Canfield native big hit on Web

By Greg Gulas

BOARDMAN — Mark Porter, the founder of Scouting Ohio.com, never in his wildest dreams thought that his Web site would become so popular in such a short period of time.

The Canfield native, who lettered four years at tight end for Kent State from 1991-95, calls his labor of love purely a fluke while appreciating the recognition it has received and enjoying the growth it has made over the past four years.

Speaking to the Curbstone Coaches during Monday’s weekly luncheon meeting at the Blue Wolf Banquet Center, Porter noted that the only function he ever wanted the Web site to perform was to bring recognition to his players as Canfield’s 8th grade football coach.

“I learned from some of the experts in the business that you should treat the players and everyone connected with the program fairly,” he said. “So everyone from the water boy to the starting quarterback had their pictures taken in order to promote the program.

“We did our first highlight film with Canfield High School in 2003 and two years later, ended up putting their state championship highlight film on our Web site where it was well-received; not only by the players and their families, but opposing coaches and college coaches who were about to hit the recruiting trail,” Porter said.

In order to promote a player, Porter and his wife, Stephanie, a former Ursuline High and John Carroll University cheerleader, would do a highlight clip of their 20 or 30 best plays.

“The Web site really exploded when Gene Bonnano, whose son Justin had played for me earlier when I was coaching, approached me about adding the videos to our Web site,” said Porter.

“Since developing our Web site he has also worked on sites for both Notre Dame and Penn State; the latter titled Nittany Network which is much like the Bucknuts site that is devoted to Ohio State University news and notes.

“Gene is excellent I’m not smart enough to know what the coaches want so with his business skills, he has been the driving force,” Porter added.

A positive to Porter’s site, which is located at www.scoutingohio.com, is that he has been able to share with high profile Web sites, like J.J. Huddle and Bucknuts, photos and videos and in return, has received much needed information on the players that he has featured.

“We actually do highlight films for Bucknuts,” he said. “Our video content goes directly to them once it is assembled.”

The advent of DVD’s and tapes has helped make recognition much easier for a player.

“We’re really on the cutting edge of this technology because it just keeps getting better, and the resources that are now available are just phenomenal,” said Porter.

Porter’s site, which has expanded to include listing the top players in Ohio, has already released its Top 200 list for this recruiting season and last week released its listing of the players entering college in 2010.

They have already started compiling their list for the Class of 2011.

Porter was a weekly guest during the football season on WFMJ-TV (21) and he plans to return next season.

Next week, the Ursuline state championship football team will be honored.