Hope you feel better. Your last post was in April not a few years ago.

No one is above criticism as no one is perfect. It's certainly not shameful to criticize someone that's a highly paid public official.

I’ve had the fortune or misfortune to be a member of many athletic forums. Most of those J have quit because of ignorant rhetoric.

Compared to most BA is rather tame.

TA last year also had 1 month before practice started. ONLY Bob Kappas has ever dealt with such an issue.

Yea I don't have a problem with commenting on any of those folks' job performance because criticism doesn't mean I don't support them, the team, the department, or the university. It's a message board where people comment on how they feel about a variety of topics. There's an entire thread where folks praised TA and the turnaround. I don't think I've actually criticized the football staff on here, so I didn't feel the need to comment in there.

I've had private conversations where I sure did criticize the body of work last year and early this year. I've also had follow ups on those same conversations giving credit when it was clearly due later in the year. For the record I did criticize Boals recently for a late game decision I felt was a poor choice. I sure don't feel shame for doing so and I'm not sure why anyone would. The behavior here is extremely tame so I don't think anyone should be shamed for providing their thoughts. It would make for a very boring conversation if we just all agreed everything was great all the time.

I commented to your post because I just found it totally bizarre you came here to blast the entire group for behavior that is very reasonable.

Now I’ll never be able to sleep again. Knowing I’m in the bad graces of…[checks name] Bobcat1996.

I agree. BA is unique among sports boards in that it generally contains intelligent and reasonable discussion, with little of the insane irrationality that you see on most sports boards. Did TA deserve criticism for losing to Duquesne and going 3-9? Of course. Did he deserve a chance to right the boat? Yes.
Does he now deserve praise for making great assistant coach changes in the off-season, and for motivating the players to go 9-4 so far this year? Obviously, yes.

I think that, in general, most of the fans on this board are very reasonable and adapt their opinions well to changing facts.

I am not a person that would ever call for the firing of a coach because I understand that it isn't my field of expertise. I might comment on what historical comparisons make me think the AD might do but I'll never call for anyone to be fired. I have been closer to the "Solich apologist" camp I'm sure. I'm definitely OK with naming the field after him even though he never won the MAC. As I have said I can be a very analytical person. IMO, fielding a good team with respect to his resources is the coaches job. Solich did that. Out of the handful of good teams, which one actually wins the championship, is mostly a function of luck and not team quality under most formats unless one team is head and shoulders above the rest. That's not so true in a format like the English Premier League where the champion is in team with the best record over a 38 game season where all schedules are symmetric, but in situations where there is a championship game or tournament then no, that is a largely luck. As to if I'm missing something about Solich specifically in his teams always "choking" or if he just suffered extraordinarily bad luck, I'll let you guys argue that if you want. This is an outlier in that regard and I am certainly open to the idea that there might have been more to it.

I am not touting my prognostication skills because I thought Ohio would be bad this year based on what happened last season but I was also the only person that picked a losing season in 2021 because I thought Albin had been put into a very difficult spot. But I didn't expect losing to an FCS team for the first time in 20 years. And not a good FCS team. It was a below average one. It was the worst loss in many, many decades. That includes the extended dark age after Hess's retirement. Then we lost to BG by 11 whereas we had beaten them by 42 the prior year in a season where both teams were largely the same team as 2020 due to COVID rules. It was only one game but a largely straight up comparison between where Ohio was in 2021 with respect to 2020. Are you seriously going to tell me that criticizing one of the highest paid public employees in Ohio, no matter how tough of a position he was in, is out of bounds when a program suddenly takes a 180 degree turn by several measures that is rarely seen in his first year?

As I said, I can be very analytical. I'm the last person to believe in karma. I am optimistic about next year but if did believe and saw someone take a self-righteous attitude like this, mostly without any real reason, then if any karma would make me suddenly expect another 3-9 season that would be it.

You forgot to mention all the people complaining about this year's bowl game.

Took me a long, long.... long time to just let the complainers complain. Still jump in to arguments too frequently for my blood pressure... But, lots of great fans and good discussions to follow on here as well.

Take deep breath, let it out, and stick around. And throw out an "you jerks need to get a life and be nicer" post like this one from time to time if it helps.

Y'all take this message board too seriously, good grief!

Maybe those that have hurt feelings should start their own Bobcat forum, where they can enjoy an echo chamber of positivity...

Shame! Shame! SHAME!

Mike: Thanks for reminding me of the horrendous details of that Wyoming loss. You're right that the untimely TO *definitely* cost us the game. As I think back to the game, with your description causing my synapses to start firing, I remember that my immediate reaction was that that TO cost us the game. Over the years, it had become a little fuzzy in my memory.

The ONLY shame any of you should feel is for buying or wearing O$U crap.