All three coaches that won 100+ games at OU should get plaques at the stadium with the names of the assistants that coached under them and AP All American players noted along with other national award winners. That is only fitting and a better sell point than marketing yourself as a cradle of coaches where they moved on from Miami and did their work somewhere else. Peden, Hess and Solich did their work right here in Athens. Only G5 to have three 100 game winners. Put that in every game notes.

Who said fire an entire staff? I think all I said was that Tim Albin should not have been hired. Was he the only assistant available after Frank stepped down?

Albin was the associate head coach, had been an assistant at Ohio for 17 years, and was Frank's recommendation for his successor. Are you suggesting the AD should have promoted a different assistant coach over Albin? Which one? How do you suppose the internal dynamics of that situation would play out? And if you as the AD pick a different assistant, against Frank's recommendation, and the situation unravels and/or he just fails, you're going to get fired, right?

WHAT are you talking about? Bill Hess get cancer in 1970? His teams in the early and mid 70's got curb stomped by Miami, Kent State, Toledo and just about the remainder! Hess started the Wilderness Years! When did leaving at half time after the 110 show start anyway? Heck, Marshall after the accident didn't take long to give them a game.

Better to retire when you are ahead of the game than to stick around and become mediocre at best on a good Saturday!

It is easy to say we should not have hired Albin after being upset that Ohio only won 3 games. The not so easy question is what exactly should we have done. Doing anything but hiring Albin at that point was pretty unrealistic.

You stated earlier should have had a national search. NO ONE would come in from the outside and accept an intact staff and 6 weeks to get ready for week one. Hence the new outsider would bring in his own people. Of which, would all be u see contract elsewhere

Here's a way of looking at Ohio's football history:

Don Peden 121-46-11 .711
Frank Solich 115-82-0 .584
Art McFarland 13-10-1 .563
Russ Finsterwald 13-10-1 .563
Matt Banks 22-17-2 .561
Bill Hess 108-91-4 .542
Carroll Widdoes 42-36-5 .536
Jim Grobe 33-33-1 .500
Brian Burkes 31-34-1 .477

21 Other Coaches 86-217-22 .298

So, excluding the few coaches who have coached 20+ games, and have winning records, the median is about .298. Where does Albin rank? He's at 0.250, under than average, just ahead of Knorr at .239, and well ahead of Cleve at .182 and Lichtenberg at .145. I doubt that if Albin's record doesn't improve substantially that he will get to coach the ~50 games that those three coached (Lichtenberg 55 games, Bryant 55 games, Knorr 46 games). My guess is that if Albin goes:
1. Nine wins or better, he is retained
2. Seven or eight wins he probably stays
3. Four wins or less, he's gone
4. Five wins, he's probably gone
5. Six wins, it's a tossup, and depends on how the team looks, and on things such as whether the team is improving as the year progresses.

I have read “Bobcatattack” for many years. I have never responded to a comment before today. But, after reading the comments associated with this topic, I must respond.
It has been suggested that my sister Lauren and I are dissatisfied with the Athletic Department. This suggestion is incorrect. Our father is in the Kermit Blosser Ohio Athletics Hall of Fame as well as the Mid American Conference Hall of Fame. In addition, the 1960 Football Team was the first team to be inducted into the Kermit Blosser Ohio Athletics Hall of Fame. We were recently informed our father will be recognized for his 20 years of service to his alma mater during Homecoming this year, even though such recognition is not necessary.
Our father received numerous awards during his life time. He was awarded the Silver Star for his service as a leader of an underwater demolition unit during the invasion of Okinawa in WWII and was inducted into the UDT-SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Florida because of his service. He was nominated for “Large College” National Coach of the Year in 1960, even though the team was named National Small College Champions. He was named “Ohio Coach of the Year” in 1960 and 1968 and the MAC Coach of the Year in 1968. [It is my understanding the MAC Coach of the Year trophy is named after our father following his death.]. Finally, he received the “Governor’s Award” in 1970 because of “good will trips” to Vietnam in February 1968 and February 1969 with Coach Woody Hayes. All of these awards were associated with “team first”. He was devoted to “the team”and he never thought of placing himself before “the team”.
In respect to naming the field after Coach Solich, Lauren and I cannot think of a better person to receive this recognition. Coach Solich was an excellent coach and leader, and is the winningest coach in MAC history. More importantly, he is an outstanding individual.
One final comment.
A commentator has suggested the “Wilderness Years” started with our father. The commentator states how Ohio “got stomped by Miami, Kent State, Toledo, and just about the remainder.” Even though he was named “UPI National Coach of the Week” following Ohio’s victory over Northwestern in 1973, I will be the first to admit the overall win-loss record from 1970 through 1977 was not up to his standards. During that time period the Bobcats finished from T-2nd to last in the MAC. Ohio’s win-loss record against Miami, Kent State, and Toledo during that period was 3-5, 5-3, and 2-6, respectively. But, one should remember Miami was ranked in the Top 15 in the country during 1973-75, Kent State had one excellent year, and Toledo was 35-0 from 1969-71. And, in the first game of the 1977 season at least 7 starters were injured, most of the them lost for the majority of the season.
It is easy to base opinion just looking at records. But, I suggest one has to go “behind” the records to arrive at a fair and just conclusion.
GO BOBCATS!-Tom Hess

I always wonder if Brian Burke had been given another couple years if we might have avoided what came next with Cleve and Lichty.

Great post. Some posters here don't like to deal with all the facts. I was on campus during your Dad's later years in the mid 70's and appreciate not just the W-L records but the entire Peden experience back in the day.

That’s a good point. I’ve wondered that also. His record was kind of declining when he was fired, but he never approached the total incompetence to follow. Also, there were some better candidates than Cleve in the field, but they were not hired. Truth in packaging forces me to admit that I was strongly in Cleve’s camp when he was hired. In fact, I had written a memo to the AD informing him that Cleve would be a good choice when the selection committee was being formed. I erred by equating good player with good coach. I’m older and wiser now.

Tom, thanks so much for posting this and for putting things in perspective. I personally have no doubt that if your father had not succumbed to cancer in 1978, he would have righted the ship. His whole career he kept coming back from adversity. He was never down for long.

Let me add that as a young student sports reporter for WOUB I had occasion to interview your father for a pre-season piece we were putting together. This would have been before the 1963 season, as I recall. I was very nervous to be interviewing the head coach. Your father immediately put me at ease by answering my haltering questions in a most professional manner. He treated me like I was a seasoned pro, rather than a neophyte who was conducting his first interview with a head coach. By the end of the interview, which I was taping, I felt much more confident and professional myself. Looking back on that experience, it’s obvious what your father had done. He had turned my interview into a learning experience for me. He was an educator, and he was educating me on how to conduct an interview. I submit that that there are few head football coaches who would have had both the ability and the wisdom to handle the situation the way he did. It is an experience I’ll always remember and remember with fondness. Somewhere I think.I still have that old tape. I’ll have to try to dig it out, and see if it still is playable.

Your father was not only a great coach, a great leader of men, he was also a great person with compassion and understanding. He was an extremely loyal OHIO alumnus. Growing up in Athens he was one of my role models along with Gentleman Jim Snyder.