Tom O'Brien - Next Coach for Ohio State?

With the "resignation" of coach Jim Tressel - Ohio State is in turmoil. You can forget the talk about Urban Myer. There's no way he's going to a program that is bound to be hit with worse sanctions that what USC was just hit with. Luke Fickell? That makes a certain amount of sense but he has two major negatives against him - he has never been a 1-A head coach and he was part of the institution that exhibited such a lack of control in the first place.

I think in order for Ohio State to right this ship they will have to go outside the program and what better man for this job than Tom O'Brien?

O'Brien has been in this situation before. He took over at BC after a gambling scandal that rocked the program. O'Brien not only restored the pride in the program - he also turned it into a perennial Top 25 team that was bowl bound every season. In addition to making BC a program that routinely sent 1st round picks to the NFL - he also made sure BC was a program that graduated its players. He then took over a moribund NC State program and last year led them to a 9-4 record and a victory in a bowl game plus a final ranking in the Coaches and AP Top 25.

Keep in mind that O'Brien is a former Marine who is drill instructor tough. There may be no man in college football who can match him for integrity, toughness and success. With Ohio State under NCAA sanctions they will have to get used to the second tier of recruits - the kind of recruits O'Brien has shown he can win with at BC and NC State. On top of everything else - Tom O'Brien is from Ohio. He was born in Cincinnati.

I haven't heard or seen anyone mentioning Tom O'Brien to Ohio State - so I wanted to note it here so that you will remember where you read this sort of outside the box thinking first.

As an aside - someone hacked Tom O'Brien's Wikipedia page and added this little nugget:

According to many legitimate sources it was actually him O'Brien who saved the world from apocalypse and not Jesus, many people have also said that he once culled over 4,000 Iranian children.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Just saying but Richard Nixon saying "I am not a crook" became a punchline - so too will Jim Tressel saying "I am not a cheat"... A chart of which voice actor does which character on The Simpsons... The things you learn on the Internet (via Mental Floss): "In 1970, Portland fans voted to name their new NBA team the Pioneers. Since a local college was using that name, Trail Blazers was selected"... What marshmallow peeps do the other 364 days a year... I'm pretty sure that the girls on either side of the Most Interesting Man in the World in the Dos Equis beer commercials don't speak English (not that it really matters)... Fan offers Cam Newton $1 million to take lie detector test... Piers Morgan is reportedly down to just 265,000 viewers. I'm pretty sure that re-runs of Larry King could beat that... It has been 25 years to the day that the accident happened at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant causing the worst nuclear disaster in history...

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thoughts I's share.

- I love photos of awesome libraries but this list is incomplete without the Library of Congress.

- If Jim Tressel keeps his job then Ohio State is devoid of integrity (yes I'm still bitter about how they dismissed Jim O'Brien)

- I would seriously love to live in this building just because it looks so cool

- 40 soldiers to a damn fine thing for a very sick little boy

- Awesome picture of the Sun

- Best opening for any episode of The Wire

- "Since 2006, the NCAA has sanctioned 27 schools for bylaw 10.1 ... Of the 12 coaches involved, only one kept his job."

- I remember the day I came out as Welsh

Greetings from Ohio

Yesterday was what I'd call a "travel day". The most part of the day was spent either flying from Providence to Pittsburgh or driving from Pittsburgh to Columbus.

Wait - what? Driving from Pittsburgh to Columbus? Isn't that like flying into Boston just to drive down to New York City? Well - yes. But I have my reasons. The rest of my week is to be spent in the Pittsburgh area - and heck - I don't mind driving.

I do mind being tired and yesterday I was tired. Monday night I stayed up to watch the Steelers and Browns and I also stayed up to re-read the first Harry Potter book. Like driving from Pittsburgh to Columbus - re-reading a book you've read several times already on a night when you need your sleep because you're leaving for the airport at 6:30 am doesn't seem to make sense. Unlike the driving decision - I really can't explain this one. OCD maybe? I picked up the book and I just had to finish it.

The sports talk in Pittsburgh was about Ben Roethlisberger and his right shoulder. If this was politics - they would be calling it "shoulder-gate". Does Big Ben have a slightly separated shoulder? How could all of the reporters and bloggers in Steelers obsessed Pittsburgh have missed this story? The team is basically dismissing the NBC report. I actually feel bad for NBC. Roethlisberger told them he had a slightly separated shoulder - what are they expect to do?

The sports talk in Columbus is of course all about the ass-kicking the Ohio State Buckeyes received Saturday night at the hands of USC. The finger of blame is being pointed all over the place. Talk about fickle fans. Firing Jim Tressel won't change the fact that USC was just the better team. Having Chris Wells in the line-up wouldn't have changed that fact either. Can't Buckeye fans just accept that their team maybe isn't the greatest team in all of the land? From what I've heard on sports radio - I think not.

One observation to make from Saturday's ass-whipping. I can't help but think Michigan made the right move to go with Rich Rodriguez and his speed oriented offense. You saw what speed can do on Saturday. Even though Michigan may be down for a few years - if Rodriguez can get the speed he wants at the skill positions then Ohio State is in trouble.

If Michigan can get the type of speed Rodriguez wants and they start beating Ohio State with it - then you'll really start to hear the "fire Jim Tressel" demands. And maybe then they'll be warranted.