Kirk Herbstreit-Harsh Words for Ohio State Football Fans

Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN College Football Analyst and former Ohio State Quarterback had some pretty harsh words for Ohio State and it's fan base in the wake of the "notice of allegations" sent to Ohio State from the NCAA today.

Here's the full report from ESPN.com:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6424573

A couple of quotes from Kirk:

"The Ohio State fan base blindly is supporting Ohio State and Jim Tressel. It's almost gotten to the point that he beats Michigan, he wins 10 games, he goes to BCS bowl games, they'll support him no matter what he does as far as the fan base.

"If this would have happened to John Cooper [Herbstreit's coach], not only would they have fired him, they would have actually lined it up and had a firing squad and fired him."

“quit recruiting players like Maurice Clarett and Terrelle Pryor.” 

Kirk Herbstreit and his family recently moved away from Columbus as he had decided that if he was going to be objective as a college football analyst, including being critical of his Alma mater, he wouldn't subject he and his family to the vocal minority of Ohio State fans who just couldn't understand that.

“Nobody loves Ohio State more than me,” said Herbstreit, a former Buckeyes quarterback. “I still have a picture of Woody Hayes and my dad (Jim, a former OSU player) in my office, and nobody will do more than I do for the university behind the scenes. But I’ve got a job to do, and I’m going to continue to be fair and objective. To continue to have to defend myself and my family in regards to my love and devotion to Ohio State is unfair.”

“From a sports perspective, this is rough,” he said. “I love Ohio State. Love the Blue Jackets. Love the Reds. Those are my hobbies. I don’t like moving. I love living here. I don’t want to leave. But I just can’t do this anymore. I really can’t keep going like this.

“Eighty to ninety percent of the Ohio State fans are great. It’s the vocal minority that make it rough. They probably represent only 5 to 10 percent of the fan base, but they are relentless.”


Kirk is right in his evaluation of the situation at Ohio State. Jim Tressel, believing he was protecting his players. But the players have also made bad choices. When you recruit players of questionable character, you will pay the price.

But, as I noted in my previous post on regarding this subject-who cares? It's big time college football, and winning is the goal. Ohio State and Jim Tressel are no better or worse than any other major college football coach or program.


GO BUCKS!