Fear Not Flash Fans

With the recent fall of Jim Tressel down at Ohio State, I've already heard concerns regarding new Kent State head football coach--and former Ohio State assistant--Darrell Hazell.  Are NCAA violations of the nature facing the Buckeyes football program in Kent State's future now that it's been discovered Tressel wasn't nearly as squeaky clean as so many thought?  The short answer is "probably not." Why?  There are a few key differences between the situations around Tressel in Columbus and Hazell in Kent.

First, the very culture of Columbus related to Ohio State football contrasts greatly with the way Kent relates to our own local college team. Yes, both programs are Division I FBS teams, but anyone who has been to Columbus knows the near obsession Ohio State enjoys in the state's capital and in much of the state, much like several other large schools such as Michigan, Texas, Florida, and Nebraska. Even here in Kent there are a sizable number of Buckeye supporters, while our own Golden Flashes struggle to fill a stadium that seats barely 20,000 people and coverage is limited to our local papers. In terms of the amount of money spent on the Buckeyes, Ohio State fills the role of a professional team in Columbus, which, along with the relative proximity of pro teams in Cleveland and Cincinnati, is the biggest reason why Columbus doesn't have any major professional teams beyond the National Hockey League's Columbus Blue Jackets and Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew. Kent State football, on the other hand, is one of three Division I programs in the region that also has the Cleveland Browns, Indians and Cavaliers directly competing for fan attention plus teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers and even the Buckeyes also competing for attention and money. While that near-obsession certainly translates into big money for Ohio State, it also translates into the types of problems facing the team right now. Fans there know that many of the players are destined for stardom in the NFL, and they want the Buckeyes to win far more than conference titles, so this is where things like impermissible benefits come into play.  That's not to say such things can't happen in Kent, but being a much smaller stage in a smaller community that is far less "obsessed" with its local university means it's much less likely. 

Next, along with that culture comes the almost impossible expectations of winning that exist in Columbus. Ohio State fans don't fill Ohio Stadium and flock to other stadiums to see a "good team."  No, they spend the big bucks on tickets, travel, and merchandise because they want to see a great team that is in the BCS title picture every year. Think about how excited Kent State fans would be if the team went 9-3 or 10-2 and made a low-level bowl.  I still remember how exciting it was in 2001 when the team led by Josh Cribbs finished 6-5, making it the first time in years a Kent State team had been above .500.  A 9-3 or 10-2 season for Ohio State would be considered a failure; a 6-6 or 7-5 season would border on apocalyptic.    Expectations have been so high in Columbus that when the Buckeyes had a string of consecutive losses against top-5 teams, the critics were already starting to pile on Tressel.  Think that pressure to win didn't weigh on his decisions to keep what he knew under wraps?  Imagine the fan uproar if the players had been suspended during the season and the Buckeyes lost some key games. People would've been calling for his head then anyway.  

While Doug Martin certainly raised our expectations in Kent to the point where we expect the team to at least be somewhat competetive (versus the winless or near-winless teams of the 1990s), expectations in Kent are still nowhere near what they are in Columbus and never will be. If the Flashes struggle under Hazell, it will be awhile (if ever) before anti-Hazell signs start showing up at Dix Stadium or a slew of angry fans start calling into local sports talk radio shows. 

Lastly, we shouldn't assume "guilty by association" like Hazell is somehow going to import the "corrupt culture" of Tressel into Kent State football. As of now there is no evidence the assistant coaches had any knowledge of what was going on. Of course anything is possible and new information will be coming out in the next few months, but as of now Kent State fans need not worry that an NCAA probe is next in the program's immediate future with Darrell Hazell at the helm. If anything, should Ohio State struggle this year (which is entirely possible), it could translate into more people attending Kent State's home games, especially if the Flashes do well.