The Athletic Recruiting Article

[Tony4BG]

Not sure how many of you subscribe to them but great article on OH recruiting with anonymous hs coaches.

The coaches.

Coach 1: a high school coach in Akron
Coach 2: a high school coach in Columbus
Coach 3: a high school coach in Cincinnati
Coach 4: a trainer based in Toledo
Coach 5: a high school coach in Youngstown
Coach 6: a high school coach in Dayton
Coach 7: a high school coach in Cleveland
Coach 8: a high school coach in Cincinnati
Coach 9: a trainer based in Cleveland

So Ohio State, Cincinnati and Kentucky seem to be recruiting Ohio well. Who do you think should be doing it better?

Coach 2: Bowling Green has been terrible, just because they’ve brought in some guys who aren’t from Ohio and have no idea how things work. Miami (Ohio) is the best academically, great facilities and we’ve had kids pick other MAC schools over them. Myself, I’d rather go to Miami (Ohio). Them and Toledo should be elite every year.


We’ve been talking a lot about Power 5 programs, but the MAC obviously has a big presence in Ohio and the Midwest. Who from the MAC is recruiting Ohio the best right now? Any MAC schools you think should be doing better?

Coach 1: Akron. I do not think they do a very good job at all. Bowling Green doesn’t do a great job, at least in Northeast Ohio. The Northwest Ohio coaches might say something different. They don’t even really come over. Ohio has really stopped coming to us, which is odd. They used to be in the building a lot. For not being too far from us, they don’t do the greatest job of coming over.

Coach 4: I think Toledo. I’m not sure Toledo has any competition in Ohio. Even looking at Akron and Kent State. I know some kids who would pick Youngstown State over Akron or Kent.

Coach 5: I think Toledo has done a very good job. You look at what Kent State is doing, they’re turning the corner a little bit and recruiting Ohio pretty well. Miami does a good job. Those programs stand out.

[roguewarrior]

2021 recruits
Toledo 9 Ohio
BG 8 Ohio
Miami 5 Ohio
Kent 5 Ohio

Numbers don’t necessarily match some perception

[Globetrotter]

This article nails it. We should really be looking at lists like this for our next coach. Freeman and Washington both will likely get high major opportunities.

And lastly, which coaches do you think do the best job of recruiting and building relationships in Ohio?

Coach 1: Al Washington is good. He builds relationships really well with the kids. Sean Lewis, for a newer guy, is really good. It’s not even necessarily about the kids. He’s really good with the coaches, too. He’ll check in on you and builds relationships with the head coaches really well. I’ve heard other high school coaches say the same. I’ve always thought Ryan Day has done an unbelievable job, and I’ve known him a while. Luke Fickell is a lot like Coach Lewis, building relationships with head coaches and knowing everybody he needs to know. (Toledo head coach) Jason Candle and his whole staff do a really good job. Mike Hallett, their offensive line coach, is in constant communication.

Coach 2: Al Washington was one of Ryan Day’s best hires, being able to get him from Michigan. We had a guy considering Michigan who loved Al. Him coming to Columbus kind of shut things down as far as Ohio State keeping Columbus kids. (Ohio State defensive coordinator) Larry Johnson, I think anyone he’s recruiting he’s getting. Marcus Freeman was huge when he was at Cincinnati with his connections in Dayton and Columbus. He knows the schools that are gonna have kids every year.

Ball State (special teams and tight ends coach) Pat Dougherty does a great job there. Every time he can be here, he’s here. He’s from Ohio, played at Ohio Dominican and has done a great job in Columbus. The coaching ties matter, too. For instance, Tennessee has (offensive coordinator) Alex Golesh now, and he’s from Columbus. They’re really trying to recruit Ohio when they never really did in the past, you know? You see them offering Ohio guys now. Once you get someone on staff with those connections, you feel like you can make some waves.

Coach 3: (Pitt defensive coordinator) Randy Bates recruited us when he was at Northwestern. Now he’s doing it at Pitt. He’s always been one of the best guys. As much as Ohio State really doesn’t recruit us as hard as they used to in the past, I think that Kerry Coombs does a great job of recruiting kids all over.

Coach 5: (Running backs coach) Deland McCullough at Indiana. He came back after doing well with the Chiefs. He recruited us here when he was at Indiana the first time. He’s kind of the closer at Indiana. (Special teams coordinator) Ross Watson at Toledo communicates well, stays in contact. He’s honest and very forthright. Marcus Freeman, who was at Cincinnati and is at Notre Dame now, he’s great. Terry Smith at Penn State has been really good.

Coach 6: Marcus Freeman, he is quite the recruiter. You’ve gotta be personable, to make a connection with the kids, and Marcus does that. We haven’t seen him since he’s been at Notre Dame, other than some phone calls, but when he was at Cincinnati, he and Luke Fickell fit together really well. He’s a heck of a recruiter. And Kerry Coombs, his enthusiasm is incredible. The Ohio State coaches who have had this area have done a good job. They’ve made some inroads in Southwest Ohio. Notre Dame was real big, and they still are. But I think Ohio State has picked it up down here. I think having Kerry helps.

[jpfalcon09]

Great article. Speaks to the off the field damage Jinks did to the program. Clawson built a lot of relationships, Babers continued those to an extent, and then Jinks just destroyed them. It's going to take time for Loeffer and his staff to rebuild those connections. It's another example how the wrong hire, and having constant turnover at the head coaching position can decimate a program outside of wins and losses.

For the record, BG has received commitments from kids in the Cleveland and Columbus areas the past couple weeks. Things will get better in the state for the program if the current staff is given a chance.

[Globetrotter]

Id love to see a country map with Loeffler's recruits over it. And maybe an ohio county map. Who are our Data Viz bros?

[jpfalcon09]

21 class:
Ohio (8)
Illinois (4)
Florida (3)
Pennsylvania (2)
Kentucky (2)
Michigan (1)
Kansas (1)
Missouri (1)
Indiana (1)

22 class, based on what I can find:
Ohio (2)
Michigan (2)
Maryland (2)
West Virginia (1)

[Schadenfreude]

Coach 2: Bowling Green has been terrible, just because they’ve brought in some guys who aren’t from Ohio and have no idea how things work.

This seems to me more a reflection of Mike Jinks -- who had never once set foot in Ohio before accepting the head coaching job -- than Loeffler, who has made it extremely clear he wants to recruit within a four-hour radius of Bowling Green.

[Class of 61]

I’ve always held the position that the best BG teams have had a heavy NE Ohio influence. We seem to be doing well in SE Ohio most yrs., NW Ohio numbers have increased lately under Loeffler, but most are smaller school players. That’s not all bad, but I’d still like to see us hitting NE area harder again.

[factman]

I don’t care where they come from as long as they are good people and good players!

[Flipper]

Yeah....I think we've had our best seasons when we had a lot of good players

[fanatic13]

I'll try to get some visualizations of our past few coaches for the country and ohio. I need to find some time to do it but it's right up my alley

[jpfalcon09]

For the record, the 2013 MAC championship team had 42 kids from Ohio.

[Class of 61]

46 Ohio kids on current roster as of 7/19. Much more NW Ohio presence than prior yrs.,, IMO.

[Schadenfreude]

Yeah....I think we've had our best seasons when we had a lot of good players

[mbenecke]

Yeah....I think we've had our best seasons when we had a lot of good players

Logic checks out.