In 28 years of coaching Ohio State football, Woody Hayes never had a team that lost as many as six games in a season. Nor did Earl Bruce in his nine seasons (1978-87) as Hayes’ successor.
But in the 12 seasons since he succeeded Bruce, John Cooper twice has suffered through six-loss seasons. And in Columbus, where Monday-morning quarterbacking can become vicious, the verb “suffered” is appropriate.
Cooper’s first six-loss season came in 1988, his first autumn with the Buckeyes. The other one was 1999 when the Buckeyes finished 6-6 overall, failed to receive a bowl bid, tied for eighth in the Big Ten with a 3-5 record and went zero for November with successive losses to Michigan State, Illinois and archrival Michigan.
This history lesson, plus Cooper’s head-to-head record of 2-9-1 vs. Michigan, tells what kind of an off-season it has been for the 62-year-old Tennessee native.
True, the six teams that beat the Buckeyes–Miami (Fla.), Wisconsin, Penn State, Michigan State, Illinois and Michigan–all went to bowl games, but that didn’t make the off-season any more enjoyable.
“None of us is happy about last year,” said Cooper, whose Buckeyes won 43 games and twice finished No. 2 in the nation in their four seasons preceding the 1999 fold. “We need to coach better and play better.”
Cooper made wholesale changes on his coaching staff. He promoted Fred Pagac, former Buckeyes and Bears overachiever, to assistant head coach. He appointed Chuck Stobart and Jon Tenuta offensive and defensive coordinators. He brought in George Belu from Wake Forest to coach the offensive line and Brian Williams from Pittsburgh to coach linebackers.
This revamped coaching staff may reach back to an old Buckeye success formula, one dear to the heart of Hayes, who used to preach, “Three things can happen when you put the ball in the air . . . and two of them are bad.”
Despite the presence of Reggie Germany and Ken-Yon Rambo, two of the speediest receivers in school history, OSU may feature a rerun of Hayes’ style of “three yards and a cloud of dust.”
“We want to play Ohio State football this fall,” Cooper said. “That means lining up and running the ball when we want to run it. We won’t rely so much on the big play as we have in the past, We may have been trying to hit too many home runs. We’ll try to hit more singles and doubles.”
Cooper’s 2000 Buckeyes have four ingredients for a successful running game: 6-foot 245-pound fullback Jamar Martin, a pair of 6-6 305-pound tackles in Tyson Walter and Henry Fleming, and Steve Bellisari, a rugged 220-pound running quarterback who lettered as a freshman strong safety.
“I like the challenge of proving people wrong and showing I can play quarterback,” said Bellisari, a left-handed engineering student from Boca Raton, Fla. “The off-season was difficult but that’s behind us. We’re no longer `frustrated’ or `angry.’ We’re anxious.”
Obviously Bellisari will fire some long passes toward Germany and Rambo. But those passes ideally will come after Martin’s line smashes or Bellisari’s option sweeps have the defense stacked to stop another run.
“We want Steve to get to the corner and spread the defense,” Stobart said. “He’s most effective that way.”
Stobart, 62, grew up in Ohio and graduated from Ohio University in 1959. He knows how Hayes’ fullbacks such as Matt Snell, Bob Ferguson, Jim Otis and Pete Johnson used to crunch off tackle on Hayes’ pet plays out of a full house T-formation with two tight ends.
Tim Spencer, a former Buckeyes tailback who currently coaches the running backs, also sees Martin in this role.
“He’s our bruiser, our enforcer,” Spencer said. “He really likes to hit people. I like his attitude.”
If Martin, Bellasari and speedy tailback Derek Combs can control the ball and bleed the clock, it will limit time and chances for opponents’ offensive units, thus easing the task of the Ohio State defense.
Another example of how far the Buckeyes slipped last year was that none made the coaches’ all-conference first team. Spirited defensive end Rodney Bailey, as well as Martin and offensive tackle Walter are candidates to make the team in 2000.
Cooper calls Ohio State’s kicking game, “by far my biggest concern.”
“We recruited a freshman [B.J. Sander] to punt last year, but he came here with a sore foot and wasn’t able to kick,” Cooper said. “Who ever heard of a punter with a sore foot?”
Sander appears healthy for 2000. If he can punt, Dan Stultz, who hit 12 of 16 field-goal tries, can concentrate on place-kicking.
