Why Ohio Makes the Best Coaches
Ohio is a state in a deep recession, laid low by the decline of manufacturing. And yet, the Buckeye state is to college football coaching what Silicon Valley is to technology: It’s where the brightest minds come from.
Both Florida’s Urban Meyer and Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, who will face off in the national-championship game on Jan. 8, grew up in Ohio. Recent title-winners Jim Tressel of Ohio State and Les Miles of LSU are native Ohioans, as are two of the college game’s rising stars, Nebraska’s Bo Pelini and Missouri’s Gary Pinkel. The list of coaches with Ohio ties includes Alabama’s Nick Saban, who played at Kent State and coached at Toledo, and USC’s Pete Carroll, who was an Ohio State assistant in 1979.
wsj.com
12/25/08
