COLUMBUS — The 2010s were one of the most newsworthy decades in Ohio State athletics history.
The 10-year period was so packed with news and foundation-rattling moments that a football national championship ranks third and a Final Four is nowhere to be seen.
And it wasn’t all good news. One of the football program’s greatest coaches was removed unceremoniously — two if you count basketball coach Thad Matta, which also didn’t make the cut — and another retired after withstanding season-long pressure stemming from accusations of protecting a domestic abuser.
Below are the five most impactful moments from 2010-2019.
1. Jim Tressel forced out for lying to NCAA
Memorial Day 2011 is a day that will be remembered forever at Ohio State. Jim Tressel, one of the school’s most successful football coaches, was ousted after TatGate grew out of control. The scandal, benign by today’s standards, felt giant in 2010 and 2011. A group of players, including star quarterback Terrelle Pryor, swapped team-issued memorabilia in exchange for tattoos. The biggest issue, though, was Tressel lying to the NCAA about what he knew and when he was aware of it, ultimately leading to his removal.
2. Urban Meyer hired
It takes luck to reach college football’s apex, and that’s exactly what Ohio State had when Urban Meyer fell into its lap. The timing of Meyer’s retirement from Florida and Tressel’s tenure ending at OSU could not have been more perfect for the Buckeyes. After a 6-6 season under interim coach Luke Fickell, Ohio State had seven years of bliss with Meyer at the helm. The Ohio native, one of the sport’s greatest coaches ever, built Ohio State into what it is today, improving the level of players and infrastructure, overhauling the operation into something resembling an NFL franchise.
3. Football wins 2014 national championship
When Ohio State lost to Virginia Tech in September 2014, it was the third loss in four games, an unfathomable stretch after winning 24 straight. The College Football Playoff was far from OSU’s mind that night, especially when you factor in the loss of quarterback Braxton Miller and mistakes made by freshman J.T. Barrett. But the Buckeyes put together 10 consecutive wins to end the regular season before the most incomprehensible three-game stretch in college football history, beating Wisconsin 59-0 in the Big Ten championship game and then Alabama and Oregon in the playoff — with their third-string quarterback.
4. Zach Smith scandal/Meyer retires
The scene in Chicago at Big Ten media days in July 2018 was surreal. News broke the morning before Meyer’s press conference about Zach Smith’s alleged spousal abuse and Meyer’s knowledge of the events. Before Meyer reached the podium, he fired Smith. Several missteps followed, ultimately leading to a three-game suspension for Meyer. An untenable relationship with Ohio State president Michael Drake and health issues related to a cyst in his brain led to Meyer’s retirement following the season, a swift and stunning end to seven marvelous seasons.
5. Ryan Day replaces Meyer
Once again, Ohio State’s new coach was a quick, easy hire. Ryan Day was a little-known quarterbacks coach from New Hampshire when Meyer hired him after the 2016 seasons. In 2018, he was thrust into the fire as the acting head coach when Meyer was suspended. The test run, brilliant offensive mind, and recruiting prowess led Meyer and athletic director Gene Smith to make an easy decision after the former retired — make Day the head coach. There was so much belief in Day that Ohio State eschewed a national search for perhaps the best job in the country, tabbing an offensive coordinator who had never been a head coach at any level. And it worked out just fine. The Buckeyes went 13-1 in Day’s debut season, advancing to the College Football Playoff with what many believed to be the best team in school history.
First Published January 3, 2020, 3:59 p.m.
