That is a remarkable run of non-suckitude. Is it more that Ohio State is inherently a place where any competent coach not named Fickell in his first season can drop in and start cranking out winning seasons, or that Ohio State has had preposterously good fortune in choosing head coaches?
First, as we have discussed before, Ohio State is the most consistent of the helmets and by a large margin.
Second, I didn't want to knock Fickell, I think the circumstances were rough and he was probably not quite ready. If Tressel had lasted another decade and retired on his own terms then Fickell may very well have seamlessly followed him. Fickell's success at Cincy lends credence to this theory.
Finally, I just can't believe that Ohio State has been THAT lucky in coaching hires. Obviously Hayes, Tressel, and Meyer are all-time greats but I do not think the same of Cooper and Bruce and both of them did very well at Ohio State. Ultimately I think that Ohio State is in a VERY good situation being the ONLY helmet program in a large population state with a lot of good football recruits. Thus, a reasonably competent coach should basically go around maybe .700 or better.
Another interesting past coach of Ohio State is Paul Brown. I've said before that he was the best coach to ever coach in the league but he isn't even in the top-10 in all-time great coaches in our league, allow me to explain:
IMHO, Paul Brown is the greatest football coach ever (or on the short list for that honor). They may be mythical, but Paul Brown won FOUR HS NC's before his 33rd birthday. Then, while still in his early 30's he started coaching Ohio State and promptly led the Buckeyes to their first NC in his second season.
Had WWII not intervened, Paul Brown may have stayed at Ohio State for decades and would today be viewed as tOSU's Bear or Woody but that didn't happen. After winning the NC in 1942 Paul Brown's draft (war not NFL) depleted Buckeyes staggered to 3-6 in 1943 and then Paul Brown himself got drafted and spent the next two years coaching Great Lakes Navy which had a pretty good record.
After the war he took over coaching the Cleveland Browns where he won the AAFC title game his first four years then, after the NFL merger, his Browns teams played in the first six post-merger NFL Championship games (3-3). They missed the CG in 1956 then lost two more in 1957 and 1958.
Paul Brown was just a phenomenal football coach at the HS, College, and Professional levels. However, I think that his short tenure of only three years precludes him from being considered among the greatest coaches in history of the league (or Ohio State for that matter).
When Paul Brown left Ohio State, Carroll Widdoes replaced him and was seen at the time as a temporary coach just filling the position until Brown's inevitable return. When Brown didn't return post-war the Buckeyes ended up going through three coaches in seven years before hiring some guy named Woody from Miami, OH for the 1951 season.
