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Topic: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Topic: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

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DesertDog
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Member Since: 12/27/2004
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Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/16/2012 7:53:49 PM

I couldn't watch the Marshall game out here in Arizona so I had to watch it on the "Game Tracker," which was agonizing!

With last night's win against Marshall, the Bobcats have now won 9 of their last 10 games. In looking at those wins, some would most likely have been lost had not Coach Solich, the staff, and players changed the culture of Ohio Football to one that expects to to win. Being down early or being in tight ball games, the team has the confidence to make a play or come up with a big turnover when it is most desperately needed.

But that's my opinion...I confess I am one of the bandwagon Bobcat fans who came over when Solich came to Ohio. I'd like to hear what longtime Bobcat fans thought....and how you're expectations are now when you are watching a tight ball game.

The most important game is the next one on the schedule.

Go Bobcats!

Nash'Cat
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Member Since: 3/29/2012
Location: Nashville, TN
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/16/2012 8:29:01 PM

DesertDog wrote:

I have only been a Bobcat for 6-7 years, and even in that short amount of time, I can attest to the COMPLETE turnaround in the mentality of the culture. My first year on campus was the first year we went to a bowl game (2006) in a long time. I remember how SHOCKED everyone seemed to even get selected for a bowl game...now, a shocking season for us is if we DON'T get a bowl game. I am absolutely blown away at how quickly the entire mentality and culture has turned around.

WE ARE OHIO
-Mike C.
Class of 2010
Media Arts & Studies - Music Production

Pataskala
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/16/2012 8:59:35 PM

I've noticed that, at least for me. Going into the past two seasons, I haven't seen a team on the schedule that we couldn't beat, and that includes Penn St even before all the problems.

I've also noticed that I'm sort of getting the mentality of celebrating a win for about a day then moving on to the next game. Beating Penn St was great but instead of savoring it for the entire week, I was looking to the NMSU game by Tuesday or Wednesday. Today I'm already thinking about Norfolk. That's what Solich has ingrained in this team; could it be contagious?

We will get by.
We will get by.
We will get by.
We will survive.

OU-Barker
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Member Since: 12/29/2004
Location: Cleveland Heights, OH
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/16/2012 9:23:54 PM

I love the expectation on winning. I love the swagger. I love how it isn't cockiness but confidence. The way these guys carry themselves in interviews and represent the University is fantastic.

Little something while I pass the time till next Saturday.
Also, can we PLEASE get an eye patch give away night? Make it a blackout or something.

Last Edited: 9/16/2012 9:24:40 PM by OU-Barker

Nash'Cat
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/16/2012 9:27:41 PM

OU-Barker wrote:

I love the expectation on winning. I love the swagger. I love how it isn't cockiness but confidence. The way these guys carry themselves in interviews and represent the University is fantastic.

Little something while I pass the time till next Saturday.
Also, can we PLEASE get an eye patch give away night? Make it a blackout or something.

Eyepatch giveaway night would get me to drive all the way back up there from Nashville, for sure. Maybe homecoming?!

WE ARE OHIO
-Mike C.
Class of 2010
Media Arts & Studies - Music Production

L.C.
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/16/2012 9:56:07 PM

I remember when, back in about 2006 or 2007, I think, I first predicted that Ohio would go undefeated in 2011, everyone thought I was off my rocker. Well, it turns out I was wrong, but they did win 10 games, and were in the other games. Now, the whole expectation situation is very different. Many people predicted an undefeated season this year. You also see the change in opposing fans. I read on the Marshall board that, so long as Solich stays, an off-year for Ohio will be 7 or 8 wins, and I think that is right.

A bigger change, though, was in the minds of the players. It was a cycle - first he came in, and convinced the players they could win, and they got an attitude. A number of people commented on the attitude, and wondered why they were so cocky when they hadn't won anything yet. That attitude also manifested itself in some off the field issues. Over time that attitude evolved and matured, and the culture became what it is today. That is what is priceless about the series "Relentless" - you can see the culture. It is a culture of hard work, teamwork, achievement, and confidence, but not arrogance. It shows in how they play, how they work, how they interview, and how they handle themselves away from the game.

I think the culture also shows in the loyalty of the staff. The assistants could move somewhere else, and probably make more money. Yet, would the culture be as good? Would the fans be as good? Doubtful to either.

�We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.� ― Epictetus

Doc Bobcat
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/16/2012 10:04:48 PM

I faithfully attended the home games of the late sixties teams. One reason is that I was convinced that they could win....beat anybody so to speak.

Then the culture changed for me during the losing years......it's tough beating anyone when you pass about 3 times a game.

The culture changed for me again on that wonderful September night when we beat Pitt.....I had that Cleve Bryant-Todd Snyder-Hoss Houmard-Frank Peters....etc etc. feeling about the players and the coaches.

Werrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr back!!!

The Optimist
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/16/2012 10:46:06 PM

I am pretty young compared to most of you. My parents both went to Ohio, but I was really more of a Michigan fan when I was younger who cheered for Ohio but didn't really care. That changed in 2005 with 2 things:

1: Brought in Frank Solich, upset Pitt. I still remember going nuts watching that game.
2: Followed that up with NCAA tourny showing in hoops

Without Frank, I doubt I would've followed the basketball team as closely as I did (refreshing bobcatattack to get the score updates). It also helped that my parents took me to the MAC tourny that year and we won.

I've said it before, but the transformation on campus since I started in Fall of 2008 has been INSANE. The culture has definitely changed in a big way. Winning does that. I look at the freshman this year and am jealous. Not only do they get to spend the next 4ish years of their life at OHIO, it also looks like they will get a better run in athletics than I had, and I had it pretty good.

During the 4th quarter yesterday I was thinking "We will win this game, I trust Frank and Tettleton." That is very different from what I think during Browns games.

I've seen crazier things happen.

Business_Cat
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/16/2012 11:39:18 PM

Oh my.. has the culture changed. I echo what The Optimist said. Btw, Optimist you should start calling yourself 'The Realist' ;)

An AWESOME story from my trip today:

I was checking in my bags today at New Orleans Airport when the guy working noticed my OHIO shirt and said, "oh, you're a Bobcat fan" Turns to my sister who was right next to me "You an OHIO fan too?" She repiles "Nah I'm an ohio state buckeye fan" The guy said "Ohio State Buckeye's? Never heard of 'em". No sarcasm, just a straight face and continues working. The man was not foreign or anything like that, and wasn't a day over 28. He even knew about Frank Solich without me mentioning him first. That's a first for me, I guess state needs to get used to us being OHIO, I mean it's just who we are.

Moving on, the on-campus culture went from me struggling to find someone to go to games with, to people complaining that they couldn't get into Peden. Nuff Said

-Business Cat

You know what Frank Solich likes most about coaching in the MAC? While he gets older, his coaching competition stays the same age, man.

The real O-H-I-O

Nash'Cat
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Member Since: 3/29/2012
Location: Nashville, TN
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/16/2012 11:44:24 PM

Business_Cat wrote:

That's a FANTASTIC story. FANTASTIC. I expect people to know of State, I'm still getting used to people knowing who we are. We are Ohio! I'm loving the brand recognition, and since our big NCAAB tourney wins here in Nashville, more and more people are starting to know who we are. Loving every minute of it.

WE ARE OHIO
-Mike C.
Class of 2010
Media Arts & Studies - Music Production

JSF
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/17/2012 1:54:15 AM

That culture change had me confident they would beat Northern Illinois up until the very end... the chat room didn't quite share my optimism.

"Loyalty to a hometown or city is fleeting and interchangeable, but college is a stamp of identity."- Kyle Whelliston, One Beautiful Season.

My blog about depression and mental illness: https://bit.ly/3buGXH8

OU-Barker
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Location: Cleveland Heights, OH
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/17/2012 2:18:33 AM

JSF wrote:

That culture change had me confident they would beat Northern Illinois up until the very end... the chat room didn't quite share my optimism.

I'm sure the table at Broney's wishes I would have shared that same optimism. I nearly drove my fist through that table during that 2nd half. We were already planning where we were going to celebrate after the game by half-time... learned a hard lesson that day.

L.C.
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Location: United States
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/17/2012 7:24:55 AM

As a side not regarding culture, I will say something over here that I said on the recruiting board a couple weeks ago. Once the culture is built, it tends to continue because recruits self-select based on the culture. Some potential recruits will love the culture of hard work, achievement, and success. Others will not. The ones that want a part of that culture will choose Ohio, while others that don't will choose other schools. This is why I never feel too bad when a particular recruit is lost, no matter how many stars they have - If they don't think Ohio is right for them, Ohio probably isn't right for them.

This is the reason why some schools tend to stay at the top of college football for years, while others can never quite get there, and one of the reasons why coaching changes can so easily disrupt a program. The new coach brings not only a new system, but perhaps a new culture, and a new culture doesn't just happen in a year or two.

Last Edited: 9/17/2012 7:26:14 AM by L.C.

�We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.� ― Epictetus

Scott Woods
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/17/2012 8:02:34 AM

L.C. wrote:

This is the reason why some schools tend to stay at the top of college football for years, while others can never quite get there, and one of the reasons why coaching changes can so easily disrupt a program. The new coach brings not only a new system, but perhaps a new culture, and a new culture doesn't just happen in a year or two.

This is one reason that I'm trying to soak up everything that's happening right now, because as much as the culture has changed, it can easily reverse course with a coaching change (or prez change). Is Solich here for 5 more years? Or just 1 more? Will Albin take over? Burrow? Someone else? What happens when McDavis is gone? What about Schaus?

CMU was all world a few years ago, but they've since changed QB's and coaches a couple of times and where are they now?

For now, I'm enjoying the ride and hoping to go #1and0 again this weekend!

Last Edited: 9/17/2012 8:03:39 AM by Scott Woods

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GoCats105
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/17/2012 8:27:31 AM

I think the moment I knew this program was headed for something special was a road win back in 2006 over Northern Illinois. The Huskies were already an established MAC title contender themselves and featured standout tailback Garrett Wolfe. Now, the past Ohio fan in me said "there's no way we win that game" or "we're gonna get crushed."

Boy was I wrong. After being down at half, we took it to them in the 2nd. Final score 35-23.

Austen Everson threw for 322 yards and 3 TDs. Kalvin McRae was unstoppable, rushing for 106 yards and 2 TDs and also had 98 yards receiving and another TD.

And of course the rest is history. We beat Illinois that year also and went to our first bowl game in forever.

Bobcatbob
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/17/2012 1:46:06 PM

This is interesting stuff to me. I've been around since the early '70's. I personally don't approach the games any differently now. I've seen enough losing to appreciate the winning and, by the same token, not to get too used to it. With this team, there is no doubt that the expectation is there to win every week. Losing a game, however, isn't going to send me off the deep end.

And, above all, I know that next year there will be a different team and the year after that and the year after that. They're all special in their own way and they all deserve to have their achievements celebrated. For example, I've never been happier for a bunch of kids then the day the record losing streak was broken (help me someone, I don't retain the details). The goal posts came down, for heaven's sake and the on-field party went on and on. To my recollection, that didn't happen when we clinched any Division title and I don't see it happening this year. If anything, the expectation of winning brings a loss of innocence with it that that I'd still like to see

So, enjoy it but don't forget to renew those season tickets next year

L.C.
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/17/2012 2:22:43 PM

Bobcatbob wrote:

Well said, Bob. I have only three expectations - My first expectation is that the team is going to work very, very hard on a year round basis preparing for a dozen or so games. My second expectation is that they will play hard in games. My third is that they will represent the University well both on and off the field. Beyond that, well, so long as the team does those three things, I will never have any complaints. Some games will be won, some will be lost, and I am confident that more will be won than lost.

What I never want to do is reach the point where I evaluate a team or coach based solely on the won-loss record, or where I start blaming coaches or players for losses, or where I fail to appreciate the effort and dedication of the players and coaches in the whole process. Winning is good, bot not the only goal, and teams that lose are not failures if they conduct themselves in a worthy way, study hard in classes, graduate, and go on to be successful in life.

Last Edited: 9/17/2012 2:23:26 PM by L.C.

�We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.� ― Epictetus

Jeff McKinney
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/17/2012 2:23:14 PM

L.C. wrote:

What he said. +1

Jeff McKinney
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/17/2012 2:24:21 PM

One of the final missing pieces of the puzzle for our program is L.C. actually getting to attend a game.

Doc Bobcat
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/17/2012 2:32:14 PM

Jeff McKinney wrote:

One of the final missing pieces of the puzzle for our program is L.C. actually getting to attend a game.

I have an L.C. shrine at my house with incense and one of those pictures where the face is blacked out. Kinda like God....do we really know what he looks like?

But I also have a plethora of bobcatattack.com shrines that range from ocf to slavin to coleman to gman to carey to mckinney to thompson....with mckinney havin one of the rare photos at his shrine.

Last Edited: 9/17/2012 2:33:44 PM by Doc Bobcat

Kinggeorge4
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/17/2012 2:39:24 PM

I arrived on campus during the fall of 86. I've only missed 5 home games since then. I always went to the games expecting to win and cheered loudly. But I really started to get excited the day I meet Coach Grobe at a meet and greet at the old University Mall. His intensity energized me. Then Coach Solich arrived and my world has never been the same.

I will continue to go to games till I die. Bobcat for life! Fully expecting to win every game! Fully expecting our players to graduate and be exceptionally productive citizens!

GO BOBCATS
GEORGE

Brian Smith (No, not that one)
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/17/2012 2:43:28 PM

That confidence wasn't there for me until Tettleton became the starting quarterback. Nothing against the guys at the position before, but Ohio's program was a big-time quarterback away from ever taking that next step. The Ohio State game. The Tennessee game. Those were winnable games where Ohio didn't have that playmaker who could extend drives with big throws in pressure situations. Those were really good football teams that simply couldn't get over the hump.

93Bobcat
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/17/2012 2:45:01 PM

I came to Ohio in the last year of the Cleve area. I can remember going to my first game and thinking “I can play better that this”. There was no effort and no respect for the football team on campus. Over the next three years I would occasionally go to games but never got excited about football like I did about basketball.

It all changed for me when I went to a Central Ohio Alumni dinner that featured Jim Grobe. I listened to him talk about the culture he was establishing and I was hooked. We bought season tickets the next year and have had them ever since. The Grobe years were fun but I can remember being very happy when we simply won more games than we lost.

The Knorr years are one big blur of bad football. We kept going to games without any expectation of winning but simply enjoyed fall Saturdays in Athens. I had a conversation with a former co-worker that was working his way up from officiating high school football games to the college game and the MAC. He asked what I thought of Knorr and I said “I would love to have him as a neighbor, but he gets paid to win football games so he has to go.”

When Frank was hired I could not believe what I was reading. I was expecting another up and coming assistant that would either fail miserably or turn things around and leave. Frank had experience, was a winner, and was still being paid by Nebraska so we would not have to shell out a ton of cash. The Pittsburgh game was fantastic. I had never experienced something like that at an Ohio football game. Frank was for real.

I saw one play (can’t remember the year or the opponent) that confimred for me that the culture was changing. Austin Everson had rolled out to pass and took off down the sideline. A defender blew him up on the sideline. It hurt to hear it. For second I thought “oh no”. Austin jumped right up, exchanged a few words with the defender, and ran back to the huddle. I know he hurt but he was not going to let down his team. That was the first time I remember seeing real toughness out of an Ohio team and I knew it came from the top.

For the last few years I have believed we could win any game we played no matter the opponent. I knew the coaches would prepare the players and the players would play for one another. It has been a slow but steady building process under Frank. His playbook has evolved but the core values of hard work, resilience and team work have been there from the beginning. Our coaches can coach against anyone, the talent gap has closed significantly and our guys play like a team. This is fun to follow.

Doc Bobcat
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/17/2012 2:49:56 PM

Cleve was like Pete Rose.

Great player....terrible coach.

Last Edited: 9/17/2012 2:50:13 PM by Doc Bobcat

Brian Smith (No, not that one)
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RE: Culture Change--Expecting to Win

Posted: 9/17/2012 2:52:28 PM

93, I loved your thoughts, especially Solich's willingness to tweak the way he did things. How many other 60-year old coaches would be willing to go around the country, study what works and what doesn't, be honest with the weaknesses in his own philosophies and alter how he does things after he had so much success with the option? I can't think of many coaches who have ever done it.

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