013 away from rushes to passes, the overall average gain per play was actually the fourth highest of any year in the last decade even though the rushing game was less effective, and really the only year that was substantially better was 2011.

Again, I'm not trying to knock Lightner. I just dumped out there the stats I found, and allowed people to reach their own conclusions. I feel like the stats for Gdowski showed steady and impressive progress, while for Lightner they were mixed, with some years better than others (2005-6, 2010-2012), and some years worse (2013, 2009). It's certainly possible that if Lightner stayed we would find that 2013 was just an anomaly and that 2014-2016 would turn out to be a continuation of the successes of 2010-2012.

I think we all hope that they find some new coaches that will be outstanding to replace all the departed ones. I hope the departed three all do great things at Vandy.

I know he is too busy for this, but, this morning at church I lit a candle for Ganz & AE to come to Ohio.