Former Buckeyes expect train to keep rolling

June 15, 2019 at 12:00a.m.

Ohio State alums visit for golf outing

By MIKE McLAIN

HOWLAND

If you believe every player on every sports team that ever won a championship, you’d be convinced that the world was against all of them.

It’s become almost common practice for players to simultaneously hold up a trophy while stating their belief that no one believed in them. It’s hard to tell if they think dear old mom and dad were on board.

One team that could spout the non-belief mantra with credibility was the 2018 Ohio State University football team. From the drama surrounding Urban Meyer last summer to the announcement of his retirement plans later in the year, the season could have headed south in a hurry.

Instead, it headed west to a Rose Bowl appearance as the Big Ten champion. The Buckeyes, who defeated the University of Washington in Pasadena, Calif., finished with a 13-1 record, which included a 62-39 win over the University of Michigan.

With Meyer settling into an analyst’s role for Fox Sports, the number of doubters will be many as Ryan Day assumes the coaching reins.

Day did a commendable job in leading the Buckeyes through training camp and the first three games of last season while Meyer served a suspension regarding former assistant coach Zach Smith, but he’s replacing a legend that followed another legend in Jim Tressel.

All eyes will be focused on Columbus next season to see if the Buckeyes can continue their dominance.

“I think they’ll be solid,” said former OSU running back Robert Smith, who participated Friday in the eighth annual Inspiring Minds Celebrity golf outing at Avalon Lakes. “How good they are is yet to be determined. You never know how a new coach is going to handle adversity. We saw it last year when he was in an interim role.

“He did a good role, but it’s not one game, it’s not one season. It has to be sustained, especially with a fan base like Ohio State’s.”

Inspiring Minds provides free after-school and summer programming to disadvantaged youth.

An accurate indicator of how well a coaching change will work can be seen in recruiting. The Buckeyes didn’t take a major recruiting hit after Meyer announced his retirement. The 2019 crop was among the highest ranked per player rating in the country, and the 2020 class is shaping up as a top-10 finisher.

The biggest catch was the transfer of quarterback Justin Fields from the University of Georgia. Fields, the top-ranked quarterback in the 2018 class, found himself behind Jake Fromm in Athens.

“I’m not surprised [by the recruiting successes],” said Dan “Boom” Herron, a former Warren Harding and Buckeye running back. “It’s still the Ohio State University. People know what comes with that. When you put a great guy into a head-coaching job, I think it’s going to keep pumping and guys will want to come to Ohio State.”

Doug Datish, an offensive lineman at Howland High School and Ohio State, has confidence in the coaching transition being a success because of the stability that surrounds Day.

“I think there were some important people to keep on staff, which he did,” Datish said. “I think he’s on the right track because he was running a lot of those things as it was last year anyways. I was down there for a camp when Urban was suspended, and it didn’t seem like they were missing a beat when I was there.”

There’s a belief by some in all college fan bases that the head coach should have ties to the program dating to early in life. Meyer is from the Ashtabula area. Tressel was born in Mentor and graduated from Berea High School near Cleveland. Day is from Manchester, N.H., a city known more for attracting national politicians during primary season than producing football coaches.

“I think he’s been inculcated into the culture pretty aggressively,” Datish said. “I think he’ll be great. Now will he understand what it truly means? Yes, I do because the fans, players and administrators don’t let you forget it.”

Cardinal Mooney grad and New England Patriot John Simon hasn’t met Day, but he’s of the belief that the Buckeye train will continue to roll.

“It’s the culture that’s been instilled there for years,” said Simon, a former Ohio State defensive lineman. “That’s what makes it so special.”