Article published September 07, 2008
Ohio coaches fraternity: Arizona has hired many from Buckeye state
By MAUREEN FULTON
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
TUCSON - The state of Ohio has long had an impact on University of Arizona football.
Five of the last six head coaches for the Wildcats are from Ohio. That includes Mike Stoops, who grew up in Youngstown. Four members of Stoops' staff, including his younger brother Mark, the defensive coordinator, also come from Ohio.
Stoops, in his fifth season as Arizona coach, is one of several Division I-A football coaches from Ohio, including his counterpart at Arizona Stadium last night, University of Toledo's Tom Amstutz. Others include Florida coach Urban Meyer, Louisiana State coach Les Miles, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, Nebraska coach Bo Pelini, Purdue coach Joe Tiller, and Missouri coach Gary Pinkel.
Amstutz and Stoops both shared observations this week on why so many successful college football coaches come from the Buckeye State.
"Ohio football is something that's really important," Amstutz said. "Young men grow up with it in high school, and it's something you're sort of expected to do is play high school football. It's a really big part of all the little towns in Ohio, it's a strong part of the culture that we have in Ohio."
Stoops and Amstutz don't know each other, but Stoops has known UT tight ends coach Vince Marrow since they were little. Stoops and Marrow both went to Cardinal Mooney High School, and Stoops took a recruiting visit to Iowa with Marrow's brother, Brian."I think it goes back to obviously we come from a lot of blue-collar towns," Stoops said. "A lot of our family was in sports, and we like that competitiveness. There's a lot of emphasis put on it in Ohio at a very young age. It paid off for a lot of people. It was really the main sport in Ohio."
Arizona linebackers coach Tim Kish has some northwest Ohio ties. After growing up in the Columbus suburb of Westerville, he got his master's degree in 1978 at Bowling Green. He was the defensive coordinator at Ohio in 2001.
"They used to give baby boys born in Ohio a little football - or at least they did years ago," Kish told the Arizona Daily Star. "That's how you grow up there."
Stoops' mother, Dee, still lives in Youngstown along with several aunts and uncles. The eldest Stoops brother, Ron, Jr., is the defensive coordinator at Cardinal Mooney.
"We go back every year," Mike Stoops said.
Mike Stoops has always worked out of state, but Mark Stoops was the athletic director at Nordonia Hills High School in Northfield, Ohio, from 1992-1995. Mark has run the defense and coached the defensive backs since Mike was hired in 2004.
Also, associate head coach Dana Dimel is from Columbus, and graduate assistant Frank Buffano coached at Cardinal Mooney. Despite the ties, the Wildcats don't have any Ohio natives on their roster.
"It's not worth it for us," Stoops said. "Too many good teams out there."
Stoops hasn't spent much time in Toledo but still has fond memories of it.
"I used to drive through it back from Iowa every single year," Stoops said. "That's how I knew I was getting close to home."
Contact Maureen Fulton at:
mfulton@theblade.com
or 419-724-6160.
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