I know it sounds ageist, but its time to move on. He is by far the oldest coach in college football or basketball - and it's not even close. Experience is valuable but you need to be able to connect and motivate players that in his case are 2 generations younger. The game is changing, and we need to change with it.

Thank him, name the field after him, put him immediately into the Ohio Hall of Fame and go out and hire someone like Mike Yurcich up in Columbus.

I was there for the Burke years. I have incredible appreciation and absolutely applaud where he has taken us. I felt a few years ago when he had a year left on a contract that he deserved to finish out the contract. Then they went to rolling one year renewals. A couple years later now, the results simply roll-over each year, just like the contract. Time to move appreciatively on.

I guess I look at this way. I lit my fireplace and got to see the Bobcats play on TV from Peden Stadium. Pretty cool and it was a fun night to watch my alma mater play and see some scenes from Athens.

Why would the plan be to name the field after him? I'd rather see him kick in a million for a nutrition center as a parting gift and put his name on that.

Funny, the players love playing for Coach Solich, but you see it differently from your living room. This good stuff!

I am taking the liberty of attacking the Solich issue from a different angle,Completely understanding that mine will be a minority opinion and subject to intense criticism. I expect that and so be it. First, I have had the privilege of having played this game for a long time under many very good and memorable coaches. The best of which was no doubt Big Daddy and Bob Kappes. .But I would have been privileged to play for Coach Solich.I think public opinion lacks an appreciation of the total environment that Ohio University offers to todays student-athlete. And that impacts expectations in not a good way. Lets take moment to take a big picture view of our situation.
Athens. Scratch "big city" recruits. Realistically, the bricks, the 1804 stuff, and all that comes with it is not, I repeat not , attractive to most big city recruits that yearn for the limelight. Athens is arguably an hour from a real airport, a first class news outlet, a big time mall. Laugh if you will. But those things are important to a "big city" recruit. My point? Lets be realistic on exactly who we can attract to OU , coaches and student athletes, in todays world. And adjust expectations appropriately. Those that attended OU understand what the atmosphere offers. Others don't.
Lets touch on facilities for a moment. Ours are improving, and have improved, but still have a ways to go. Much of that improvement is dependent on the Bobcat Club. Are you a member for a reason other than a handy parking spot?? I hope so.
How about coach himself. He got fired by Nebraska, after a notable Nebraska player career, a spotless record, and a 9 and 3 record in his last coaching season. Has Nebraska gone 9 and 3, or better, since he was fired?
We have a clean program. With quality guys. A good record of graduating key players to the pro's. And graduating players in general. Real student-athletes.Rapidly improving facilities. (please take the criticisms of the paper towel holders pretty much where the sun don't shine) And of late....very respectable win/loss records. Not enough?
I love following OU football, Much more under the Solich guidance than what preceded his tenure.
Having said all that as well as being critical of what may be inappropriate expectations, lets enjoy what we have and appreciate the quality of the university, the town of Athens, the atmosphere of the school and program, and the uniqueness and wonder of all that is OU.
We are competitive on the field under Coach Solich. Our players , for the most part, are student-athletes proud of their choice to attend OU. My personal opinion is that he is likely to retire sooner rather than later.
He'll do it of his own volition because he's earned that right. I hope when he chooses to leave, OU can find someone of his equal, both on and off the field.
This is lower D-1 football. I appreciate what we have.
I'm done. Have at it.

Be nice if they showed their love by getting the monkey off his back.

The reality is being beloved is not reason to maintain your job - as a coach or otherwise. We are stagnant - lose OOC against the better teams, win the games we should in conferences and lose then ones we should - plus a giveaway conference game. Make bowl. Our offense has at best slowly and minimally evolved over his tenure when others have sped past us. Great we have the same core staff - makes for nice Holiday gatherings, as they prepare for another bowl in Idaho or Mobile.

A lot of you folks will deserve what happens to Ohio Football if they Fire Frank Solich and hope the grass is greener. It wont be that is 100% a guarantee. Ohio is not a destination job but it is for FRANK. I think people have gotten disillusioned and spoiled just because we have not won a MAC Championship they have forgotten about this legacy....

25 1995 MAC 2 8 1 .227 -17.76 -7.04 Jim Grobe (2-8-1)
26 1994 MAC 0 11 0 .000 -28.78 -13.32 Tom Lichtenberg (0-11)
27 1993 MAC 4 7 0 .364 -18.71 -9.98 Tom Lichtenberg (4-7)
28 1992 MAC 1 10 0 .091 -20.45 -9.45 Tom Lichtenberg (1-10)
29 1991 MAC 2 8 1 .227 -15.20 -4.93 Tom Lichtenberg (2-8-1)
30 1990 MAC 1 9 1 .136 -24.97 -11.60 Tom Lichtenberg (1-9-1)
31 1989 MAC 1 9 1 .136 -22.97 -12.52 Cleve Bryant (1-9-1)
32 1988 MAC 4 6 1 .409 -16.02 -10.38 Cleve Bryant (4-6-1)
33 1987 MAC 1 10 0 .091 -20.70 -7.24 Cleve Bryant (1-10)
34 1986 MAC 1 10 0 .091 -24.43 -11.88 Cleve Bryant (1-10)
35 1985 MAC 2 9 0 .182 -20.98 -9.98 Cleve Bryant (2-9)
36 1984 MAC 4 6 1 .409 -14.27 -6.18 Brian Burke (4-6-1)
37 1983 MAC 4 7 0 .364 -11.22 -4.68 Brian Burke (4-7)
38 1982 MAC 6 5 0 .545 -15.03 -12.21 Brian Burke (6-5)
39 1981 MAC 5 6 0 .455 -8.60 -6.51 Brian Burke (5-6)
40 1980 MAC 6 5 0 .545 -8.61 -9.98 Brian Burke (6-5)
Rk Year Conf W L T Pct SRS SOS AP Pre AP High AP Post Coach(es) Bowl Notes
41 1979 MAC 6 5 0 .545 -1.45 -5.54 Brian Burke (6-5)
42 1978 MAC 3 8 0 .273 -15.86 -6.50 Bob Kappes (3-8)
43 1977 MAC 1 10 0 .091 -16.95 -6.41 Bill Hess (1-10)
44 1976 MAC 7 4 0 .636 -4.83 -9.74 Bill Hess (7-4)
45 1975 MAC 5 5 1 .500 -3.60 -4.69 Bill Hess (5-5-1)
46 1974 MAC 6 5 0 .545 -1.20 -3.29 Bill Hess (6-5)
47 1973 MAC 5 5 0 .500 -1.64 2.77 Bill Hess (5-5)
48 1972 MAC 3 8 0 .273 -17.76 -7.21 Bill Hess (3-8)
49 1971 MAC 5 5 0 .500 2.26 -2.74 Bill Hess (5-5)
50 1970 MAC 4 5 0 .444 -6.24 -1.57 Bill Hess (4-5)
51 1969 MAC 5 4 1 .550 0.81 -1.59

Should we stay with Larry Hunter or....

Well, said. I couldn't agree more.

I agree with just about all you say, Maddog. The irony in Solich's situation is that he has raised the expectations of the program and the fans so much over the last 15 years that maybe the program can't live up to them. It's not enough anymore to just have a winning season. That elusive MACC is the new standard.

I hope the next coach -- whenever he comes along -- elevates instead of rebuilds the program from the ground up. Unfortunately, in the MAC rebuilding seems to occur more often than elevating. Few successful MAC programs build off their predecessor when success causes a coaching change. NIU has done it. Toledo has somewhat done it. But look at Kent, WMU, and BG. They've had successful seasons in the last 15 years, then the coach moves on and its back to square one, or worse. I expect Martin to bolt from Fiami after this season, so it'll be interesting to see what happens there. Ohio starting over is not what we want.

How does Martin bolt when he has about a .380 winning percentage in six years at Miami? Win the MAC? I doubt he gets that done this year.

It’s division 1 football, not intramural, it’s 600k per year, not after the game.

Hmmm. When I think of the big city I think of NYC, San Francisco, Chicago places that are major metropolitan areas. There isn't a great deal of competitive HS football programs in the big city. Mostly its kids from middle american suburbs. Yes they have a bigger mall but what 16 or 17 year old D1 football prospect cares about that? Shopping for a variety of reasons has shifted online. Where is Clemson's big time mall? They are the defending national champions. What I see in Clemson's situation is P5 membership and proximity to Florida with its surplus of recruits. For the G5 it makes a difference if you are located in a big local recruiting market without a P5 program (UCF w/ Orlando for example). Ohio's advantage is they can effectively recruit at the second tier (non OSU level) across a state rated 5th in recruiting. Akron despite its glorious malls can't hardly attract a second tier recruit in Summit County because its reputation is so bad. Third tier FCS type players with a limited walk-on program. Go to North Carolina and its Appalachian St with the good football team while Charlotte is weak. Where is the big time mall in Boone? Players are attracted to the college town atmosphere.

charlotte is a startup program. you can’t compare them to App St. - apples to oranges. in general kids are attracted to facilities regardless of urban or rural - eg Clemson.

+1. Well stated

+1. Firing Solich or even encouraging him to retire, is foolish in the extreme.

The pattern repeats itself across G5 football CMU>EMU, Troy>USA, Liberty>ODU, App>ECU because the suburban HS players prefer the college town atmosphere and do not really want to play at urban schools. Cincinnati, UCF, Houston, Memphis and SDSU have a huge surplus of players in their backyard but other AAC/MWC schools with equal facilities aren't doing anything. There is a relativism with facilities and if your facilities are within a standard deviation of the school your recruiting against your not hurt too much. The atmosphere in Peden Stadium is amazing when its packed because its a one level stadium without vast swaths of endzone seats. You can't get that stuffed feel in other MAC stadiums.

Huh?

That's funny! I sort of had the same reaction. I mean, Peden's nice when it's packed, but when is that, every other Homecoming maybe?

That being said, the students turned out en masse Wednesday night and props to them!

I think Martin is 20-7 in his last 27 MAC games, the best in the league. He’s got a freshman QB and is recruiting by most measures better than lots of MAC teams including us. I don’t necessarily think that he’ll leave, but he’s not going to get fired like some on here have suggested. He may well win the MAC as well with all the confusion in the west.

Peden regardless of its listing size only has 21,800 seats so when the crowd is 25,000 it pushes a lot of fans into the SRO. With the field lowered in Peden this has the SRO sections sitting above field level so it has continuity with the one level stands. That old school pitch to the home and away sides makes the stadium feel bigger if you've sat up there. Miami's stadium is the counter example because its home and away sections are not interconnected and the plaza at field level sits behind the scoreboard. The one level footprint of Peden if it was a bowl full of seats instead of sections missing would be over 40k. It reminds me of Duke's stadium compared to the typical MAC two sided setup. Thank god they didn't box it in with an IPF like they've done at many places in the MAC.

What if we go 6-6 and lose a bowl game? What if we go 5-7? What the line that people who are Frank defenders will cross? I love what Frank has done for us but to look back even at our MAC title games, other than the Northern game, we were highly overmatched. We consistently lose games we shouldn't (Texas State, Northern this year, Miami for two years now, Buffalo etc). Frank has had the two greatest quarterbacks in school history (Tettleton and Rourke) and squandered their senior years. He had the two best linemen (The Joes) and didn't make a MAC title game. We've had chances to clinch title game appearances (Kent) and lost.....I am done being 7-5 or even 9-3 with a bowl win over UAB or whoever else is from a minor conference. Frank should have a statue at Peden but it doesn't mean he's not ready to go. The dude is 75 years old!!!! The same people defending Frank are the ones who defended Saul and said "who can we get that's better?" Well, Boals has been better already. There is someone out there who will want OU and who can lead OU.

The pitch of the grand stands in Peden is too flat. Even when there's a big crowd, noise is not concentrated on the field. The overall stadium experience is ordinary. Nothing too special. It's nice that it's an old stadium, and the new addition in the end zone looks nice, but I don't consider Peden as offering any sort of unique game atmosphere.

Having said that, I'm not lobbying for a new stadium. I just don't get your point that Peden is somehow unique and a big advantage. I guess that's your point.

Peden is not bad even with 13k or 14k in there because when those corner sections are empty its not the same as having one large 7,000 seat section empty right on top of the field like Kent State has. At 24k or 25k its an ACC type atmosphere in Peden. Advantages of the horseshoe configuration over the box configuration. That is what Akron gave up by vacating the Rubber Bowl for its new box configuration.

You're kidding, right?