The last time there was a new head coach of one of the participating teams in The Game who took some coaches from its rival, it worked out well, at least in year one.
But after that, it hasn’t exactly gone to plan.
Of course, we’re speaking of Ryan Day and Ohio State. In 2019, Day poached Greg Mattison and Al Washington from the Michigan football coaching staff and proceeded to beat the Wolverines in his first year, 56-27. However, that’s Day’s only win in the series, and Sherrone Moore hopes, certainly to win this year, but to continue beyond that.
Moore poached a behind-the-scenes staffer in Erin Dunston, but as importantly, he managed to steal away running backs coach Tony Alford from the Buckeyes after he spent nine years with the program. Alford shared with Jon Jansen on the In the Trenches Podcast just how important the rivalry is as well as his view of it.
“A lot — yeah, a lot,” Alford said. “But I will say this, too, it’s about the players. And there’s always going to be side stories and different side things that are going to be said and reasons of this, and different motivations and that and the other. And those are all real, and to sit up here and say it’s not would be a bald-faced lie.
“However, it always goes back to the players. And this is a heated rivalry, goes back many, many years, as you know. But again, this is about the players and putting our players in the best position to have success and like I said, they’re gonna have theirs over there and we’ll have ours and they’ll have their coaches, we’ll have ours and we’ll kind of see what goes. We’ll line them up.”
It’s unclear what Alford is referring to with the ‘side stories’ and ‘different side things’ or ‘reasons of this.’ Given that he was in Columbus the past three years when OSU had plenty of excuses as to why the Buckeyes have come up short, it could have had something to do with that. Of course, Alford could also be referencing why he left Ohio State as a side story, and he admitted to Jansen that he just felt like it was time to leave.
“I think it was time. I mean, for everyone,” Alford said. “There was just a time for a change for both parties. And I believe — I don’t want to speak for Ohio State and their staff, but I felt like that’s what they wanted, too. And I was kind of moving in that direction. And it was certainly time for me as well.”