Ohio State Football: Why Losing a Head Coach Changes Things for Recruits

The head coach of a college football program probably has more power than a head coach or general manager of an NFL team.

The head coach is the central figure of a program, and as big a role as assistants play in recruiting, the head coach still has final say.

That's why you see a lot of recruits commit to school in large part because of the head coach. The head man is the rock and glue of the program, and recruits want stability.

But when the head coach is fired or resigns, a recruiting class goes from rock solid in stability to shakier than the legs of a child trying to take his or her first steps.

When Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel resigned late this spring, their recruiting class almost immediately went into high alert.

Although the program has done a good job of keeping most of the class intact, five-star OT Kyle Kalis de-committed and switched to heated rival Michigan.

In the Buckeyes' case, the timing of losing Tressel was both ideal and ill-timed.

On one hand, it gave the OSU staff more than enough time to man the ship, convince commits and recruits that everything would be okay and and still recruit players.

On the other hand, players have no idea who the next head coach will be. When coaches get fired or resign in December and January, a new hire is made very quickly—thus recruits almost instantly know who the new head coach is.

I'm sure Luke Fickell is a great coach and will be a good head coach one day, but is the job really his to lose?

There are the Urban Meyer rumors out and about, Mark Stoops has been mentioned with the job and who knows what other candidates will emerge.

This uncertainty has to affect Buckeye recruiting and their committed players for 2012. Seven of the 13 commitments made their pledges before Tressel committed, so that's six extra commits in the post-Tressel era.

You have to assume that all of these committed players, although they love Ohio State, still wonder about who exactly they will play for: Fickell, or a new head coach?

Even five-star RB commit Brionte Dunn has taken a wait-and-see approach to Ohio State. He remains committed, but Michigan, Penn State and Miami have been mentioned among other schools trying to get him to switch.

As much as you'll hear how things are stable in Columbus, the Buckeyes will be at a crucial crossroads for their program's future when the season is over. Plus, they will still have looming sanctions to eventually face.

Will Fickell lead the program in this critical era? Or will Ohio State get someone else?

Would a new coach want all of the committed players, or just players he deems worthy of a scholarship?

Questions remain about Buckeye recruiting—and it's all caused by the loss of their head coach.