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Sorry if I came across ed as hostile to you. It was directed more at others who post on this site. The 90's were a magical decade for YSU football. I went to all 6 title games, plus several playoff games home and away. And, for me it was very special, because I graduated from YSU in June 1991, and knew many of the players on the 91 team. So, it was not just my Alma Mater and hometown school wining, it was people I knew. I some cases, people I knew since middle school.
92 was also special, even though the team lost in the NC game. 93 and 94 I still knew some of the players and coaches.
97 and 99, I knew less players, but enough that it was still a chance to see people I knew personally doing things I would never have dreamed possible from ANY sports team at YSU. And, I also knew several people in the Administration and a few coaches.
To be honest, if Jim Tressel were hired today, I do not think he could replicate the success of the teams from 89-2000. So many things went right for YSU. It was a different time in the Ytown area, and the talent pool of local players to draw from was much deeper. YSU football went from a laughing stock in the Mahoning Valley and among YSU students, to a source of pride for the entire community.
One last point. Alot of people seem to be trying to compare Wolf to Heacock. I think a better comparison is the state of YSU football when Tressel was hired, with the state of YSU football when Tress was hired. Wolf came in bad mouthing the previous coach and players. He talked brash. He was given a salary double the previous coach, and so many other things with the specific purpose of making YSU a top tier FCS program. This was not the case when Tressel was hired. And, alot of people seem to dismiss just how special Tress, his staff and the players were. YSU was basically a 6-5 program in a typical year before Tress. He built something special, then carried that success to OSU.
YSU has 11 playoff appearances at the FCS level since moving to FCS in 1981. And, 10 of those were while Tressel was coach. Maybe, just maybe, a big problem is alot of people do not give Tress, his staff and players enough credit? Maybe, just maybe, the Tressel era was a mirage of sorts, and what YSU football has become in the post Tressel days is simply the true YSU football program?