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…
