What do Urban Meyer, Halle Berry and Arsenio Hall have in common, besides being black? Answer: they were all born in Ohio. The Buckeye State has produced a ton of talent over the years including, Steven Speilberg, LeBron James, Jack Nicklaus and Neil Armstrong, just to name a few. But there is one profession Ohio produces like no other… Hall of Fame football coaches. In fact, so much so, The Wall Street Journal wrote an article in late 2008 titled, "Why Ohio Makes the Best Coaches." Here in an excerpt from that article:
"Less than 4% of the country's population lives in Ohio, but 15% of college football's major-conference head coaches were born there — the most for any state. And this volume is more than matched by quality: 14 of the last 18 teams that have made it to the national title game have had head coaches with Ohio connections."
Ohio produces the most college coaches of any state, but that's not the real story. The really interesting thing is that Ohio produces the bestcollege football coaches. Most people would agree that Nick Saban, Urban Meyer and Pete Carroll are the top three coaches in the country and all have strong ties to Ohio. It's also unanimous that Jim Tressel, Jim Harbaugh, Bob Stoops and Les Miles would make most people's top ten coaching lists. Come to think of it, Mack Brown might be the only coach on a top ten coaching list who doesn't have Ohio ties!
No matter where you live in Ohio there is one common truth, football rules. From Cincinnati, to Columbus, to Cleveland and all over, Ohio is loaded with football talent. The state has two professional teams (Bengals and Browns) and is 2nd only to Texas with 8 FBS schools (Buckeyes, Bearcats, Bobcats, Redhawks, Falcons, Rockets, Flashes and Zips). Texas has 10 FBS schools and California has 7.
There are currently 90 NFL players currently playing who are from Ohio, which ranks 4th among all states (Ohio is the 7th most populous state). There's a reason the Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Canton, Ohio and a reason why Ohio State sells over 105,000 tickets to every home game. Football runs Ohio. Below are some of the most notable, Ohio-linked signal callers and players both present and past and present. By the way, Nick Saban, Pete Carrol and Dom Capers all coached together at Ohio State under Earl Bruce. Best college coaching staff ever?
Notable Head Coaches…
Nick Saban- Graduate assistant at Ohio State. Head Coach at Toledo. Assistant coach under Bill Belichick with the Browns. Won BCS title at LSU and looks to repeat this January with Crimson Tide.
Pete Carroll – Secondary coach at Ohio State under Earl Bruce. They lost to USC in the 1980 Rose Bowl. Carroll has continued USC's winning ways against the Buckeyes besting the Bucks each of the past two years.
Dom Capers - Born in Cambridge, Ohio. Played college football at Mount Union in Ohio. Long time NFL head coach and coordinator started his coaching career at Kent State and Ohio State.
Earle Bruce - Successor to legendary Buckeye icon, Woody Hayes. Bruce played fullback at Ohio State but blew out his meniscus his freshman year, which ended up launching his career. Was 81-26-1 as head coach at Ohio State.
Larry Coker - OSU assistant in 1993 and '94, under John Cooper. Joined Butch Davis' staff at Miami staff in 1995 and was head coach from 2001 to '06, leading the Hurricanes to the 2001 national title.
Mark Dantonio - OSU assistant in 1983 and '84 (graduate assistant), under Earle Bruce; 2001 to '03, under Jim Tressel. Became head coach at Cincinnati, then Michigan State.
Lovie Smith - OSU assistant in1995 under John Cooper. Left to become an NFL assistant (Tampa Bay and St. Louis), then in 2004 became head coach of the Chicago Bears.
Urban Meyer- Born in Ashtabula, Ohio. Coached two years as an assistant at Ohio State. Head Coach at Bowling Green from 2001-2002. Florida's head-man is arguably the best recruiter in college football today.
Les Miles- Born in Elyria, Ohio, 1953. Bailed on the Buckeyes and played college ball at Michigan under Bo Schembechler. LSU's current head coach is often referred to as "The Hat."
Jim Tressel – Current Buckeye head coach was born and raised in Northeast Ohio. Coached Youngstown State to four I-AA National Championships. Becoming one of the greatest coaches in Ohio State history with record of 93-21.
Bob Stoops – Born in Youngstown, Ohio. Was an assistant coach at Kent State University in Ohio.
Kirk Ferentz - Iowa's head coach was an assistant under Bill Belichick in Cleveland.
Glen Mason- Mason played football at Ohio State and later served as an assistant coach. He was promoted to Offensive Coordinator of the Buckeyes and remained in that position through the 1985 season. Mason was head coach for Kent State University in 1986 and 1987 and later coached at Kansas and Minnesota. Mason was a finalist for the Buckeyes' head job but Jim Tressel beat him out.
Bo Pelini – Current Nebraska head coach was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio. Was named Bo after Cleveland Browns running back Bo Scott. Played free safety at Ohio State under Earl Bruce and John Cooper.
Jim Harbaugh - Brother of Ravens head coach, John Harbaugh. Jm was born in Toledo, Ohio and just signed a 3 year extension to coach the Stanford Cardinal.
Brian Kelly - Led Cincinnati to an 11-0 regular season and Big East Championship. The Bearcats play Florida in the Sugar Bowl but Coach Kelly isn't going to make the trip because he's tied up with his new job as head coach at Notre Dame.
Lou Holtz - Former Notre Dame legend, Holtz was an assistant at Ohio State in 1968 when the Buckeyes won the National Championship. Now he sputters away as a college football analyst for ESPN.
Don Shula – Born in Grand River, Ohio and grew up in Cleveland. Played college ball at John Carroll University in Ohio before signing with the Browns after his senior year.
Chuck Noll – Steelers Hall of Fame coach was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Played football at University of Dayton (Ohio) before being drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 1953.
Ara Parseghian – Born in Akron, Ohio, Parseghian was most famous as the head coach at Notre Dame for 11 seasons. Prior to that Ara played college ball at Miami and then later on with the Cleveland Browns. He also coached at his Alma Mater Miami for five years where he had a record of 39-6-1.
W.W. "Woody" Hayes- Born in Clifton, Ohio, Hayes is the most famous coach in Ohio State Football history. Woody was Ara Parseghian's mentor at Miami University for two years while he was the head coach for the Redskins. Hayes played college ball at Denison University, just east of Columbus.
Bo Schembechler- Born in Akron, Ohio. Woody Hayes' arch-rival. Played football at Miami University under Sid Gillman and Woody Hayes. Got his Masters degree at Ohio State where he was an assistant coach for Woody Hayes. Then headed back to Miami where he was the head man for six years before leaving Ohio for The University of Michigan. The rest is history.
Paul Brown- Born in Norwalk, Ohio, Brown is considered the "father of the modern offense." Brown originally went to Ohio State to play quarterback but soon transferred to Miami. Became head coach for the Buckeyes in 1941 where he went 18-8-1. Brown was hired as head coach for the Cleveland professional football team and they took his name. Brown was fired by Art Modell and went to Cincinnati to become owner, GM and coach for the Bengals. The Brown family still owns the team to this day.
Bill Belichick – Head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 1991-1995. His record in Cleveland was 36-44. He later took Pete Carroll's job in New England where his record has been 110-47. Sorry Browns fans.
John Harbaugh- Current Ravens head coach and brother of Jim Harbaugh, was also born in Toledo, Ohio. Played defensive back at Miami University.
Tags: Bill Belichick, Bo Pelini, Bo Schembechler, Bob Stoops, Brian Kelly, Carroll, Chuck Noll, Don Shula, Jim Harbough, Jim Tressel, John Harbaugh, Kirk Ferentz, Les Miles, Lou Holtz, Nick Saben, Pete, Urban Meyer, Woody Hayes
Great article! impressive list. woody is the man!
despite the border war i must admit…. the Buckeyes have had the better COACHING
very interesting stuff… i’d love to see what other states have produced great coaches
Urban Meyer is black?
No Mark, Urban Meyer is not black, Halle Berry and Arsenio Hall, however, are. That was intended to be a joke… Urban Meyer is whiter than Mike Myers & Bob Saget combined.
Kirk Ferentz was not a finalist for the OSU job.
meeeeeechigan…buckeyes also have the better team…since 1949 when the plastic helmet was legalized and the sport then started to resemble the sport we see now, the buckeyes lead 31-27… i mean really, who cares who won in 1897?
Thank you Jayson B, you are 100% correct. Ferentz was NOT a finalist for the Ohio State head coaching job. The writer confused him with Glen Mason, former coach of Minnesota.
We’ve corrected the error, added Mason to the list and appreciate the catch!