[Ed: Special thanks to Katie Hying for this wonderful wrap-up of the first annual Football Women's Clinic.]
From the time he set foot on campus Urban Meyer set out to assemble the best coaching staff in college football. We’ll know more about that in the fall, but at Saturday’s first annual Women’s Football Clinic 800 women of all ages (I mean all ages – there was proud Buckeye who was 83!) got to experience the staff’s passion and intensity first hand. The event benefitted the Stefanie Spielman Fund and provided an up-close experience with the new coaches while learning more about the game of football and taking part in some intense drills.
I am a 2009 graduate from the Fisher College of Business and attended with my mother, a 19XX nursing grad whose claim to fame is that Archie Griffin once held a door for her while she was going to class. Buckeye football tradition runs deep in our family – so we jumped on the opportunity to attend. In the interest of full disclosure, the last time I saw Urban Meyer in person I was sulking down the stairs of University of Phoenix stadium while orange and blue confetti rained down from the ceiling in January 2007. As he was hired on last fall, it took some time to shake my bitterness but as time went on I’ve become fully team Urban and I gladly stood in line on Saturday to get my picture with him, as did the 800 other women at the clinic.
The other coaches were hanging out to sign autographs and take pictures as well and the lines around Buckeye legends Luke Fickell and Mike Vrabel (dubbed the “prettiest defensive coaches in the country”) seemed longer than Meyer’s at times. Some of newer faces on the coaching staff had less attention and Stan Drayton made a point to say he had no line to take pictures with him. After the event and his high-energy speeches about “having juice or being juiceless” a lot more Buckeye women will recognize him and the other coaches.
Following the autograph session, Gene Smith shared the responsibilities of the coaches and athletic department. Then each member was introduced of the coaching staff which helped place the names we’ve all heard in recent months to some of the unfamiliar faces in red coaches’ polos.
