We got what we wished for.


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By Susan on 18:59:29 10/17/01

Think back to Jan. 2, 2001. The elation whizzing throughout the Buckeye Nation when that one little "F" word rang out over the airwaves.. FIRED! John Cooper has been fired.

We got what we wished for.

The weeks following.....an emotional roller coaster. Which coach? Who do we want? The rumors....Stoops, Gruden, Bellotti..... The anticipation of who would be named reached an all-time high. The message boards and chatroom were overflowing with opinions. Cases were made for Spielman, Mason, Pugac, and Walt Harris. We yearned for the ONE who knows what Buckeye Football means. The ONE who understands. The ONE who would bring discipline, dignity and hope back to the OSU football program. We longed for a coach who would seek out youngsters who were not only top athletes, but also top-notch citizens as well. Along comes Jim Tressel.

We got what we wished for.

The love affair began. We all became enamored with and developed an admiration for our new head coach. His comments that day in the Schottenstein Center blew us away. Finally!! Someone who knows the meaning of THE GAME!

We got what we wished for.

The Tressel Express had left the station. Never once did he promise no bumps along the way, yet we are to believe there'd be no major derailments. Buckeye fans everywhere were encouraging the skeptics to hop aboard. The ride's gonna be a great one! In a span of 2 weeks, JT managed to salvage what should have been a disastrous recruiting class and managed to convince Fox, Gamble, Ross, Chattams and Mo Hall to be Buckeyes. Looking back, I remember fellow fans with faint hopes of landing at least 2 of those 5. " We'll be thrilled to get at least 2!" Now, he's on track to welcoming the number 1 class nationally into his family and he's not even done yet.

We got what we wished for.

Do you remember, over the summer, the many messages from posters going something like this? "It's impossible to be victorious every Saturday afternoon, but with Tressel, we'll lose with dignity." "Win or lose. We'll be proud of our team." We expect good sportsmanship and class from our Buckeyes.

We got what we wished for.

Last Saturday was a perfect example. No doubt the loss was frustrating and tough to take for members of the team. To let the game slip away by not being able to overcome the adversity of the 2nd half had to weigh heavily on each and every Buckeye shoulder. And how did they react? By calmly walking up to Barry's boys who were dancing on our "O" and proceeded to shake hands with their foe. Amazing! The same fans expecting the team to lose with dignity don't demand the same for themselves. It's quite undignified to boo the players.
The Buckeye football program was in dire need of a miracle worker and someone who could work wonders with a certain quarterback. I agree. Steve played like crap in the 2nd half last Saturday, and we armchair quarterbacks who think we have all the answers, really don't. Jim Tressel is not the only coach who thought Steve could be successful under center. Somehow, some way Steve has shown promise. Are we to believe that he could fool 3 different QB coaches and 2 head coaches? Are we the QB gurus and 5 college football coaches are idiots? I'm not sure I totally understand the reasons for keeping him in there, but I do know this. His teammates look up to him. They like him. He's a leader and a hard worker. Now before you jump on that statement with, "A leader would've driven the team to the end zone and won the game," let me say this. It takes more than completing passes to determine leadership. I doubt anyone was complaining about Steve's play after he led the team to a 17pt advantage and he didn't singlehandedly relinquish 20 points to Wisconsin either. Yes, he made many mistakes, but so did others and that's where the coaches come in. They'll use the films to teach, to correct, to improve the play each week. We will get better. I have to believe the Tressel's decisions about who plays where will give us the best chance to win. Isn't that what we wanted?

We got what we wished for.

Finally. Didn't we long for a coach who in the face of adversity and challenge, would possess the tools to lead his troops through the storm? Ok. So you can say, "Well, he didn't do that very well last Saturday." No he didn't, but, think about it. Tressel's goal to create a sense of family, one that helps and supports each other, is still out there. Strides have been made in 8 short months but to weld that chemistry between coaches and players takes longer than that. Last weekend, his "family" didn't respond well in the throes of difficulty. He needs more time to instill his expectations on how to react. How to trust each other. Winning is hard to do. My guess is that he'll use this loss to begin again more intelligently. How he, the other coaches and the players respond to the loss will give us another glimpse of the brightened future.

We got what we wished for.

Didn't we hope for a coach who can win big games, Big 10 Titles and National Championships? The building blocks for success are in place. The foundation has been set. The construction has begun. The finishes touches will take time. We need to be patient and enjoy the wins and not destroy the Buckeye family atmosphere with all the negativity and bashing that abounds. To attain success, one must know what he's doing, enjoy what he's doing, have passion and believe in what he's doing. Jim Tressel exemplifies those qualities. There's no denying that he is a man of conviction. Jim Tressel and conviction is a mix with nothing but good results.

We got what we wished for and I'm so happy we did.


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