COLUMBUS — I can picture Ohio State quarterbacks coach Tim Beck standing in front of me in the OSU locker room after the Buckeyes’ 2016 Fiesta Bowl loss (maybe because I rewatch the video below from time to time). To his credit, he stayed and faced the music when other coaches did not. To his detriment, the offense he was tasked with co-coordinating had just been blanked in a 31-0 loss to Clemson.
I’d been pushing Urban Meyer about failures on the offensive coaching staff all season.
Now Meyer was going to do something about it.
I’m pretty sure Beck had his new job already lined up by the time the game ended. He officially left to work for former OSU assistant Tom Herman at Texas three days later. So when I asked Beck if he thought he’d be back in 2017, knowing I thought there was no way he should be or would be back, I think he fudged it.
“I don’t know,” Beck said. “That’s Coach Meyer’s decision. I thought I worked really hard and feel good about it. We didn’t finish the way we wanted to, obviously. We didn’t play a very good game all the way around offensively and I’m a big part of that. I’m one of the leaders of the offense. So with that being said, the bullets get shot at me, and I’ve got to do a better job. So that’s where it kind of is, and I understand that.”
He was done, because that loss signaled what everyone knew.
It was time for a change. For a transformation.
Ohio State is on a two-game losing streak in the regular season for the first time (outside of 2011) since the transitional season of 2004.
Starting in 2004 and through the next 22 years of Ohio State football, almost every devastating loss led to substantial changes in the program.
Losing doesn’t go down easy here. Nor should it.
That’s where the Buckeyes find themselves now. That’s why special teams coach Robby Discher found himself out of a job Monday morning, sent packing by Ryan Day.
Fire the guy you hired fewer than 10 months ago who hasn’t done a good thing all year. Poof! Transformation.
OK, it’s not just that. And it doesn’t alway happen immediately (though honestly, sometimes is does). But when Ohio State loses big, it often is a moment that exposes an ongoing issue previously masked in victory by immense talent. When that talent wallpaper starts to peel, you see what’s underneath. And it’s ugly.
This is non-negotiable. Ohio State, after three losses this season and consecutive defeats to USC and Oregon, must transform before the 2027 season. If you think more should have happened right now, I get it. Timing can be the only excuse for not doing more.
I don’t think transformation must mean firing the head coach. As it stands, I wouldn’t do that. Thanks to more than 650 votes in our Monday survey, we know the majority of you wouldn’t do it either. The results of that, as of late Tuesday night.