By JON SPENCER (NewarkAdvocate.com) —
I couldn’t believe my ears.
In the 119-year history of Ohio State football, no numbers are more grating than John Cooper’s 2-10-1 mark against Michigan. That’s saying something, given the scores of the past two national championship games.

We’re talking more grating than Gilbert Gottfried’s voice.

But those yearly gaffes and gags against the Wolverines are ancient history. At least I thought they were until boos cascaded down upon Cooper from a record Ohio Stadium throng Saturday night as he was honored for his impending induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Poor sports? No, just poor timing.

Looking up from my laptop to process what I was hearing, the startling sound began to make sense. Led by its flag-waving mascot, Penn State was running back on the field for the start of the second half, just as Cooper was being presented with a commemorative plaque from OSU athletic director Gene Smith.

At least the Lions had the decency not to run in front of the midfield ceremony.

They were a lot less gracious to Cooper’s successor, beating Jim Tressel’s Buckeyes 13-6 and killing hopes for an unprecedented third straight outright Big Ten title.

If Cooper’s night was spoiled, Joe Paterno would tell you he had it coming. Eight years ago, in his final game against Penn State, Cooper’s Buckeyes whipped the Lions 45-6, handing JoePa his worst loss in 43 years of running the show in State College.

Cooper was 5-3 against the coaching icon, matching Tressel’s record against Penn State.

“It was always a big thrill for me to go up against a legend like Joe Paterno,” Cooper said Saturday of the man who preceded him into the Hall of Fame by one year. “I don’t know how my players felt about it, but I know how I felt about it. You knew you had to be at the top of your game because they were a good team and very well coached.”

Actually, they both gave as good as they got. Paterno’s Lions handed Cooper his worst loss at Ohio State — and there were some doozies; see Michigan 1991 and 1993 — with a 63-14 bludgeoning in 1994. If there’s poetic justice, this Penn State team will win the national championship that Penn State team was denied when shortsighted poll voters penalized them for easing up in a rout of Indiana.

A 2008 national title would be a good stepping-off point for Paterno, who turns 82 in December. His contract runs out at the end of this season, but while his relationship with Penn State president Graham Spanier could best be described as strained, it’s hard to imagine him being shoved out the door with the same hearty push Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger gave Cooper after a tumultuous 2000 season.

“I hope Joe gets out,” Cooper, 71, said. “He’s a great coach, he’s great for the game, but there’s life after coaching. When I first got out, I missed it. I miss it less every day that I’m out. I’m enjoying my family, my wife, my daughters, my son and my grandchildren.”

Despite finishing eight wins shy of 200 victories, Cooper never thought falling short of his goal would cost him a HOF invite.

“To be in the Hall of Fame, I think you need to be a head coach for 10 years or more, win 100 games or more and win over 60 percent of your games,” Cooper said. “I knew I met all of that criteria.”

And then some. Step back from the rubble that grew higher on just about every third Saturday in November and Cooper had very few peers in his profession. He is the only coach to win the Rose Bowl with a Big Ten and Pac-10 team (Arizona State). At Ohio State, he won three Big Ten co-championships, had five 10-win seasons and three times finished in the top 5.

His 1995 team was one of the most decorated in college football history, boasting the Heisman Trophy winner (Eddie George), the Lombardi Award winner (Orlando Pace) and the Biletnikoff Award winner (Terry Glenn). Videos of that offense, which scored a school-record 475 points, should be nightly bedtime viewing for Tressel.

Alas, Michigan took a blow torch to that season, as it did so many others under Cooper’s watch. All told, that school up north cost him a shot at four national championships.

Cooper’s masterful ability to recruit was both blessing and curse. He produced 19 No. 1 draft picks, but 13 of them left early for the NFL before they and the teams they played on could reach full bloom.

If he had won three or four more games against Michigan and won more than three bowl games (SEC teams befuddled him, too), Cooper would be canonized and have a place carved out for him on OSU’s version of Mount Rushmore, alongside Woody Hayes, Archie Griffin, Chic Harley and yes, Tressel. (He’s reached monument status by virtue of his 2002 national championship and 6-1 mark against Michigan.)

“When I got into coaching, you’re trying to get through that first year, then you’re trying to be a coordinator some place, then you’re trying to be a head coach,” Cooper said. “To think that after 39 years, I’m going into the Hall of Fame with those guys you idolized on the way up, it’s the ultimate.”

There will be no 40th year for Cooper, although Cleveland State’s talk of starting a football program has some wishful thinkers dropping his name.

“Tell them to call me. I’ll give them some recommendations,” Cooper said, laughing. “I am not interested. I will not coach. I don’t have any desire to coach.”

He’s earned the right to sit back and smell the Roses. Or the bloomin’ onions, if the Outback Bowl beckons.

No related posts.