The three most unheralded coaches in Ohio State Football history
By Ryan Stano
The Ohio State football program was coming off another disappointing season in 2001. They had just spent more than a decade having great teams that couldn’t beat TTUN. That kept them from having a chance to win national championships despite having some of the greatest players in program history.
Out when John Cooper and in came Jim Tressel. Tressel’s famous speech during an Ohio State basketball game shortly after he was hired gave Buckeye fans hope that he truly understood the magnitude of The Game. Buckeye fans were certainly proud “310 days from now when we head up to Ann Arbor”.
Even so, Cooper coached some of the best Ohio State football teams of all time. His 1995 and 1998 teams are widely considered some of the best teams that the Buckeyes have ever assembled. He just couldn’t beat TTUN, or in those cases, Michigan State.
While Cooper was never able to win a national title, he still won a lot of games for the Buckeyes. He went 111-43-4 during his 13-year tenure with the Buckeyes. He still did a lot of good things for this program, including recruiting more national than previous coaches.
Cooper helped the Buckeyes be able to get good players from all over the country. That eventually helped the coaches that came after him too. They were just able to beat TTUN while Cooper couldn’t. It was a shame really.
The next coach on this list is actually one of the greatest coaches in Ohio State history, but he’s more well known for what he did at another school and the controversy that surrounds him now.