And before everyone else rears their ugly heads on this one......how many MAC Titles does Ohio have in these 10 years?

I don't know what we should expect... i badly want to see that mac title, but I also realize that we greatly outperform our budget/ resources. If doing this is easy why can't everyone? The lack of a mac title is frustrating as hell not just because we haven't won it but in those years when the mediocre team sneaks in then pulls off the upset, like Miami buffalo and Akron have done in the past decade. (Not referring to buffalo this year, they went 10-2 and earned the trip no matter how badly we beat them)

These are just 2 data points. A small (and sometimes vocal) group places the lack of MAC title as a key indicator of failure. I think most observers see the ten years of bowl eligibility as a key indicator of success. It is all about how much weight you place on either. There is no right or wrong answer.

Personally, I look at the situation in three ways:

If you told me when Frank took the job this is what we would get, would I be satisfied? I would.

Are we more likely to win a title in the next five years with Frank or a replacement? I will stick with Frank.

Is this program more likely to tank in the next five years under Frank or a replacement? I look at BGSUcks and can say any MAC really good program can be sunk by one coach--I don't see the Cats not being competitive with Frank.

I don't claim my viewpoint is correct for everyone else.

To address the "funding/budget" issue that some use on this Board as an excuse, here are the numbers for the budgets of all the MAC football programs for 2016-17 as reported by the U.S. Department of Education. These numbers are for football only and no other sport.

1. Ohio $10,134,888.00
2. Toledo $10,046,711.00
3. Miami $9,346,412.00
4. Eastern Michigan $9,033,503.00
5. Western Michigan $8,667,334.00
6. Northern Illinois $8,035,152.00
7. Buffalo $7,796,405.00
8. Akron $7,253,770.00
9. Central Michigan $7,233,254.00
10. Ball State $7,044,512.00
11. Kent State $6,861,750.00
12. Bowling Green $6,537,321.00

F.Y.I. - WMU went undefeated this year until they played Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl losing 24-16. Their record was 13-1 and included a MACC and also an appearance in a New Year's Day bowl game. They did so spending approximately $1,467,554.00 less than we did.

We have made excuses for the last 7 years, we need to win a MAC. We play in the MAC East and have a coach that coached in a NATIONAL Championship game, 6 should be gimme every year.

Interesting discussions in the sports press this weekend regarding decisions to give Lovie Smith a two year extension at Illinois and the news that Clay Helton will be back at USC for at least another year. In contrast is Kingsbury's dismissal from Texas Tech as the head coach. The one theme that keeps coming up is the importance of consistency in a program over time vs. the continued pursuit of winning now no matter what the cost.

How this applies directly to Ohio is that the Bobcats under Solich are consistently putting a solid team out on the gridiron and that such consistency appears to be leading to improved chances to advance this program as opposed to, say, scrap the whole thing and start anew. Not only is Ohio Football greatly raising the program's winning percentage, but there are noticeable improvements in terms of sports related facilities, infrastructure, and the quality of talent that is being recruited to Athens as evidenced by the growing number of players that are now attracting notice from the likes of the NFL.

I wonder if Nebraska would have been better served to have kept Solich over time rather than their continued search for a coach that will eventually bring back the magic of yesteryear?

I'd like to see a plot of avg. spending and avg. Sagarin ranking over a 5 year period. It would be interesting to see who is most effectively using their money.

Also, when considering football budget, this money includes the scholarships, right? We cost more than most, probably except for Miami and Buffalo. So some of that cost for scholarships doesn't necessarily mean more football spending.

Miami, Northern then us. On aveage we are less than $2,000 more than the other schools so that only works out to $170,000 at most.

Does it really matter what Ohio is paying their assistants?

Burrow and Albin aren't leaving. No one is coming after them either.

They are 100% content with the status quo in terms of salary and job security.

Until Frank gets in the market to replace either of them, Ohio assistant coaching salaries is a moot point.