By Kyle Meinke (annarbor.com) --Remember when Brady Hoke was last summer's recruiting darling? That is fading into a distant memory, thanks to the Big Ten's newest coach. Urban Meyer was hired at Ohio State three weeks ago, and began his tenure with such a recruiting flurry that the Buckeyes' class shot up to No. 5 in the nation this week, according to Scout. Texas remains No. 1 overall and Michigan is holding steady at No. 2 on the strength of Hoke's hot summer, which ... Read More

By: Adam Wells (BleacherReport.com) -- When Urban Meyer signed on to become Ohio State's head coach, I can't imagine that he was aware of the NCAA slapping more sanctions on the program that include a one-year bowl ban and the loss of more scholarships. But even with that setback, the Buckeyes will still rule the roost in the Big Ten. High school football players want national exposure and an opportunity to play in BCS games because it will ... Read More

From: AP via FoxNews.com -- For players breaking rules and having its coach conceal those infractions, Ohio State ended up with a one-year bowl ban, the loss of nine scholarships over three years and a new coach with two national championship rings. "I feel closure, yes," Ohio State President Gordon Gee said Tuesday night, hours after the NCAA announced it sanctions against Ohio State. "I feel very much closure. I'm disappointed on the one hand but on the other ... Read More

By: Bruce Hooley (FoxSportsOhio.com) -- A former colleague of Jim Tressel once told a story about the disgraced coaching icon before he grew into the sweater-vested poster boy for much of what’s wrong with big-time college football. Seems Tressel repeatedly called the same play from the booth snap after snap until finally questioned about his repetitive strategy by the head coach down on the sideline. “I’ll stop doing it when it stops working,” Tressel supposedly said. Old habits apparently die hard, ... Read More

By: Gregg Doyal (CBSSports.com) -- When Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith pulled Urban Meyer out of a hat, I thought he had saved his job. More to the point, I thought he should have saved his job. That was a huge hire, the perfect hire, and for being able to pull off that coup, Smith deserved to stay. Until Tuesday. And now I'm back to where I've been for the last year, wondering how the hell Gene Smith still has ... Read More

From: ESPN.com -- CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- North Carolina interim coach Everett Withers is heading to Ohio State to become Urban Meyer's co-defensive coordinator and assistant head coach. ESPN's Joe Schad reported on Dec. 14 that Ohio State would be hiring Withers, who confirmed his move Wednesday. "We've known each other for a couple years," Withers said of Meyer. "A few years ago we talked when the Florida defensive coordinator job came open. So we've got a little bit of a ... Read More

By John Kampf (News-Herald.com) -- Finally, Ohio State got something right. Said Athletic Director Gene Smith after the NCAA on Tuesday swung its law enforcement sledgehammer and connected on the noggin of Ohio State's football program: "We have decided not to appeal the decision because we need to move forward as an institution." Finally, Ohio State did something right in this whole ordeal. It took the Buckeyes pretty much a calendar year, but they got it right by, in ... Read More

By Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -- COLUMBUS — Ohio State President Gordon Gee said tonight that he was "disappointed" by the NCAA ruling and that he continues to support OSU Athletic Director Gene Smith. "I have been a consistent supporter of Gene and remain so," Gee said while talking to several reporters at halftime of Ohio State's basketball game against Lamar University. Gee said he did not regret the school not self-imposing a one-year bowl ban, because ... Read More

By: Bud Elliott (SBNation.com) -- With today's news that the NCAA rejected Ohio State's proposed penalties and imposed a scholarship reduction almost double that of what the Buckeye's submitted, many Ohio State fans will wonder how this will impact Ohio State's recruiting. And this is an important question, as Ohio State has been on an absolute tear lately on the recruiting trail. Meyer has catapulted Ohio State's class from decent to excellent, with the additions of defensive linemen ... Read More

By: Pat McManamon (FOXSportsOhio.com) -- A wise man once explained that while poverty is an injustice, the NCAA is simply inexplicable. It wasn’t Confucius who said it, but it was Confucian in its simple logic. Because the NCAA makes a habit of baffling, incoherent, near-absurd rulings, and it makes them with all the pomposity of a British know-it-all traipsing through Australia in the penal colony days. It’s even easy to imagine NCAA suits making the decisions with the same Derby ... Read More