According to the Canton Repository, Se'von Pittman -- a four-star DL recruit from 2012 who was at the center of a controversy between O$U and MSU -- will transfer to Akron.  He was redshirted at A&M last season and was released from his scholarship this spring after off-field issues.  He'll have to sit a year.  He went to Canton McKinley, so they hope that being a lot closer to home will help keep him in line.

The wheels really fell off under Akron's last coach, and the new staff had nothing to work with.  I think it's a sign of the times where the Coaches feel pressure for instant results.

Ohio did a bit of this in the early Solich years, too. At Ohio the long term solution of better and better recruiting, combined with solid coaching was what turned the corner, not the transfers anyway. As I have pointed out before, at many programs a coach would have been fired for going 9-5, 6-6, and 4-8 in three consecutive years, yet there was not even a murmer on this board about a need for that. Because of the patience of Ohio's outstanding fans, they have been rewarded with four consecutive bowl games since then, with many more likely in the future.

L.C.'s comment about the three 'middling' (better than prior years but trending down within the three years as viewed by yearly records) years is true.  There was about zero grousing even though the record didn't trend up.  But the progress in the talent was evident.  So, there was no need to be upset.  And, indeed, the team's work and our patience has paid off.

There was a little bit of grousing but this was only Frank's 4th year and it takes 5-6 years to properly build a program. Frank has finally got things not only turned around but has built a reputation for the program so that recruiting comes easier than ever before. The key though for Ohio gaining traction in recruiting is the weaknesses of other MAC schools, improved facilities especially compared with Miami and Kent State and having the best college town in the MAC. Years ago we argued that Ohio should be able to at least win in the MAC and now that is true. In basketball the bar is more national in having a program that can reach the NCAA's every year.  

All of that is true, but fans at most schools would have been irate at the trend. I'm not saying he would have been fired, but there would have been a lot of "OK, we'll give him one more year, but he better turn it around, or he needs to go". Ohio fans looked beyond the record, and at the progress for on and off the field.


That's true, but most fans are impatient. Coaches are not given 5-6 years - if they aren't producing by 3-4 years, they are gone. Even at Ohio there have been impatient fans. I remember one fan that midway through the first year, after a bad loss, fell off the bandwagon and said "I'm through with this team!", and who wasn't seen again for a few years.

You had Knorr pegged correctly mid way through year 1 of his regime if I remember correctly.