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Former DC Kerry Coombs (Cincy Bearcats Interim Head Coach)

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Recruiting power shifts
Energetic Coombs could help lure Southwest Ohio's top-notch football talent to Ohio State
Mar. 5, 2012
Written by
Mike Dyer

When Colerain football coach Kerry Coombs left to become an assistant at the University of Cincinnati in 2006, the school community knew the program would be forever different, but then-athletic director Dan Moody insisted it wasn?t a funeral.

It?s obvious the complexion of local college recruiting changed last week when Coombs left UC for Ohio State. Coombs, who was in charge of recruiting in Southwest Ohio for the Bearcats, was the epitome of the passion this area has for its teams. That was evident in the way he excelled in public relations.

It?s difficult to imagine Coombs in scarlet and gray after years of recruiting against the Buckeyes, but as area coaches said last week, college football is a business. In other words, adaptations are made any time there are changes.

It was a month to the day that Colerain senior safety Andre Jones and other area players signed with the Bearcats. Although Jones was disappointed by Coombs departure, Colerain coach Tom Bolden said Jones understood he is committed to the UC program, not just one coach.

?UC football is UC football,? Bolden said. ?They will win with guys like Andre.?

Still, Bolden didn?t see Coombs? departure coming. Coombs, who lives near Colerain High School, visited the school in late January.

?I was probably as shocked as Andre to be honest with you,? said Bolden. ?The more I work it over, the more I understand ? (Kerry) held this one pretty close to the vest. I had no idea.?

The impact Coombs has on Ohio State recruiting in Southwest Ohio remains to be seen, but area high school coaches expect nothing less than high energy from a coach who built a great deal of credibility in the area.

?I think he is a big time recruiter because of how passionate he is,? Moeller coach John Rodenberg said. ?He knows how to talk (to the players). He understands that perfect blend ? He is professional about it.?
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http://communitypress.cincinnati.co...0167/Recruiting-power-shifts?odyssey=nav|head
 
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Official.site

Kerry Coombs Named Cornerbacks Coach
Lifetime Ohioan was one of the finest high school coaches in state history
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Kerry Coombs
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March 7, 2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer announced today that Kerry Coombs, an assistant coach at the University of Cincinnati the past five years and before that an outstanding Ohio high school head coach at Colerain, has been named an assistant coach for the Buckeyes in charge of the team's cornerbacks.
Coombs, associate head coach at UC in addition to his responsibilities as the team's defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator, follows the trend of Ohio State assistants who are not only considered terrific coaches, but are coaches with ties to the state of Ohio.
Coombs [pronounced "combs"] grew up in Colerain, graduated from Colerain High School in 1979 and from the University of Dayton in 1983, and has a master's degree from Wright State (1996). He was a high school coach in Ohio for 24 seasons, including a highly successful 16-year run as head coach at Colerain, located just outside of Cincinnati.
"Kerry Coombs had an incredible record of achievement as a high school head coach and he is highly regarded as one of the great coaches in Ohio high school football history," Meyer said. "I have watched him coach in high school and at the University of Cincinnati and I have great respect for the way he works. He is a strong recruiter. He knows defense and special teams. And he is an excellent teacher."
And he wants to be at Ohio State.
"I am incredibly excited to be on this coaching staff," Coombs said. "I am overwhelmed by the quality of everything, especially the coaches and the players. When you grow up in Ohio, there are things you don't allow yourself to dream about. I watched Woody and Archie and Pete Johnson and Cornelius Greene...and now I get to coach here? This is unbelievably humbling and gratifying for me.
"This team is full of Ohio kids wanting to win a national championship for their state school. It's hard for me to imagine having a better opportunity than this." Coombs has 29 years of coaching behind him as he enters the 2012 season with the Buckeyes, including five years with the Bearcats. Hired away from Colerain by Brian Kelly after the 2006 high school season, Coombs was part of Kelly's three Cincinnati teams that were 33-7 overall and played in BCS bowl games after the 2008 (Orange Bowl vs. Virginia Tech) and 2009 (Sugar Bowl vs. Florida) seasons.
After Kelly left UC for Notre Dame after the 2009 season, Coombs stayed on new UC coach Butch Jones' staff. After an initial 4-8 season under Jones, Cincinnati went 10-3 this past season with a Liberty Bowl win over Vanderbilt.
While at UC Coombs mentored three NFL draft picks: second-team All-American and UC career interception leader Mike Mickens (Dallas Cowboys), 2007 NCAA interception leader DeAngelo Smith (Dallas Cowboys) and all-BIG EAST performer Brandon Underwood (Green Bay Packers). He also coached Haruki Nakamura in 2007, his first year at UC and a year the Bearcats led the nation with 26 interceptions.
Coombs, a member of the University of Dayton's 1980 Division III national championship team while studying secondary education, charged through the high school ranks after his playing days were over. He spent two seasons as an assistant at Greenhills High School and four at Lakota before taking over as head coach at Loveland in 1989. Two years later - 1991 - he took over at Colerain.
In 16 seasons at Colerain Coombs' teams went to 10 state playoffs, including five state semifinal berths. His 2004 team won the Division I state championship with a 15-0 mark that included a record-setting title game win over Canton McKinley, 50-10. It was - and still is - the most points scored and the largest margin of victory in the Ohio "big school" state title game.
Colerain won seven consecutive Greater Miami Conference championships under Coombs from 2000-06, and Coombs had a 161-34 record as head coach. His overall head coaching record through 18 seasons is 167-48.
Coombs sent five of his Colerain players to Ohio State, including Jefferson Kelley in the mid-1990s and most recently Connor and Spencer Smith and Tyler Moeller. He played on Colerain teams that included the Smith brothers' father, Joe, an Academic All-Big Ten lineman for the Buckeyes in the early 1980s.
Coombs and his wife, Holly, are the parents of three grown children: son Brayden played collegiately at Miami (Ohio) and is currently on staff with the Cincinnati Bengals; daughter Courtney played soccer at Ball State; and son Dylan is a high school senior.
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"When you grow up in Ohio, there are things you don't allow yourself to dream about. I watched Woody and Archie and Pete Johnson and Cornelius Greene ... and now I get to coach here? This is unbelievably humbling and gratifying for me."
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This quote is awesome. :banger:

It made me think about the fact that over the course of my life, there have been more different Presidents of the United States than head coaches of Ohio State football, and this includes OSU having three different head coaches in the past 11 months. Going back to 1951, there have been six different head coaches at OSU to twelve different US Presidents.

So if you're a dreamer, remember that being the most powerful man in the free world is an easier goal than to be the most powerful man in the state of Ohio.
 
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DaddyBigBucks;2122234; said:
Tweet from an Ozone.net reporter:

"I was out of my seat and saying yes before he was finished asking the question." -- Kerry Coombs on being offered a job at OSU. -- Tony Gerdeman (@GerdOzone)
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If I were to start using a sig again, I'd serious consider using this...
 
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Kerry Coombs getting feet wet in Columbus
Former Colerain, UC coach oversees Buckeyes pro day
Mar. 10, 2012

COLUMBUS ? Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin got a mild surprise during Ohio State?s Pro Day. He saw an old friend on the sidelines wearing scarlet and gray.

With his hiring as Ohio State?s cornerbacks coach made official on Wednesday, Coombs made his first public appearance as a member of the Buckeyes staff. Tomlin didn?t even know about the move until Friday. The two have been longtime friends, going back to when Tomlin was an assistant at UC and Coombs was the head coach at Colerain.

After five years at UC, Coombs? move to Columbus took many by surprise, even Coombs himself.

?I never had a vision of doing this but when that opportunity is presented to you, it?s really hard to pass up,? he said. ?I?m a lucky man. I owe so much to Colerain High School and the University of Cincinnati and people in town that have done so much. I called all my players and said thank you because I have this opportunity for what they?ve done.?

Coombs and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer have known each other a long time, dating to Meyer?s days at Bowling Green when he would be recruiting Coombs? players at Colerain. What struck Coombs at the time was that Meyer was the only head coach who would visit schools without an assistant.

A couple of years later, when Meyer was the head coach at Utah and came back to speak at a coaches clinic at UC, Coombs gave Meyer a tape of his son, Brayden, who was a junior at Colerain at the time, to evaluate.

?I didn?t know how big of a deal it was then. Three days later I get a full written report from the staff at Utah that outlines what the strengths and weaknesses were and how to go forward,? Coombs said.

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http://news.cincinnati.com/article/...lumbus?odyssey=tab|mostpopular|text|FRONTPAGE
 
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Commentary: Kerry Coombs makes his presence known as Ohio State football kicks off spring practice
By Thomas Bradley
[email protected]
Published: Wednesday, March 28, 2012

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Cody Cousino / Photo editor

OSU defensive backs coach Kerry Coombs shouts instructions at his players during the first day of spring practice March 28 in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

As he roamed the field for the first practice of Ohio State?s spring football season, coach Urban Meyer?s demeanor was calm. He was in control. The field was his.

The loudest guy out there was not the former Florida head coach, but the newest hire on Meyer?s staff, the cornerbacks coach from the University of Cincinnati.

Kerry Coombs, hired after Bill Sheridan?s departure to the NFL, was the most vocal and most engaging coach to watch on the field.

Working with the cornerbacks in position drills, Coombs took command of the situation, barked out orders and asserted himself as a presence on the field you would expect from a long-time coach ? not one that has been on the team for less than a month.

Cornerback position drills included more than 20 minutes of footwork, ranging from side-to-side fast-feet drills, drills to keep the corners low and drills designed to have them catch a tennis ball.

Coombs was the loudest on the field, yelling things such as ?Stay down,? or ?Get low,? or my favorite, ?You have to catch the ball!?

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http://www.thelantern.com/sports/co...ks-off-spring-practice-1.2831736#.T3RRbdXd2Ag
 
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I can't wait to see what coach coombs can do with our young dbs like grant, tanner, Murray, Powell and reeves. And hopefully he can get some production out of corey "pittsburgh" brown, I always thought that he'd be a playmaker at S for us and just needed to get healthy.
 
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pnuts34;2136424; said:
I can't wait to see what coach coombs can do with our young dbs like grant, tanner, Murray, Powell and reeves. And hopefully he can get some production out of corey "pittsburgh" brown, I always thought that he'd be a playmaker at S for us and just needed to get healthy.
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Coach Withers is coaching the Safeties. I'm actually eager to see how every coach does with their respective position players, but Coombs is a character, and I'm curious to see how the CBs develop with him.
 
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Coombs took unusual path to OSU
BY DAVID BRIGGS
BLADE SPORTS WRITER

COLUMBUS ? The path to coaching on Saturday afternoons once began on Friday nights, in classrooms and pigskin-centric communities big and small across Ohio.

Woody Hayes started as an assistant in Mingo Junction, an old steel town of some 3,600 residents on the Ohio-West Virginia border, then spent four seasons at New Philadelphia. Gerry Faust coached 19 seasons at Moeller in Cincinnati before he was hired to lead Notre Dame in 1980. And Massillon Washington became a nationally recognized springboard, its past coaches including Hall of Famer Paul Brown, Bob Commings, and Earle Bruce.

"Massillon was the pipeline to college," said Dover coach Dan Ifft, the outgoing president of the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association. "You'd coach at Massillon, and their expectations were three years later you'd go into the college level."

But over the years, the preps-to-college pipeline dried. The once-egalitarian system that allowed successful high school coaches like Bruce to leap from Massillon to an assistant position at OSU under Hayes in 1965 gave way to a new divide. Most aspiring college coaches now enter the ranks from the cradle.

"Today, you've got to go through the GA [graduate assistant] process to get indoctrinated," said Ifft, whose son, Dan, is a graduate assistant under first-year Toledo coach Matt Campbell.

That is why Ifft and his colleagues find the throwback scenario unfolding at Ohio State so refreshing.

As part of first-year Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer's pledge to field a staff with knowledge of the state's landscape, he hired two longtime former Ohio high school football coaches: Tim Hinton and Kerry Coombs.

Hinton, who coaches tight ends, was the head coach at Marion Harding from 1993-2003 while Coombs, the cornerbacks coach, is one of college football's biggest outliers.

Coombs spent his first 24 seasons as a coach at the high school level, including 16 as the head coach at Colerain, where he led the Cincinnati-area school to the 2004 Division I state championship. Meyer called him "one of the great coaches in Ohio high school football history."

"I was going to be a high school football coach until the day I die," Coombs said.

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http://www.toledoblade.com/Ohio-State/2012/04/18/Coombs-took-unusual-path-to-OSU-1.html
 
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