It’s that time of year again. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the countdown to Ohio State football practice has begun. Only 18 days remain until the walls of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center echo anew with the sounds of shoulder pads cracking. This, unfortunately, is also prime time for John Cooper bashers. They come out in droves every year. “Coop can’t win the big one,” they say. “Coop’s too old, Coop isn’t a big game coach, Coop’s daughter shouldn’t be on TV.”On and on and on. Almost every year the airwaves and internet chatrooms are full of “Coop is going to be fired” rumors. Coop won himself a respite with wins over Michigan in 1994 and 1998, and a Rose Bowl win in the 1996 season. After one bad season, the wolves are again at Coop’s door.The cry that frequently comes out of the anti-Cooper camp is the old “he can’t beat Michigan” number. In 1988, in his first season as coach, Cooper took a troubled OSU team (4-6-1) to the wire against a pretty good Wolverine team. The Bucks rallied from a 20-0 half-time deficit before falling 34-31 in the closing seconds. Was Cooper the one on the field who let Michigan’s, John Kolesar score in the closing seconds? Nope. In 1990, OSU needed a win over Michigan to go to the Rose Bowl. With the score tied at 13 and the ball in OSU territory, Cooper elected to go for it on the fourth down. OSU didn’t make it, and the Wolverines kicked a game-winning field goal with no time left on the clock. Is there anyone who wouldn’t have gone for it if they were in Coop’s shoes?In 1996, Shawn Springs fell down, allowing Tai Streets to streak for a long touchdown, completely changing the momentum of the game. Coop was hundreds of feet away. In 1997, Stanley Jackson went momentarily colorblind, handing Michigan an easy touchdown on an interception and throwing another one in the end zone. Coop didn’t tell him to do it.In 1999, Jonathan Wells was caught from behind on a 76-yard run, and stopped a few yards from the goal line. The Bucks failed to score. Had Wells taken a better angle, or had a little more gas in his tank, he would have made it to the end zone. If he’d gotten there, it would have been 21-7 in favor of OSU during the third quarter. Had Vanness Provitt hung on to the football in the fourth quarter, maybe OSU could have mounted a game-winning drive. Again, it wasn’t Coop’s fault.Somehow, Cooper manages to take all of the heat for the losses and he doesn’t get much credit for the big wins. People moan about his inability to “win the big one,” but Cooper is the only coach to win a Rose Bowl between a Big Ten and a Pac Ten team. Cooper is also the only coach to defeat three top-five teams in one season. In 1996, the Bucks knocked off Notre Dame (29-16), Penn State (38-7) and Arizona State (20-17). All three teams were ranked in the nation’s top-five at the time of the games. No one else, not Pop Warner, not Paul Brown, not even Woody Hayes ever did that. Cooper’s Buckeyes have beaten Syracuse, LSU, Notre Dame (twice), Washington (twice), Boston College (three times), Arizona (twice), Arizona State, and every Big Ten opponent at least twice.There is no reason for Cooper to be labeled, “on the hot seat.” Cooper should be allowed to coach the Buckeyes until he is ready to retire. When Cooper arrived on campus at Ohio State, the program was a mess. The 1987 team was expected to be a national championship contender, but Cris Carter’s disqualification for contact with an agent helped spell the end of Earle Bruce’s run. The Buckeyes missed a bowl in 1987, and finished in the AP top-10 only twice between 1980-1987. Cooper’s teams have been virtually scandal-free, and have finished among the top-10 in the polls five times in the last seven years. One bad season does not change that. Cooper deserves the support of Ohio State fans for restoring the program to its rightful place among the nation’s elite, not their scorn and derision.
Thomas Orr is a senior journalism major and the Lantern sports editor. He tore up his “Stanley Jackson Fan Club” membership card in Ann Arbor in 1997.