Greg Gillum going to columbus state

[zipboy]

It was an offer Greg Gillum couldn't refuse.

After just a few short months as Wooster High School's athletic director, Gillum is expected to be named to a position on the football staff at Ohio State today.

Gillum, who came to Wooster from Ashland University in earlyMay, was officially offered a newly-created position, one with an emphasis on recruiting, by OSU head coach Jim Tressel earlier this week.

"Growing up in Ohio and playing and coaching high school football in Ohio, and then college coaching, it's an awesome feeling to get this opportunity," said Gillum, 43, a native of Plymouth in Richland County.

"It's a dream come true."

Gillum has been associated with current Ashland University and former Akron head coach and OSU assistant Lee Owens throughout his career. He was recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach at both places, and also served on Owens' staff at both Galion High School, where he came after graduating from Ohio State, and Massillon Washington. He also spent three seasons as head football coach at Lyndhurst Brush High School near Cleveland.

At Akron, Gillum was on staff with Luke Fickell and John Peterson, both former OSU players now on Tressel's staff. Peterson is the recruiting coordinator/tight ends coach, while Fickell is the co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach.

"Ohio State recruiting has been effective with the top kids in Ohio, but Coach Tressel thinks it's important to start identifying those kids a little earlier, both in the state and nationally," said Gillum.

Although his tenure at Wooster High was brief, it wasn't without controversy. Hired after a search that drew applicants from across the country, one of Gillum's initial moves was a decision not to renew the contract of long-time girls head basketball coach Mike Gallagher, winner of almost 400 games in 19 seasons, replacing him with 24-year-old Amy Sexton, a freshman coach at GlenOak. Gillum also hired boys basketball coach Chris Stokes, and has been working on filling vacancies in boys and girls lacrosse, golf, and softball.

"Coach Jim Tressel has been courting Greg for some time and Greg stated that this was a bittersweet decision for him," Wooster Superintendent Dr. Dan Good said in a press release Thursday morning.

"Certainly, we wish Greg the best as he pursues this career path."

Good announced his recommendation that Brad Warner, 36, become the new AD at Wooster High. Warner, a 1987 Wooster graduate and currently the athletic director at nearby Smithville High, was a finalist from among 80 applicants when Gillum was hired.

"Brad is a graduate of our school system and has experience in coaching, teaching, and providing oversight to the athletics program of (Smithville)," Good said. "Brad's energy and experience will allow for an immediate, seamless transition."

Pending approval by Wooster's Board of Education, Warner will takeover for Gillum in mid-July.

[InTheZone]

Greg Gillium was one of the most well liked coaches by the players on the old staff. He coached quite a few great recievers in his time here as well, including Lavell Bailey, Jake Schifino, Matt Cherry, Miquel Irvin, and Nick Sparks. Congratulations to him on his new position on Tressel's staff.

[GP1]

This article presents an interesting lesson on what a Division I program should look like at the coaching level. If you look at this guys resume, it is high school experience prior to coming to Akron. Owens had a staff loaded with guys like this, especially at the end. With the exception of Fickell and Peterson, I can't think of any assistants of his that really went onto big time programs, but that doesn't mean there aren't any either. Fickell going to OSU was a no brainer, but Peterson did not even leave Akron to go to a big time program. His next step was Miami, which says a lot about the direction Owens was taking the program. The lesson here is that if the capt. of the boat isn't quite certain which direction to pilot the ship, and the crew isn't certain as well, the boat goes in circles.

Faust on the other hand had great assistant coaches that went onto big time programs. The problem was that Faust was a high school coach. I think we have all learned our lesson about hiring coaches with mostly HS experience. I'm looking at a photo of the 1987 Zips, which was the first year of Division I. Bob Shaw was the defensive coordinator, and he went onto WVU to be the DC when they played Notre Dame for the national championship. Coach Shaw also coached at many big time programs such as Arizona prior to Akron. Andy Urbanic was the offensive coordinator and is now assistant AD at Florida State. Coach Urbanic coached at Pitt prior to Akron and was the head coach at Bethany College prior to that. Jim Corrigal (sp?) went onto be the head coach at Can't State. Jim was also a Hall of Fame player in the CFL. Gerald Carr was the QB coach and later went to North Carolina, Indiana and the Philadelphia Eagles and is now with Kentucky. Mike Woodford was the DB coach and continued to coach after winning $27 million in the Ohio Lottery. He was at the New Orleans Saints, recently with Florida until Zook flamed out and will coach against Akron in the fall because he is at MTSU. Hal Hunter was a great young OL coach at the time and went onto Vandy, LSU, was the offensive coordinator at Indiana and is now with North Carolina. Hunter beat Auburn the last game of the season as the head coach at LSU after the head coach got fired. Ivy Williams was the WR coach and came to Akron from the Detroit Lions. He was later made famous, or mabye infamous, by being the coach at Alabama who got the program into recruiting trouble. I don't think another big time program will take another shot at Ivy because of it and he is now at Sav. State in Georgia. Chris Ball was a grad assistant that year and he coached at several Div. II and I-AA schools out west. He is now DB coach at Alabama. Virgil Starks was another grad assistant and he served as Associate Dean at U of A for a number of years and is now Assistant AD at Auburn. Feel free to Google any of these coaches and you will see their complete resume. Every coach Faust had was a career professonal coach. What's the lesson here? No matter how good the crew is, if the capt. can't pilot the boat in a straight direction, the boat just goes in circles.

Nine years of Faust and nine years of Owens. I'm dizzy from going in circles for 18 years. I'm happy we now have a coach with professional and college experience only and a staff of college coaches. It appears as if we have the right capt. and crew to get the boat going straight. Time will tell if they have the right map or not. I think they do.

There is one more person in the 1987 photo who needs mentioned. You will not meet a better person. I wish I knew where he is keeping that Fountain of Youth so I could get a drink. Who is it? Kevin O'Connor, the Equipment Manager. This guy is still with Akron and after 18 years doesn't look a day older. He never forgets a face or a name. Here's to you Kevin.

Thanks to ITZ for once again giving everyone a platform to sound off. You always bring up an issue that can lead to good discussion.

Have a good day everyone.

[Z-P]

Well done and a great read GP-1...............thanks.

[GP1]

Well done and a great read GP-1...............thanks.

No problem. Maybe someday when I'm on vacation and have a couple of hours, I'll go through the coaches Faust had on his staff and not just in 1987. I think if some of you knew who was on the staff and where they are now, you wouldn't believe the team didn't win under Faust. Coach Faust was such a nice man though, I hate to print anything that will make him come off in a poor light.