Ohio Dominican football facing big challenges this season

           

A new coach. A new NCAA classification. A new conference and new opponents.

 

            If change is good, the Ohio Dominican University football program should be good to go this season and beyond.

            The Panthers’ move to NCAA Division II from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) continues this fall with their second year of provisional status before becoming a full member in 2011-12. The transition is a major leap forward for the only broad-based Roman Catholic university in the Diocese of Columbus.

            In football, Division II is a step below the NCAA’s two highest levels – the Bowl Championship Subdivision (major colleges such as Ohio State) and the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA).

            “The linemen are bigger and the skilled athletes are faster in Division II” than in the NAIA, Ohio Dominican coach Bill Conley said.

            The ODU football team showed last Saturday in its first game as a member of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference that it could play with the big boys, losing to Northwood (Mich.) University 28-12 before 1,750 fans at Panther Field after leading in the first half.

            The game also was the first as head coach for Conley, whose name should sound familiar to fans in this football-crazy state. Conley is a former Ohio State assistant and recruiting coordinator who took the ODU job in January after Dale Carlson, the coach since the Panthers fielded their first team six years ago, left to start a football program at Valparaiso University.

            Conley’s staff includes some newcomers and a few holdovers from the previous regime.

            Jim Bickel, a former head coach at Capital University, is the defensive coordinator and Todd Goebbel, a former assistant at Marshall and Ohio State, is in his first year as offensive coordinator. Among the ODU assistants are Mike Tomczak, a former Ohio State and NFL quarterback; Pepe Pearson, a standout running back for the Buckeyes in the 1990s; former Buckeyes Winfield Garnett and Lorenzo Styles; and Cris Reisert, Ohio Dominican’s career passing and total offense leader.

            Sprinkle in some new starters and some different schemes and there’s bound to be an adjustment period on the field this fall as Division II newbies.  

            Conley expects that to be the case, but it doesn’t mean he’s considering the season to be merely a learning experience against higher-caliber competition.

            The Panthers finished last season with a 7-3 record against a schedule that included several Division II opponents. And they’ve been to the NAIA playoffs. So it’s not as though they don’t know what they’re getting into in this brave new world.

            For the players, the noticeable differences, in addition to the competition, are increased strength and conditioning work, faster-paced practices, attention to detail, and more film study.

            “Our expectation is to get better each week and get better in every practice and game,” Conley said. “We’re very demanding. We run this like a Division I program when it comes to structure and organization.”

            The GLIAC consists entirely of Division II programs from Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana, and is considered one of the top Division II conferences in the nation. GLIAC teams have played in the national championship game in five of the past seven years.

            Five of the 14 GLIAC football schools -- Ohio Dominican, Findlay, Ashland, Tiffin, and Lake Erie – are located in Ohio.

            “Our No. 1 goal is to beat the Ohio Division II teams,” Conley said.

            That includes on the field and in recruiting.

            With a maximum of 36 scholarships to offer in Division II football, Conley has expanded his recruiting base beyond fertile Ohio ground to hotbeds such as Florida and the East Coast. The 2010 ODU roster has seven players from Maryland and six from Florida.

            Recruiting shouldn’t be a problem for Conley. While at Ohio State, he was considered one of the best in the nation at evaluating and attracting talented players. After he left OSU, Conley worked as a recruiting analyst for ESPN and as a broadcaster.

            Billy Griffin, a fifth-year senior quarterback from Columbus Bishop Watterson and a team captain, expects Conley to elevate the talent level in the same charismatic way he has inspired his team in eight months on the job.

            “He’s a motivational speaker,” Griffin said. “Every time he talks to the team, you just want to get out there and play football. It’s been nothing but positive with coach Conley. I haven’t heard a negative thing from the players about any of the new coaches.”

            To elevate the program to a more recognizable level, Conley has attracted increased media attention (St. Gabriel Radio 1580 AM will broadcast all 10 games) and used his Ohio State ties to bring in Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel for a fund-raiser. Conley is hoping fans in central Ohio will notice that there’s a Division II football team in Columbus and will embrace the Panthers. 

            “We’ll go out in the next 12 months to give the university more exposure,” Conley said. “You’ll never be as popular as Ohio State, but we want to be second, the ones right behind them.”

            Conley’s tiered approach to success starts with graduating players, beating Ohio teams, and eventually winning the GLIAC and the national championship. He knows it will take time.                  

            “We can’t expect to be highly recognized yet,” Conley said. “We haven’t done anything to deserve it.”

            Winning games will help Ohio Dominican football gain recognition in Division II, but Conley emphasizes that developing young men as good citizens is equally important.

            “Our kids are not only football players and good students,” Conley said, “but they have to be active in our outreach program. Our kids will be going to schools, nursing homes, homeless shelters, hospitals, and the military to do outreach. And that develops the whole person, which is part of the mission of a Catholic university.

            “Our first line of our Panther mission statement is ‘the ultimate goal of the Ohio Dominican University football program is to help the student-athletes grow in mind, body and spirit.’ And by putting faith, family, and team in front of personal glory, we can gain prominence in college football. We talk about that a lot.”

            And maybe soon more fans will be talking about Ohio Dominican football.

 

2010 Schedule

 

Sept. 11 Northwood (Mich.) University L 12-28

Sept. 18 Ferris State (Mich.) University, noon
Sept. 25 at Wayne State (Mich.) University, noon

Oct. 2 at Michigan Tech, 1 p.m.

Oct. 9 Hillsdale (Mich.) College, Homecoming, 7 p.m.

Oct. 16 University of Findlay, 1 p.m.
Oct. 23 at Tiffin University, 1:30 p.m.

Oct. 30 at Lake Erie College, 1 p.m.

Nov. 6 Ashland University, noon
Nov. 13 at University of Indianapolis, 2 p.m.