Thursday, August 2, 2018

Urban Meyer-Stay or go?

I'm still sick, but as good as I've been for a while and I really wanted to dig into those baseball deadline dealings where the Indians were surprisingly mostly silent and it was the Pirates (?) that made the explosive moves.

That was until this morning when more of the Zach Smith drama in Columbus dribbled along and then erupted with a force that left Urban Meyer on "Administrative Leave" and offensive coordinator Ryan Day in charge as the temporary head coach.

I'm not going to get into details about what Urban Meyer knew and when did he know and I'll skip the Howard Baker voice as well, but the interesting thing to think about is this- Has Urban Meyer coached his final game at Ohio State?
How about Perhaps?

Clearly, if it can be proven that Meyer knew about the Zach Smith accusations from 2015, he's gone.
In these days and times, something like that means instant dismissal.
However, what if Urban Meyer isn't connected to actually knowing by text, email. another person, etc and his wife Shelley backs up that claim with a statement that she never told him despite her knowing?
If that scenario occurs, that is the avenue that could see Urban Meyer retain his position.
After all, it would be difficult to fire a person for not knowing that someone on their staff could have been a domestic abuser although no charges had been filed against that assistant and should OSU try and it is proved that indeed Meyer didn't know anything, Ohio State could be on the hook for the lawsuit of the century.

Here's another problem- with the selection of Ryan Day as the interim coach for possibly the 2018 season over more established candidates Greg Schiano and Kevin Wilson, the Buckeyes might have made their choice- for good or bad, for the duration.
The 2018 Buckeyes are going to be very talented.
Talented to the point of anything less than 11-1 might be looked at as a disappointing season and how on earth could you fire a coach that finishes with that record under these conditions?
Nothing against Ryan Day and I'm open to changing my mind, but I've seen nothing that makes me think that he would be my top choice as the next Buckeye head coach,
Not saying that it has to stay that way, but it wouldn't be that currently.

Another problem is 11-1 likely gives Day the job, but 8-4 is a bad year with this talent and means a new coach would likely be hired.
However, can that coach keep together what looks like another super recruiting class?
So, what would be a record that would be acceptable enough yet still consider other candidates?
I'd say 9-3 if that includes a Michigan victory.
That might be good enough to consider Day, but enough that the usual level of excellence had fallen short to open the job interviews to the outside.
Keep in mind that a similar situation occurred last year at Colorado with the Buffalo's coach keeping his job, although the social climate has changed over the last year and clearly Colorado isn't Ohio State as far prestige goes, but some precedent has been set.

Not sure how this plays out, but the longer this game is played, the more it favors Urban Meyer keeping his job.

Back later with finally some trade thoughts.

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