Hire a Special Teams Coach Tress

• Tiernan

  OSU has to be the only D1 team in the nation that does not have a designated Special Teams Coach. Tress has long believed that all the position coaches split responsibility for coaching the STs. The KOR on Sat. didn't win the game for Wis. but it set off a nuke charge inside a stadium already to explode. Momentum is a huuuge factor in CFB. That KOR was like a first round knock-down in a prize fight...the guy gets up but you know it's only a matter of time before he goes down for good.
  
  Reach in your wallet and hire an ST coach Tress...you are making yourself look almost as dumb as RR.
• j_crazy

  

  yeah they got to do something. special teams is one of the weaknesses of this year's teams, but in year's past it really hasn't been. i think the philosophy is the same, but the players are different. IMO it's more of an attitude thing than a coaching thing.
• vball10set

  If there was ever a season where this is more evident, it's this one...Coach Tressel stresses the importance of special teams, yet doesn't have someone designated to coach them. Special teams were a deciding factor in the game against Wisconsin, and very well could have affected the outcome versus Miami.
  
  Get a special teams coach, coach..it's way overdue
• WebFire

  I don't think many teams have a dedicated ST only coach, do they? I know Michigan doesn't. Their special teams coach is the defensive backs coach.
  
  I think I'd trade OSU special teams right now though.
• Tiernan

  I agree Jc...the players themselves should take more pride in being part of the STs. Back when I played and coached, the STs were like kamikazees, going full speed into the action and sacrificing your body for the team. Many times STs are primarily 2nd team kids who are hungry to get coaches to take another look and they go "balls to the wall". But somebody has to be accountable for the STs personnel and strategies. Right now the Bucks are not getting this done and Sat night it hurt them in a big way. Something many of us kept saying since game 1...theis ST situation is gonna bite you in the ass Tress whe you finally play a big time opponent.
• Tiernan

  WebFire;523834 wrote:I don't think many teams have a dedicated ST only coach, do they? I know Michigan doesn't. Their special teams coach is the defensive backs coach.
  
  I think I'd trade OSU special teams right now though.

  Web...I'm sure not gonna knock your boys in any way today after the beating we took on Sat. But...if its true UM doesn't have a ST coach...that is almost a reason For OSU to have one.
• WebFire

  Tiernan;523836 wrote:Web...I'm sure not gonna knock your boys in any way today after the beating we took on Sat. But...if its true UM doesn't have a ST coach...that is almost a reason For OSU to have one.

  
  Like I said, I think I'd trade right now. Though Michigan's biggest issue on ST is the kicking. There isn't anything you can do to fix that when you just have bad kickers. KO and punt coverage has been fine. Not much going in the return department but they aren't fumbling them away this year.
• FatHobbit

  

  Meh. Typically OSU has great special teams. This year they are bad, but I don't really think you need to throw everything out just because it's not working this year. Maybe if the current coaches didn't have a track record of producing good special teams I could see it, but they do. No need to over react. Just need to get it fixed.
• thedynasty1998

  

  Yea, this season is strange in terms of special teams. Tressel prides himself on great special teams and I can't ever remember them having such bad special teams. It's not like they don't have the depth and overall talent where there are not talented players on the special teams units. It does seem like a poor scheme.
• se-alum

  

  The kickers have to get plenty of blame here to. Basil is way too inconsistent. He doesn't kick directionally and the hang time on some of his kicks is horrible. It's not easy to stop a guy when he has the opportunity to catch the ball in the middle of the field and is already at full speed by the time the defense gets to him. The coverage certainly hasn't been good either.
• vball10set

  I may be wrong, but it seems like all the big returns are right up the middle (where the wedge is designed to guide the return man)--and we keep getting beat right there...that tells me that our outside guys are staying in their lanes, but out wedge busters aren't getting to the ball carrier--attitude??
• krambman

  

  I'm pretty sure that very few teams have a coach who deals solely with special teams. Almost every team designates another position coach as the special teams coach (when he was first hired Luke Fickel was a position coach and special teams) or they split different aspects of special teams up among various position coaches. There's no need to hire someone to coach what amounts to about 5% of the game. Since this is the first time in 10 seasons that OSU has had poor special teams it's obvious that it has a lot more to do with execution and the players on the field than the coaches. They didn't suddenly stop practicing special teams or forget how to coach it.
• vball10set

  I would assume OSU has someone designated as the special teams coach, but is not listed here--anyone know who IS designated the STC ?
  
  http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17300&SPID=10408&SPSID=87747
• se-alum

  

  vball10set;523862 wrote:I would assume OSU has someone designated as the special teams coach, but is not listed here--anyone know who IS designated the STC ?
  
  http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17300&SPID=10408&SPSID=87747

  Shared responsibility among the position coaches from what I have gathered.
• Tiernan

  Tressel has long stated that ALL coaches have responsibility for the STs. Nobody specific named. DB Coach has PR, OB Coach has KOR, DL Coach has KO...etc. This is not the standard practice at most D1 schools.
• FatHobbit

  

  Tiernan;523897 wrote:Tressel has long stated that ALL coaches have responsibility for the STs. Nobody specific named. DB Coach has PR, OB Coach has KOR, DL Coach has KO...etc. This is not the standard practice at most D1 schools.

  
  Why do we have to do what other schools do? Especially since, until this year, it has worked pretty well.
• thedynasty1998

  

  FatHobbit;523899 wrote:Why do we have to do what other schools do? Especially since, until this year, it has worked pretty well.

  
  If it's not broke, don't fix it; would explain the past. But it's currently broke, so fix it ASAP.
• krambman

  

  FatHobbit;523899 wrote:Why do we have to do what other schools do? Especially since, until this year, it has worked pretty well.

  
  Exactly. This is why I said that it's the players fault for not executing, not the coaches. It's worked very well for the past nine years, clearly the problem isn't with the method but the execution. Now, that doesn't mean that things don't need to be re-evaluated, and since what they're doing clearly isn't working (we're more than halfway through the season now) then some kind of change (with who's on the field for special teams, who's coaching special teams, or how it's coached), needs to be made.
• FatHobbit

  

  thedynasty1998;523903 wrote:If it's not broke, don't fix it; would explain the past. But it's currently broke, so fix it ASAP.

  krambman;523905 wrote:Exactly. This is why I said that it's the players fault for not executing, not the coaches. It's worked very well for the past nine years, clearly the problem isn't with the method but the execution. Now, that doesn't mean that things don't need to be re-evaluated, and since what they're doing clearly isn't working (we're more than halfway through the season now) then some kind of change (with who's on the field for special teams, who's coaching special teams, or how it's coached), needs to be made.

  
  I don't doubt the coaches are trying to get this fixed as we speak. It has been a problem all year and everyone knew it was going to cost us a game sooner or later if we didn't get it fixed. But I think people always over react when OSU loses a game.
• thedynasty1998

  

  FatHobbit;523908 wrote:I don't doubt the coaches are trying to get this fixed as we speak. It has been a problem all year and everyone knew it was going to cost us a game sooner or later if we didn't get it fixed. But I think people always over react when OSU loses a game.

  
  BTW, special teams didn't cost OSU that game. It certainly didn't help though.
• FatHobbit

  

  thedynasty1998;523920 wrote:BTW, special teams didn't cost OSU that game. It certainly didn't help though.

  
  I agree. They got their asses handed to them in all three phases of the game. They gave up the opening kickoff, couldn't score when they needed to and couldn't stop them when they needed to. But everyone all season has been saying they need to get the kick coverage fixed before we played a good team or it was going to cost us.
• vball10set

  FatHobbit;523908 wrote:I don't doubt the coaches are trying to get this fixed as we speak. It has been a problem all year and everyone knew it was going to cost us a game sooner or later if we didn't get it fixed. But I think people always over react when OSU loses a game.

  
  I don't think it's overreacting since this has been talked about since the Miami game. The kick coverage unit is something that ought to be fixed with personnel changes, and with the athletes OSU has it seems it would be an easy fix. However, that's not the case, and IMO it's a legitimate reason for concern.
• jordo212000

  

  I would have to side with vball on this one. Get a ST coach in here ASAP
• krambman

  

  vball10set;523945 wrote:I don't think it's overreacting since this has been talked about since the Miami game. The kick coverage unit is something that ought to be fixed with personnel changes, and with the athletes OSU has it seems it would be an easy fix. However, that's not the case, and IMO it's a legitimate reason for concern.

  
  Agreed. People do overreact when OSU loses, but reacting in the manner to this issue is not overreacting. OSU has had two field goals blocked with one returned for a TD, had a punt blocked, and given up three return TDs. Obviously there are some serious issues with the special teams all around.
• FatHobbit

  

  vball10set;523945 wrote:I don't think it's overreacting since this has been talked about since the Miami game. The kick coverage unit is something that ought to be fixed with personnel changes, and with the athletes OSU has it seems it would be an easy fix. However, that's not the case, and IMO it's a legitimate reason for concern.

  krambman;524087 wrote:Agreed. People do overreact when OSU loses, but reacting in the manner to this issue is not overreacting. OSU has had two field goals blocked with one returned for a TD, had a punt blocked, and given up three return TDs. Obviously there are some serious issues with the special teams all around.

  
  I'm not saying it's not a problem. Special teams have been awful this year. Mainly the kick coverage, but there have been problems all over. However I'm not sure giving only one coach the responsibility is going to make it any better. It feels to me like people are upset, so they want something done about it. I do too. I'd like to know what the current coaches feel is the problem, what mistakes led to those specific errors and how we are teaching the players so they don't make those errors again.