Those who hold dear the on-field traditions of the Ohio State University marching band — and they are legion — need not fear the elevation of Christopher Hoch as the band's permanent director.
Granted, Hoch is the guy who, as an assistant director in 2012, helped vault the band into new realms of Internet popularity by introducing massive formations that move, not as blocks, but organically — essentially, living animation. And those YouTube-sensational shows are radically different from the band's classic military-style origins.
But Hoch, 39, no more would abandon certain customs than he would have his 225 marchers take the field in maize-and-blue spats.