Does John Cooper belong in the College Football Hall of Fame?

[obie7661]

Does John Cooper belong in the College Football Hall of Fame?

He's on the 2007 ballot, along with Chris Spielman.

I believe the inductees will be announced today.

[OTC TIGER]

How bout the Michigan Hall of Fame...:laughing:

[obie7661]

How bout the Michigan Hall of Fame...:laughing:

Excellent choice! And I'm sure there'd be a large crowd at his induction ceremony.

[TigerCoach]

Only if he pays the admission charge.

[massillon catholic]

Only if he pays the admission charge.

He shouldn't even be allowed in with a ticket. Isn't there some type of criteria to get on the ballot?

[The Butler]

He didn't make it. Former OSU QB Rex Kern did.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070509/ap_on_sp_co_ne/fbc_hall_of_fame;_ylt=An.nH.ldJRBGSjP2sO2BeJii24cA

[chap]

Sure,especially with his record against Michigan while coaching at Ohio State! Almost forgot,lost to Airforce in a bowl game.
NOT!

[Mass6]

Only if they let him in for his recruiting (because he damn sure couldn't coach them once he had them!)

[longtimefirsttime]

When told he didn't make the final cut, Cooper said "Daggummit, maybe next year."

[MTown]

You guys are not going to like this....

I think John Cooper should be in the Hall of Fame.

He won two Rose Bowls (one with Ohio State, one with Arizona State), he won a Sugar Bowl, he coached a Heisman Trophy winner, he coached dozens of All-Americans, sent dozens of players to the NFL, he had several teams finish in the top 5, and I believe he is 2nd in all time wins at Ohio State. IMO, that puts him on the fringe of being HOF worthy.

I know, I know, he couldn't beat Michigan and choked in big games. I know, I was at Ohio State in '98 when our greatest team the last 15-20 years choked against Michigan State.

But I don't understand why Ohio State fans wouldn't want a former coach to go into the Hall of Fame? Love him or hate him, he was still a Buckeye.

[Smitty]

... Love him or hate him, he was still a Buckeye.

No, he's NOT a Buckeye. I believe he's originally from Tennessee (or some other southern state). He never "got" with the concept that it's frikkin' IMPORTANT (most emphatic I can get in a public forum) to beat Michigan.

[MTown]

I am not disputing for 1 second that he didn't "get it". But the fact is he was the 2nd longest tenured coach we've ever had and put our program back on a national stage...something we didn't have when he came in.

[CarlE]

MTown:

I swear between this and your Brady Quinn rantings I SWEAR the first thing I'm going to do when I get home is find you and slap your silly ass. Well, second. I have to go the the Alibi and drink some courage first.

Yes, Coop DOES belong in the Michigan Hall of Fame. Now SHUT UP, bro!! LOL.

[MTown]

I TOLD YOU GUYS BEFOREHAND THAT YOU WEREN'T GOING TO LIKE IT!

Do you all think Earle Bruce belongs in the HOF? You could easily argue that John Cooper was a better coach than Earle.

[CarlE]

I TOLD YOU GUYS BEFOREHAND THAT YOU WEREN'T GOING TO LIKE IT!

Do you all think Earle Bruce belongs in the HOF? You could easily argue that John Cooper was a better coach than Earle.

Really? Was Jack Rose a better coach than Rick Shepas? Who beat McKinley? Who beat Michigan. DAMN I'm coming up there Mister!! And YOU'RE buying!!

[MTown]

Rose and Shepas is a totally different scenario.

Cooper won more Big Ten titles than 8-4 Earle, put more guys in the NFL and had more top 5 finishes. It's not like Earl dominated Michigan....he was 5-4-1 and went up against Michigan in some very lean years versus Cooper who went up against a 1/2 a National Championship winning Michigan team and several others who won Rose Bowls.

Again, I am not excusing his record against Michigan. It was atrocious. But if you put his body of work up against Bruce, and you think Bruce is a HOFer, then you gotta put Cooper in.

And you gotta tell me why having another Ohio State coach in the Hall of Fame is a bad thing?

[monte81]

John Cooper is a joke!! He could never when the big games and was always loaded with talent. He was an EXCELLANT RECRUITER but a average X and O coach in the big game. Anyone could beat Illinois or Northwestern in his tenure but he found a way to lose to UM, MSU( afew times), etc,.. every year and spoiled about 4 National Championship teams in the process. Tressell should get in before Cooper.

Did Chris make it?????

[Kamd50]

2007 College Football Hall of Fame
Football Bowl Subdivision Class


PLAYERS
Player Position School Years
TOM BRAHANEY C Oklahoma 1970-72
DAVE BROWN* DB Michigan 1972-74
JEFF DAVIS LB Clemson 1978-81
DOUG FLUTIE QB Boston College 1981-84
JOHNNIE JOHNSON DB Texas 1976-79
REX KERN QB Ohio State 1968-70
AHMAD RASHAD RB / WR Oregon 1969-71
ANTHONY THOMPSON RB Indiana 1986-89
WILSON WHITLEY* DT Houston 1973-76
REGGIE WILLIAMS LB Dartmouth 1973-75
RICHARD WOOD LB Southern California 1972-74
CHRIS ZORICH DT Notre Dame 1988-90


COACHES
Coach School Years Career Record
HERB DEROMEDI Central Michigan 1978-93 110-55-10
JOE PATERNO Penn State 1966-present 363-121-3


*Deceased

“We couldn’t be happier with this year’s exceptional class of hall of famers,” said Chairman Ron Johnson. “Gene Corrigan and the Honors Court have selected an incomparable group that undoubtedly makes the NFF’s 60th Anniversary even more special.”

The 2007 College Football Hall of Fame Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Class will be inducted at the 50th Annual Awards Dinner on December 4, 2007, at the Waldorf=Astoria in New York City. They will be officially enshrined at the Hall in South Bend, Ind., during ceremonies in July of 2008.


2007 COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME
FOOTBALL BOWL SUBDIVISION CLASS NOTES


PLAYERS:

 One Heisman Trophy winner (Flutie)
 Three players who placed in the Top Three in Heisman Trophy voting
(Flutie-1st, Kern-3rd, Thompson-2nd)
 Four unanimous First Team All-Americas (Brown, Flutie, Thompson, Zorich)
 Eight consensus First Team All-Americas
(Brahaney, Brown, Davis, Johnson, Thompson, Whitley, Wood, Zorich)
 Six multiple First Team All-America honorees
(Brahaney-2, Brown-2, Johnson-2, Thompson-2, Wood-3, Zorich-2)
 Two Maxwell Award winners (Flutie, Thompson)
 Two Walter Camp Players of the Year (Flutie, Thompson)
 Two Lombardi Award winners (Whitley, Zorich)
 One Davey O’Brien Award winner (Flutie)
 Four members of National Championship teams (Davis, Kern, Wood-2, Zorich)
 Two conference Players of the Year (Davis, Thompson-2)
 Eight multiple First Team All-Conference selections
(Brahaney-2, Brown-3, Davis-2, Johnson-3, Rashad-3, Thompson-2, Williams-3, Wood-3)
 Four first round NFL Draft picks (Brown, Johnson, Rashad, Whitley)
 Five offensive players (Brahaney, Flutie, Kern, Rashad, Thompson)
 Seven defensive players (Brown, Davis, Johnson, Whitley, Williams, Wood, Zorich)
 One inductee played in the 1990s (Zorich)
 Four played in the 1980s (Davis, Flutie, Thompson, Zorich)
 Nine played in the 1970s
(Brahaney, Brown, Davis, Johnson, Kern, Rashad, Whitley, Williams, Wood)
 Two played in the 1960s (Kern, Rashad)

COACHES:


 Four Conference Coach of the Year Awards (Deromedi-2, Paterno-2)
 Five Conference Championships (Deromedi-3, Paterno-2)
 19 NFF National Scholar-Athletes (Deromedi-4, Paterno-15)

For criteria and biographies go here:http://www.collegefootball.org/news.php?id=1160

[warren1st]

I believe John Cooper is already in the Michigan Hall of Honor.:smile:

[MUCSteelers5xSuperChamp]

John Harold Cooper definitely belongs in the Michigan Hall of Fame! Everytime they were ranked #1 in the nation, they always had their season ruined by the Wolverines!

It always made my day to see that! Michigan knew who to turn to when their pride was on the line in such games and not only that but they were the tougher team (Lloyd Carr's first win over OSU in 1995 after Gary Moeller's departure)!

[PDC]

Keno,

You and monte81 make liberal use of the exclamation point when posting. Does it mean you're shouting or trying to make your point with authority? I just want to be clear.

Btw, I don't think Coop belongs in the HOF, but the guy was one heck of a recruiter. He just never maximized it.

[MUCSteelers5xSuperChamp]

PDC,

To the proud, diligent, Catholic known as PDC:

I'm just a gleeful person, that's all. By the way...I wonder what JHC is doing nowadays.

[TigerswillbeTigers]

I believe the question was "Does John Cooper belong in college football Hall of Fame"?
Prior to the announcement of the class of 2007 I think it was "reasonable" to say "perhaps not"! However, being the kind of person that likes to step back and take a long look at such questions in an attempt to be nothing less than objective, I've come to the conclusion that if Cooper had coached at Central Michigan he would most certainly be inducted into the HOF.
If Herb Deromedi can make into the HOF with a 110-55-10 record (.657 winning percentage for CarlE and anyone else mathematically challenged) and only 3 conference championships in 79-80-90, then the only thing keeping Cooper out of the HOF is the fact that he had "MAC talent" as a coach, but unfortunately coached in the Big 10!





TFPIC

[TigerNick]

The Question is, Does John Cooper deserve to be in the College Football Hall Of Fame? My response to that is, He won like 75 to 80% of the games he coached and won Two Rose Bowl Games. Could of had a National Championship in 1998 being undefeated and number one ranking all season until being upset by a 4-5 Michigan State team, Then bouncing back by beating Michigan that same year and winning the Rose Bowl Game over Jake Plummer and Arizona State. But he will mostly be remembered here in Ohio for a record of 1-11-1 VS That Damn Team up North. My answer is Sure.

[warren1st]

T But he will mostly be remembered here in Ohio for a record of 1-11-1 VS That Damn Team up North. My answer is Sure.

You're being TOO hard on ole Coop. He was 2 10-1 against UM. Dang, I sure miss that guy!!!

[warren1st]

I remember stopping at a nice restaurant in Toledo after the 1983 UM-OSU game. Michigan won when Nate Rodgers of Warren recovered the ball when Earle Bruce tried the "ole fumblerooski" play and UM held on.

Ohio State fans were ALL clamoring for Bruce's head saying, "He's going to be 9-3 again this year!" I thought how many boosters would like their team to be 9-3 but they got their way a few years later.

[TigerNick]

You're being TOO hard on ole Coop. He was 2 10-1 against UM. Dang, I sure miss that guy!!!

Oh that's right. Plus who or which Buckeye fan can ever forget his famous quote of saying (referring to the tie) "It's a moral victory" Oh Brother, tieing is now a moral victory? Johnny,Johnny,Johnny. I'm sure you do miss that guy, perhaps he'll be your next coach.

[pigskinmccarthy]

does Rick Shepas deserve a Statue outside of PBTS?????

[longtimefirsttime]

You guys are not going to like this....
I think John Cooper should be in the Hall of Fame.


I usually agree with you but I totally disagree on this. His Buckeye teams never won an outright Big 10 title, he went 3-8 in Bowls and was 2-10-1 against Michigan. Also (obtained from an online biography page):

"Cooper also recruited many kids who ended up in trouble with the law, and he drove Ohio State's football graduation rate into the 30-40% range year after year. Ohio State started to be known as the "Miami of the Midwest" by many. In fact, Robert Smith (mentioned above) actually left the team early complaining that John Cooper and his staff didn't care about academics and were'nt interested in the player's futures."

After leaving Ohio State what head coaching jobs has he been offered? He's been a scout and an ESPN analyst (despite saying he'd love to coach).

Nice guy. Excellent recruiter. OK coach. Not a Hall of Fame coach.

[warren1st]

Oh that's right. Plus who or which Buckeye fan can ever forget his famous quote of saying (referring to the tie) "It's a moral victory" Oh Brother, tieing is now a moral victory? Johnny,Johnny,Johnny. I'm sure you do miss that guy, perhaps he'll be your next coach.

That wasn't his quote. It was OSU president E. Gordon Gee's comment.

Btw, don't hold your breath waiting for him to be named UM's next coach!:laugh:

[obie7661]

Good article in Columbus Dispatch about Rex Kern

Buckeyes' great gets a permanent home in the Hall of Fame

http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/sports/stories/2007/05/10/fbc_hall10.ART_ART_05-10-07_C1_8K6LF75.html

http://www.ohiostatealumni.org/images/kern-resized.jpg