Ohio State vs. Michigan - Which was the Worst Era?

• ytownfootball

  

  Now that the Rich Rodriguez experiment is over in AA, we can compare the John Cooper era to that of RR.
  
  It's hard to predict how UM will emerge from the RR era but it can't be argued that the damage is done. He, much like Cooper just didn't get it.
  
  Cooper didn't get it, but he still played some defense and had legit shots at winning titles. For this reason alone I would have to say the RR era was worse. Shorter, yes, but possibly a lot more damage was done.
  
  What say you?
• slcoach

  Are you serious? The Cooper Era, while frustrating, set JT up with a ton of talent and had a lot to do with the 2002 National Championship. This is a terrible topic.
• devil1197

  Its hard to argue this topic since RR only had 3 years at UM.
  
  Cooper had some solid teams, won a Rose Bowl, but he also had some of the best talent at OSU that should have brought home a NC or two. It wasn't until Tressel came along that he was able to get the guys to play on that level. Plus, he sucked against UM which is bad.
  
  But RR won no bowl games in only 1 appearance and was terrible in the B10 play.
• darbypitcher22

  

  People say Cooper because of the 10 L's
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  Yeah, not even close. Not even a good sample, 3 years compared to what 10?
  RR was worse as he only reached 1 bowl game, and got drilled in that.
  Cooper at least had top 5 teams.
  
  I think a better question is, overall wise, is the period of Cooper and the period of Tressel.
  So, which period was worse, the Cooper years for OSU or the Tressel years for Michigan so far?
• ytownfootball

  

  ptown_trojans_1;632662 wrote:Yeah, not even close. Not even a good sample, 3 years compared to what 10?
  RR was worse as he only reached 1 bowl game, and got drilled in that.
  Cooper at least had top 5 teams.
  
  I think a better question is, overall wise, is the period of Cooper and the period of Tressel.
  So, which period was worse, the Cooper years for OSU or the Tressel years for Michigan so far?

  
  True, but it don't fit in the subject box In terms of what it did to the respective fan bases it's a fair question. I really think UM got 10 years worth of what it was like to live the Cooper years in just three with RR.
• Gardens35

  Hubbard>Liberty. End of rant.
• ytownfootball

  

  Gardens35;632725 wrote:Hubbard>Liberty. End of rant.

  
  What did chief do this time?
• Manhattan Buckeye

  The '95/'96 losses to Michigan were inexplicable with the talent differentiation, I'm not sure which one was worse. Probably '96.
• Gardens35

  Misfeasance, Malfeasance, Nonfeasance, and more Feasance's......
• bigkahuna

  The RR era was worse. At least the games were still competitive during the Cooper years, and Cooper had top talent. He had a Heisman Trophy winner and kept OSU in the top 10 most if not all years.
  
  Rich Rodriguez had what Graham, who wasn't even his? Yea Denard is great, but hasn't WON anything yet.
  
  In an era of 'Win NOW or GTFO" These last 3 years have aged me greatly and were worse for me than for you all in the 90s.
• krambman

  

  It's kind of comedic to compare the Cooper era at OSU to the RichRod era at Michigan, since the Cooper era was four times as long as the RR era.
  
  Now, if you wanted to compare the worst era in the rivalry for each team (outside of the opening era of the series which Michigan dominated) then you would likely be comparing the Cooper era as the worst for OSU against the past 10 years as the worst era at Michigan in terms of just the rivalry. That would be a fair comparison. While that would be fair, it is still clear that the past 10 years for Michigan have been the worst era for either team in the history of the rivalry since the opening era. Even though Michigan won almost every game during the Cooper era, OSU always came in highly ranked and almost all of those games were competitive. That has not been the case at all with Michigan in recent years.
• ytownfootball

  

  So it's "comedic" to compare the worst coaches hired by the two in their respective history and what each means in terms of how they moved/move forward? I bow to your eminence.
  
  Jesus...
• krambman

  

  ytownfootball;633128 wrote:So it's "comedic" to compare the worst coaches hired by the two in their respective history and what each means in terms of how they moved/move forward? I bow to your eminence.
  
  Jesus...

  
  No, I didn't say comparing the coaches was comedic, because the question wasn't about the coaches. The question was about the era of the coaches, and I think it's comedic to compare a three year era to a thirteen year era.
• ytownfootball

  

  How could you compare 3/13? The era and what they mean to both universities moving forward is what's important.
  
  point is both "eras" were/are changes in direction.
• 0311sdp

  The last ten years have been just as dissappointing to Michigan fans as the previous 13 were to Ohio State. On the National level these 23 years have ruined what was once the greatest rivalry in all sports. As a Buckeye fan I like winning 9 of 10 as Michigan liked the 10-2-1 of Cooper but it is not good for THE GAME. I do think RR was worse as was stated above in that his teams were not even competitive where Coop would rip your heart out with tough loss after tough loss with some of the best talent OSU has ever had. Michigan under RR has been just plain awful with out much talent on the defensive side of the ball. Both ERAS were bad depending on who you're for.
• WebFire

  bigkahuna;632826 wrote:The RR era was worse. At least the games were still competitive during the Cooper years, and Cooper had top talent. He had a Heisman Trophy winner and kept OSU in the top 10 most if not all years.

  This x 1000000000.
• jhay78

  

  How about Cooper's first 3 years vs. RRod's 3? Gotta give the edge to Coop:
  
  Cooper: 19-14-2, with 2 bowl losses
  
  RRod: 15-22, one bad bowl loss
  
  As far as overall era, I would compare the current era for Michigan to the '88-'93 seasons for Buckeye fans. That was a long time without a win over Michigan, but at least OSU wasn't fielding some of their worst teams ever.
• mallymal614

  A better question would have been what decade was the worse era. The 1990s or the 2000s. It's hard to compare Cooper's 13 years to Rich's 3.
• Tobias Fünke

  

  This isn't even a comparison. Ohio State is the only program other than Penn State to not have a decade of mediocrity, in my opinion. Michigan is now flirting with it, if they botch the coaching hire it will only continue.
  
  Cooper's years in the 1990's were just fine. Ohio State did go from '68 to '02 without a national championship, but they have never had a decade of mediocrity like Notre Dame, Texas, Oklahoma, Southern Cal, Alabama, etc. have all had.
  
  Comparing the OSU 1990's to UM's 2000's is a joke.
• vball10set

  I agree with Toby, and other than losing to tsun on a consistent basis, Cooper never embarrassed TOSU--I don't think even the most avid fan from up north can say that about RichRod.
• that_guy

  Cooper struggled against Michigan and in Bowl Games, but he did put together some very good teams and left the program in a better place than where he started.
  
  RichRod buried the Michigan program in only three years. The only comparable coaching disasters at top programs I can think of are Gilbertson at Washington & Callahan at Nebraska. Years later, neither program is close to what they once were. Hoke & Michigan have their work cut out for them to get Michigan back to the top....