The Cradle of Coaches is a nickname given to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio for producing star football coaches including Earl Blaik, Paul Brown, Woody Hayes, Bill Arnsparger, George Little, Weeb Ewbank, Sid Gillman, Ara Parseghian, Bo Schembechler, John Pont, Carmen Cozza, Bill Mallory, Jim Tressel, Joe Novak, Ron Zook, Dick Crum, Paul Dietzel, William Narduzzi, Randy Walker, John Harbaugh, Gary Moeller, Larry Smith, Dick Tomey, Sean Payton and Terry Hoeppner.
Miami fields a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision program in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). Miami started playing football in 1888 but did not have a paid coach until C. K. Fauver in 1895.
Miami has also produced notable basketball coaches Darrell Hedric, Randy Ayers, Herb Sendek, Thad Matta and Sean Miller. Hedric, currently a scout for the Toronto Raptors, is an Ohio and Cincinnati Basketball Hall of Famer and holds the record for Miami victories. Ayers was a four-year starter for Miami, leading the team to back-to-back NCAA appearances in 1977 and 1978, and later served as a head coach for Ohio State and assistant coach in the National Basketball Association. Sendek began his head coaching career at Miami and led the RedHawks to the postseason in each of his three seasons. Matta, currently the head coach at Ohio State, was an assistant under Sendek for one memorable year that included a regular season MAC championship and NCAA tournament appearance, and also for one year under current head coach Charlie Coles.
Baseball Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston is also a graduate of Miami. Additionally, current University of Denver head hockey coach George Gwozdecky served as head coach at Miami prior to leaving for Denver.
Contents |
| Induction Year | Name | Sport - Current Coaching Position | Miami University Class of |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Weeb Ewbank * | Football | 1928 |
| 1992 | Bob Kurz † | Football | 1958 |
| 1992 | Bill Narduzzi | Football | 1959 |
| 1992 | John Pont | Football | 1952 |
| 1993 | Paul Brown | Football | 1930 |
| 1993 | Mel Knowlton | Football | 1937 |
| 1993 | Ara Parseghian | Football | 1949 |
| 1994 | Bill Arnsparger | Football | 1950 |
| 1994 | Paul Dietzel | Football | 1948 |
| 1994 | Jack Llewellyn | ||
| 1995 | Jack Faulkner | Football | |
| 1995 | Joe Codiano | Football | |
| 1995 | Bill Mallory | Football | 1957 |
| 1996 | John Brickels | Football | |
| 1996 | Hal Paul | ||
| 1996 | Dick Shrider | Basketball | |
| 1997 | Jerry Hanlon | Football | |
| 1997 | John McVay | Football | |
| 1997 | Frank Shands | ||
| 1998 | Carmen Cozza | 1952 | |
| 1998 | Marvin Morehead | ||
| 1998 | Ernie Plank | Football | 1950 |
| 2001 | Dick Crum | Football | |
| 2001 | Darrell Hedric | Basketball | 1955 |
| 2001 | Lou Kaczmarek | Football | 1950 |
| 2001 | Rich Voiers | Basketball | 1957 |
| 2001 | Walter "Smokey" Alston | Baseball | 1935 |
| 2001 | Earl "Red" Blaik | Football | 1918 |
| 2001 | Leann Davidge | Tennis | |
| 2001 | Woody Hayes | Football | |
| 2001 | Raymond Ray | ||
| 2001 | George Rider | Cross Country ‡ | |
| 2001 | William (Bill) Rohr | Basketball | |
| 2002 | Peggy Bradley-Doppes | Volleyball - UNC Wilmington Director of Athletics | |
| 2002 | Denny Marcin | Football - NY Jets | 1964 |
| 2002 | Nick Mourouzis | Football - DePauw | 1959 |
| 2002 | Jim Rose | Basketball | 1951 |
| 2002 | Marvin McCollum | Basketball | 1948 |
| 2002 | Ron Zook | Football - Illinois | 1976 |
| 2006 | George Gwozdecky | Hockey - Denver |
* Weeb Ewbank played football, basketball and baseball at Miami, and coached the basketball team before becoming an established football coach.
† Bob Kurz wrote "Miami of Ohio - the Cradle of Coaches" book
‡ George Rider coached 5 sports at Miami: football, basketball, baseball, track, and most notably cross country
Recently the nickname has been applied to the entire state.[1] Native-born Ohio or Ohio-linked coaches dominate the top football programs in the Southeastern Conference, including national championship coaches Les Miles at Louisiana State University, Urban Meyer formerly at the University of Florida and currently at The Ohio State University, and Kent State University alum Nick Saban at the University of Alabama.[1] National championship coach Bob Stoops from the University of Oklahoma is a native, and Pete Carroll from the University of Southern California was an Ohio State assistant.[1] Bo Pelini of the University of Nebraska and Gary Pinkel of the University of Missouri are also native-Ohioans, and in 2008 the state had produced natives totalling 15% of the college head football coach ranks while only having 4% of the population, while 15 of the last 20 teams to play for the college football national championship had head coaches with Ohio connections.[1]
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