[Fwd: Re: [Husker] Ohio hires Solich]

[Scott Titsworth]

Hello to everyone from beautiful Athens, Ohio.  There are several NU 
alums here at OHIO and we now have good reason to purchase season 
tickets to OU football games.  I'll try to provide some context and 
reaction on the hire.  First, OU has firmly been a basketball school 
since Danny Nee's days here (the irony of us "stealing" Solich away from 
NU has not escaped several of the folks around here).  Our former coach, 
Brian Knorr, was a good guy with a great graduation rate who could just 
not win.  We hired a new president last summer--an alum of OU--who 
publically stated that strong athletic programs compliment strong 
academics.  The president has also stated that his objective is to make 
OHIO known for excellence nationally, and I suspect that hiring a "big 
name" coach is part of that vision. Traditionally speaking, the Bobcats 
have been a triple option team although last year they replaced the OC 
and brought in a spread offense guy.  That transition was a little less 
painful than the WCO transition at NU because they actually have a 
decent QB.  The strength of the 2004 squad was defense, however. 

Based on fan reaction this hiring decision is characterized as nothing 
short of a miracle.  For a school who has been down in the dumps about 
football for quite a while, bagging Frankie is seen as a coup of 
dramatic proportions.  The alums on the message boards are calling for a 
check writing campaign to support the program and the $150 price tag for 
the PREMIUM seats in Peden stadium seems pretty cheap to most of us now 
(that includes the requisite "donation" by the way!).  In short, people 
are REALLY PUMPED by this.  Speculation has already started about the 
assistants.  Everyone has their fingers crossed about Turner and a few 
have even figured out the connection to Marvin Sanders and desire that 
possibility.  Some have even mentioned Bo's brother on the defensive 
side of the ball (I'll take credit for that prediction if it happens :)  
because of his recent Ohio connections.  Speculation of another "big 
name" in the assistants ranks comes from two sources.  One, a person on 
the Bobcat board "heard a rumor" of a "major twist" in the hire.  This 
twist was implied to be one of the assistants.  Second, the few public 
statements from our AD on this search/hiring process suggested that they 
were aware that they needed to spend $$$ to get a great coach and "top 
quality" assistants.  So, everyone is reading into that the conclusion 
that one or more of the assistants might be people with experience from 
NU. 

The press conference is at 1:00 our time today and I plan on attending.  
I'll try to provide a summary of that for the list.  And, by the way, I 
am not surprised that Frankie fell in love the the job once he visited 
Athens.  You would be very hard pressed to find a more picturesque 
location to live, the stadium is small but has a "WOW" factor of 10+, 
and the president is fired up about raising the spirit of OU.  People 
come here and fall in love with the place.

GBR; Go 'Cats
Scott

jonlists wrote:

>Ohio's had two winning seasons since 1982. I would guess that they have a 
>different attitude towards what constitutes "success" than Nebraska fans. 
>
>In hiring Solich, maybe they figured they were hiring and good coach some 
>longetivity - at this point in his career, I doubt that Solich is going to 
>jump to another job if he has any success at Ohio. 
>
>And Frank has returned to his roots. 
>
>I'm wondering if there are still a couple of Husker alums that are 
>currently Profs at Ohio U still on the list.........  comments from them? 
>
>Jon Johnston
>Creative Business Solutions
>IBM,Microsoft, Novell/Suse, Sophos Consultants
>http://www.cbsol.com
>952-544-1108 
>Blog: http://bingo.cbsol.com
>
>  
>
>  
>

-- 
Ohio University - Home <http://www.ohio.edu> 	 

Dr. Scott Titsworth
Basic Course Director
School of Communication Studies
Ohio University
43 W. Union
Athens, OH  45701

Office: 740.593.9160
Home: 740.594.8997
Fax: 740.593.4810

 

	Editor, Basic Communication Course Annual

The Basic Communication Course Annual is sponsored by the Basic Course 
Division of NCA. The Annual publishes original research, best practice 
case studies, and critical essays related to communication pedagogy in 
the basic course.

Yahoo! IM: titswor
View my Calendar: http://calendar.yahoo.com/titswor

 

For information about the Ph.D., MA, or undergraduate programs in the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University, please visit our website at:
http://www.coms.ohiou.edu


-- 
Ohio University - Home <http://www.ohio.edu> 	 

Dr. Scott Titsworth
Basic Course Director
School of Communication Studies
Ohio University
43 W. Union
Athens, OH  45701

Office: 740.593.9160
Home: 740.594.8997
Fax: 740.593.4810

 

	Editor, Basic Communication Course Annual

The Basic Communication Course Annual is sponsored by the Basic Course 
Division of NCA. The Annual publishes original research, best practice 
case studies, and critical essays related to communication pedagogy in 
the basic course.

Yahoo! IM: titswor
View my Calendar: http://calendar.yahoo.com/titswor

 

For information about the Ph.D., MA, or undergraduate programs in the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University, please visit our website at:
http://www.coms.ohiou.edu