With 8 wins, Albin's contract has extended by a year. Is this a good thing? Does he deserve it? Opinions will no doubt differ. I compared Albin to Ohio history, and found that he has now passed Hess to move into 3rd place in winning percentage, behind Peden and Solich. If Ohio beats Akron, and wins a bowl, he will be nearly tied with Solich.
After his rough first year, Ohio is currently 18-7, a 72% winning percentage. In Solich's best two years, he was 19-8 in 2011-12, a 70.4% winning percentage (though it would have been higher without the incredible number of injuries in 2012). Interestingly, Solich's second best 2-year run was 2017-2018 when he was 18-8, but didn't win the MAC East in either year. You have to go back to 1968 to get a 2 year run better than 72% winning percentage.
Ohio's recruiting class is currently ranked #3 in the MAC, and #82 in the country. Early in Solich's tenure, Ohio's classes were typically ranking in the mid-90's, with a peak of #85 in 2008. Those classes were followed by a surge in players who got drafted or got free agent contracts, and had a shot at the NFL, peaking at 5 players each in 2007-2008, but averaging about 2 a year from 2005 until 2019. From 2018-2022, however, Ohio's recruiting was significantly worse, averaging a rank of only 118, leaving Ohio with somewhat of a current talent deficit. One sign of that deficit is that the only player to be in the NFL since 2019 is Armani Rogers, who was a transfer, not an initial Ohio recruit.
The last two years, however, Ohio recruiting has been much better. Last year Ohio was ranked 103, about the same as most years from 2005-2017. This year has been even better, and Ohio's rank of #82 is the highest in Ohio's history. There are more players in this class who have turned down P5 offers to play at Ohio than I have ever seen.... by far. That, to me at least, paints a picture of a very bright picture for the next 4-5 years...unless of course, Ohio loses all those players to the portal.
That brings up the question of how Ohio has done with regards to the portal? In my opinion, they have done exceptionally well. Very, very few good players have left Ohio to go into the portal, and Ohio has recruited some very good transfers, helping to fill that talent deficit, and keeping Ohio on a strong, winning course.
All things considered, I think that the staff has done an outstanding job, and I think it's a good thing to have the contract auto-extend this year, and I hope to see it happen every year for the foreseeable future.