Originally published at: Why Doug Meacham Named Offensive Assistant Clint Bowen Interim Defensive Coordinator
‘He’s such a great guy, and I think he’s a player’s coach.’
He’s tired of seeing chitty defense, and chitty football in general. St least there’s one alum that seems to care.
Love the fact he was in the QC position prior to, no prior history of defensive coaching listed is concerning. This guy was likely in the speaker telling grantham suggestions to run according to visual input. Or developing reports on what did work vs what didnt.
This entire switch has been hyper aggressive in lieu of how patient the past has shown. Part of me loves it, the other feels like that lack of patience will cost us another Les Miles if were not careful.
Not like we have a championship run hiding in the wings of a new leader to take over for. Take the time to get it right.
“Part of me loves it, the other feels like that lack of patience will cost us another Les Miles if were not careful”
What do you mean by this?
Should we fall for the Razzle Dazzle of a flashy new coach, just to see them leave on bad terms, or make a rash, money saving choice. Haste = Waste almost always.
I do love the immediate or what appears to be Importance behind the actions of recent choice.
I will miss Gundy. In spirit and memory.
The way things have fallen lead me to believe that leadership means to right the ship and they do not feel like waiting. Whatever that implies as actions moving forward.
A flashy new coach that has success and leaves within a 5yr window.
Or a long term, homegrown guy that will stay for 20 years.
I understand everybody would want the longterm local if they could. But those dont happen very often. If they do, they very rarely happen more than once in a program like OSU’s history. I think you have to hire the best coach you can and not worry about him leaving. You want the guy to win, right? Thats just the nature of the OSU job at this point. Its a stepping stone for most, which is completely fine. Just hire the best guy you can and hope he wins so much that hes getting offers all the time.
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Agreed, the 20 year coach is what you want, but at this juncture in the sport, I expect the lifespan of HC’s and other leadership positions to be a 5 year cycle. 10 if you have a good front office spending money. JS.
Any choice will get the 2-5 year chance. As it were. Personal and professional conflicts aside.
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I think the window to fail will be much shorter with the NIL stuff. Donors are going to have a much louder voice now than they ever have. Programs always WANTED Booster dollars. Programs now absolutely, positively, CANNOT survive without it. Therefore, I think the trigger will be much quicker with coaches now.
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Which is… horrible.
What part is horrible? Or just all of it?
Again, I dont love the NIL stuff. I hate the Portal. Paying players has gone on for decades, so thats just bringing it out in the open. And, the players SHOULD be compensated. The portal…is what I hate. But thats a rabbit hole that we dont need to go down.
Donors and Boosters always have had the power. Thats not new either. The donor/booster trigger is the biggest change. But I dont see how thats horrible? These coaches get compensated VERY well. If I suck at my job over the course of 2 years, ill be fired too. NIL/Portal has definitely made it much harder to build a culture like Gundy/OSU once had. But, NIL also has made it much easier to turn a program around in a hurry. If this was pre-NIL, OSU would have to take 2/3 years to get this thing straightened out. Maybe longer if they lose this entire recruiting cycle. But now, they can spend $16mil in the offseason and if they get the right people…who knows
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You never know. TCU played for a national title after an abysmal 2021 season. ASU went 3-9 in 2023 and won the conference making the CFP the very next year. Get the right fit, recruiter, and philosophy for OSU with a decent NIL fund and I think it will be better than what people expect. Everyone acts like we can’t live without Gundy. When we started drowning WITH him 
. I wasn’t so sure about Meacham. I didn’t like the Grantham hire.
Matt Campbell is in his 10th season at Iowa State. There’s not guarantee a coach will stay or leave soon at OSU. If Iowa State is making it worth Matt’s time. Then perhaps OSU’s administration should follow that model. Our fans act like it’s not possible, or it doesn’t exist anywhere else .
I dont disagree, even though Campbell is the exception, not the rule.
Any administration who turned away from hiring a guy because they were worried about him leaving too soon…isnt good at their job. Three really successful years that causes a guy to be good enough to leave is perfectly fine by me. If OU didnt hire OC’s because they were afraid of losing them…would be idiotic. I remember my Dad talking to Coach V Horn worried about him leaving. Coach said “every good Coach knows hes got a 5yr window to get hired and fired at every job”. I know its a little different, but all fan bases should know theyre going to lose a good coach. Its the nature of the business
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You can’t be afraid if a guy decides to leave. The issue we have with some in the OSU fanbase is that they are convinced we’re returning to the 90’s. I was alive and watched OSU football in the 90’s. This is no longer a program where a coach is going to find it extremely hard to win. That’s in thanks to Gundy.
Everyone here seems to think I hate the dude. I simply just pay close attention to what he says and does. Some of it in recent years just didn’t make any sense. I didn’t like his new hires much either. OSU is a program for a young coaching staff. If he’s causing issues contradictory to the future success to the program then he needs to retire or be fired.
I’m ready to take the steps to win a watered down conference and maybe make the CFP. Not get worse in a conference with no OU or Texas. There was absolutely no reason (imo) to hold onto a coach because of previous success. This is a business as well. If you don’t win, you’ll probably get fired .
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I wonder where OSU would be if Gundy left after his first 5 years
Yea booster’s calling the shots results in very bad outcomes most of the time.
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Why does it matter?
Homegrown guys history:
It worked with Eddie….until it didn’t.
It worked with Gundy…until it didn’t.
It worked with Holder…until it didn’t.
It worked with John Smith…until it didn’t.
It has NOT worked with Holliday.
It failed with Sean.
OSU alums are typically given way, way too long of a leash. It’s bitten every program in the a##.
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Hey champ,
What are you talking about? When didn’t Eddie Sutton work?
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Because people who put money in and start demanding return on investment tend to ruin things. Appeasing the money tends to lead to shortcuts that don’t work. The last place I worked and the place my wife works now started private, got bought by investors, companies both got run into the ground by leadership proposing unsustainable, unscaleable growth to placate the investors.
Also, when people say, “if I sucked at my job for two years, I’d get fired,” or “it’s the same in the real world,” I wonder if they’ve ever worked in their entire lives. Corporate jobs seem like they’re absolutely afraid to fire anyone. At all levels. Executives, management, basic employees. The people that get fired are usually people that are doing something outright illegal. It’s so hard to fire someone for performance, it’s ridiculous. You gotta document that for freaking ever. They usually wait until there’s a round of “layoffs” and drop those people. I’ve worked public sector too. No different. Probably more egregious.
Anyway, I do want people who suck to get fired, but when you’re talking about building a program, a culture, a system, that can take time. I don’t want impatient money people hitting reset every two years. Look at all of the “reclamation QBs” in the NFL right now. People are capitalizing off of the impatience of money: Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Geno Smith… and it’s the same impatient teams that are never going to succeed starting over every two years. Firing QBs, firing coaches, constantly demoing the team.