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Cooper was in a no-win situation
On Tuesday, Ohio State fired football coach John Cooper after 13 seasons. CNNSI.com spoke to Sports Illustrated senior writer Tim Layden about the end of Cooper's tenure and why he was never able to satisfy Buckeyes fans. CNNSI.com: Is this a surprise? Tim Layden: It's not a shock, because every time something negative happened with the Ohio State program since Cooper has been there, there have been rumors or suggestions that he would resign or be fired. In my dealings with him over the last 10 years, I sensed that his tolerance for that pressure has grown less and less. CNNSI.com: Why wasn't he able to win enough? Layden: I don't think anyone can win enough at Ohio State, or at Alabama, or at Oklahoma. Cooper had several very strong teams -- his 1994 and '95 squads were terrific teams that failed to win the national championship. Ultimately, the fact that Cooper had a terrific career there (111-43-4 in 13 seasons) wasn't going to be enough. It's the Legend Syndrome, which eventually gets everybody who replaces a legend, in this case Woody Hayes. It got Earle Bruce before Cooper, and it was going to get Cooper eventually if he didn't string together some national championships. Also, John is not a young man, and no doubt he eventually would've reached a point where he'd had enough with all the scrutiny and second-guessing and just wanted to get on with his life and his retirement. CNNSI.com: Ohio State has sent a great number of players to the NFL during Cooper's years. With so much talent, why didn't national championships follow? Layden: I think John was a coach -- and some of the losses to Michigan in the mid-'90s were indicative -- who was a good recruiter and could put together a system with good assistant coaches (like Walt Harris, who coordinated the Buckeyes offense in the mid-'90s), but who seemed to be not a great big-game coach. It seemed like he had trouble preparing his best teams to play opponents like Michigan and in bowl games. His constituency, the Ohio State fans, was never happy with his record against Michigan (2-10-1), which was lousy; he lost to some Michigan teams that were clearly inferior. Cooper had a habit of not allowing his team to play loose in big games, and that rigidness filtered down to the players and cost them some important wins.
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