Ohio State Football: Why Departures Will Hurt More Than Any NCAA Penalty

Last week, Ohio State was told by the NCAA that they will not be slapped with a failure to monitor or the dreaded lack of institutional control tag.

But the fact of the matter is the things that Ohio State has already lost will hurt them more then NCAA could have possibly done.

The biggest thing that Ohio State lost was the third-best coach in school history behind Woody Hayes and the legendary Paul Brown.

Even though Jim Tressel did lie to the NCAA and keep Ohio State football behind a wall that even CIA intelligence could never pierce, what he did on the field is still something to remember.

Regardless of what people think of his off-field persona and the scandal, the on-field results speak for themselves.

It's very tough to replace a very good coach, no matter the school and the talent on the field.

And that challenge is much tougher to overcome than most NCAA penalties because players have to get used to a new system, and a new way of doing things.

That challenge now belongs to Luke Fickell, although he has inherited the rest of Tressel's coaching staff with the exception of Mike Vrabel.

The success of Ohio State this season is dependent not only on what Fickell can do to lead his team, but on what Terrelle Pryor's replacement will do.

Pryor's reputation is clearly out of the window for obvious reasons, but there was no doubt he could win with the best of them.

His maturity, or lack thereof at times, was a problem, but he did seem to try to improve himself before he left school.

The task of replacing one of the more talented, and at times the most frustrating, QBs in the last 20 years for Ohio State will likely fall on Braxton Miller.

And that type of weight is not what should be put on a true freshman QB, regardless of the high school resume.

Add in the fact that Ohio State has to face a Wisconsin team that could be one of the best teams in the history of their school, a Nebraska team on the rise and a Michigan team that might finally be starting to get on its way back up from the Rich Rodriguez detour and Ohio State picked a bad time to get in trouble with the NCAA.

They will likely be set back in additional year because they will have to reset either once or twice depending on what they decide to do about their coaching staff after this season.

If Ohio State can land a guy like Urban Meyer, the timeline to turn things back around could be shortened significantly, especially if Miller turns out to be the real deal.

But its never a good thing to lose a good head coach and QB. 

While both hurt the program and wounded them, their departure still hurts just as much if not more than what the NCAA will do.

Very rarely do you lose a great leader and be better off because of it.

Grab some Dramamine, because Tressel's departure could make the waters a little rocky.

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