What Jim Tressel Did Better Than Urban Meyer

This isn’t some post game rant on how much I hate the Urban Meyer era at Ohio State, nor is it a knee-jerk reaction to the embarrassing loss to Iowa. As a matter of fact, I waited a few days to make sure my emotions weren’t a part of the upcoming story. Then I remembered I was dead on the inside, so I apologize for not posting the story sooner.

A buddy of mine and I were talking about the loss on Monday. Both of us lived through the Bruce and Cooper eras, so we had the coping skills to deal with the disappointment. We were calmly discussing the game that would qualify as illegal porn in 186 countries and I thought he made a valid point. Urban Meyer freaks out on the sideline and that’s probably not the best way to go about it when dealing with 20 year old kids.

J.T. Barrett may look like he is 40, and it seems like he has been around the program long enough to have been recruited by Carroll Widdoes, but in reality he is still a young man. Going into the game he had thrown one pick on the season. He threw 4 picks and looked rattled. His coach’s reaction on the sideline might have something to do with that.

I decided to scour hundreds of thousands of photos to illustrate my point since OTE “readers” learn best with images.

I found this image of Urban on the sideline of the Iowa game right after Barrett tied up the game after his original pick 6.

Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

I found this image of Urban Meyer losing his first coin toss while at Bowling Green.

Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

In my in depth scouring, I found this security camera image of Urban Meyer at Kroger when the lady in line in front of him needed a price check.

Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

In contrast, Jim Tressel at the moment Cie Grant knocked down the pass in the 2002 national championship game.

Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Here is a screen capture when he saw on twitter that his team had been trading memorabilia for tattoos.

Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

At the hospital witnessing the birth of his first grandchild.

Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Look, I like both coaches. I am extremely happy with the success of both. In their completely contrasting styles, I think both could learn from the other. It’s my hope that Urban Meyer coaches at Ohio State for a long time and that he picks up at least one trait from Tressel. I wish he would be able to shield his own players from his emotional state of mind, especially when that emotion is negative.

In other words, I would like Urban Meyer to develop a poker face.