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Head Coach
Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame: Former Ohio State coach loves his sport
Enlarge Image Randy Ayers coached Ohio State from 1989 to ?97, going 124-108.
By Bill Rabinowitz
The Columbus Dispatch Friday May 17, 2013
Randy Ayers was a budding star in Springfield, playing for Roosevelt Junior High as an eighth-grader, when he got a harsh lesson in handling adversity.
?I reacted to a call and got a technical,? Ayers said. ?It ended up being a 5-point play, so it went from a 5-point deficit to 10.?
The next day in practice, coach Tom Wilson dressed him down.
?He told me in front of the team the next day that it was inexcusable,? Ayers said. ?You look back, and I think that had a big impact on me.?
Ayers became a standout at Springfield North High School and then at Miami University before embarking on a coaching career. There have been lows as well as highs ? he had both as Ohio State?s coach ? but Ayers has carved out a successful career doing what he still loves. On Saturday, he will be one of 12 inductees into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame at a banquet at the Columbus Convention Center.
?The flattering thing is that I?m going in as a coach, which to me is because of the coaches I had on me growing up had a big influence on my life,? Ayers said. ?To be able to go in as coach is really something special.?
Ayers, 57, is an assistant for the New Orleans Pelicans (formerly Hornets) in the NBA, where he has coached since his firing from OSU in 1997. He had a brief stint as coach of the Philadelphia 76ers in 2003. With the Buckeyes, he coached a team led by Jimmy Jackson, Chris Jent and Mark Baker that fell just short of the Final Four. In 1991, Ayers was named the national Coach of the Year.
?We had a nice three-year run with that group,? Ayers said. ?That group was such an unselfish group.?
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http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/content/stories/2013/05/17/ex-osu-coach-loves-his-sport.html