Frank Solich’s smile stretched from Nebraska to Ohio.
When the former Husker coach was hired in 2004, fans and reporters hailed it as the start of top 25 finishes and Mid-American Conference championships.
But now, four years later, neither has happened and the look on his face has been noticeably different. The Bobcats are just 2-8 following Saturday’s 28-3 loss to Bowling Green.
“It’s disappointing this year,” Ohio Athletic Director Jim Schaus said. “I think that that’s not going to be the norm for the program. I think Frank Solich is an excellent coach. He’s won in the past, he’s been successful, and I think he and his staff can be successful.
“I’m fully supporting them.”
Under Solich, Ohio won its division for the first time ever and went to a bowl game for the first time in 38 years. But that was a team filled with former coach Brian Knorr’s recruits.
In the last two years, when the team has begun to take Solich’s form, Ohio is just 8-14.
“A program has several years to create a culture in a university,” said Fresno State athletic director Tom Boeh, who hired Solich when he held the same position at Ohio in 2004. “There are many ways to measure the success of a program. The nature of the student athlete, how the program is being run in general and wins and losses are incredibly important.”
The Solich era begins
When Solich was hired in 2004, it was to turn a dormant program into a winner.
The impact was immediate.
In his first two years, Peden Stadium underwent a major overhaul. Individual squad meeting rooms were built on the second floor; renovations to the coaches’ offices and the press box were also done. The $900,000 worth of renovations was mostly financed through donors.
“Got Frank?” shirts were the hot item in the bookstores across campus and there was a buzz surrounding the football team.
Solich was again smiling as fans rushed past him to celebrate at the middle of a packed Peden Stadium after Ohio’s 16-10 overtime victory over Pittsburgh — arguably the biggest upset in school history.
While the Bobcats finished 4-7, Ohio would make history just one year later.
Behind a veteran defense, a gutsy senior quarterback and a star running back, the Bobcats won the MAC East Division for the first time in school history.
They eventually lost to Southern Mississippi, 28-7, in their first bowl game since 1968.
“Our goal was what he has achieved,” Boeh said. “Somewhere in four years to get Ohio to the top of the conference and a bowl game. Our hope was to gain some stability.”
But what was happening off the field was anything but stable.
Shortly after the 2005 season ended, Solich was found slumped over at the wheel of his car, which was still in drive and parked the wrong way on a one-way street. He later pleaded no contest to operating a vehicle under the influence.
During the Bobcats’ historic run in 2006, The Columbus Dispatch reported that 17 Ohio players had been arrested in a nine-month span.
After the story ran, however, the team ran off seven straight wins before falling in the MAC championship game to Central Michigan.
“When people think of the program, they think of Coach Solich,” Boeh said. “I think the program has a better reputation than it did 15 years ago, nationally.”Solich extended
Following a 6-6 season in 2007, former Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt began work on a contract extension for Solich.When Hocutt left for the University of Miami, Schaus was hired. His top priority was finishing the contract.
This summer, Solich signed the extension, which gives him an annual salary of $400,000 through 2013. He will earn an extra $275,000 if he completes five seasons as head football coach and is an Ohio University employee through 2012.
“It was important for us to keep a coach like Frank,” Schaus said. “I think this very well could be his last coaching job. I hope that it is.”
But this year has been the worst in Solich’s coaching career.
Despite the fact that Ohio had brought in a big-name coach, the Bobcats’ recruiting classes never saw a bump. In 2003, www.Scout.com rated Ohio’s class as the 87th best. In 2004, it was 88th.
Under Solich, however, the average rating is 102.
But Solich has contended throughout the year that this is the most talented group of players he’s had since stepping on campus.
“As coaches we need to evaluate where we’re at,” Solich said Monday at his weekly news conference. “When things aren’t going well, we all need to look at ourselves.”
Ohio is 2-8 for the first time since 2003. The team is 1-5 in the MAC for the first time since 2004.
The Bobcats’ only two wins have come against a 2-7 Kent State team and a Football Championship Subdivision team. Two of their losses came on nationally televised games.
But not all of the blame can be put on Solich, Schaus said.
The Bobcats lost five starters they were counting on at the beginning of the season to produce, including their starting quarterback and running back, for a significant amount of time. They also had what Solich calls one of the toughest schedules he’s ever had.
Ohio opened their season with a 1,400-mile journey to face the Wyoming Cowboys. They also played the Big Ten’s Ohio State and Northwestern on the road. They did have one home game sandwiched in between, but it was against the two-time defending MAC champion Central Michigan Chippewas.
Despite the rigorous schedule, Ohio lost those games by a combined 24 points.
“People want to assess blame, so it’s natural to look at someone in a leadership capacity,” Schaus said. “If I see the system still working, I’m not overly concerned. You have to step back and see the big picture.
“It’s not time to hit the panic button on the football program.”
It seems that the early losses took a toll on the team.
The Bobcats were never the same afterward. Against the MAC teams in the top half of their divisions, Ohio lost by an average of 20 points. Even though their last two games were at home, the Bobcats never had a chance to win either game.
“We didn’t play with a lot of intensity,” Solich said. “We just didn’t quite have the enthusiasm, maybe even the belief.”
Many questions surround the team going forward.
But one thing is for sure: Schaus believes Solich is the man to answer to all of the above.
“No, none whatsoever,” Schaus said when asked if he had any regrets about extending Solich’s contract. “But the litmus test for me is that we’ve been highly competitive. We’ve been in all the games. That’s all you want to do in athletic competition is have a chance to win, and I think the team has done fairly well.”
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