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Former LB Coach Al Washington (Official Thread)

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OhioState001 said:
Never even been a coordinator before. That seems like quite a jump
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Not singling you out, but gone are the years of “traditional” thinking.

Who would’ve thought Lincoln Riley would force Stoops “early retirement”. Or that a 1st year OC at tOSU would be handed the reigns after Urban Meyer.

Or that a former WR coach, could take the mantle at Clemson and turn them into a juggernaut.

In today’s era, when you’ve identified young studs, you need to scoop them up
now, before they take the next step, and are then wanted by everybody once they’ve proved it.

The most recent example would be PJ Fleck. How many teams wished they hired him before he had a chance to go to Minny? Dude was a stud and shouldn’t of had to prove it at Minny to have the big boys knocking. Once you’ve identified the talent, take the leap of faith.

Far too often going “safe” like FSU and Willie Taggart leads you into horrible situations 2-3 years down the road.

Washington has been great this year, but I’m keeping my eyes on Hafley. He’s 40, rated #3 recruiter in country, leading the best defense in the country after they were in the 70’s last year, and he’s been labeled by Richard Sherman as the best DB coach he ever played for. I’m not getting too attached to him.....someone will come knocking with millions of dollars very soon....
 
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RYAN DAY SAID HE WOULD BE “VERY, VERY SURPRISED” IF AL WASHINGTON LEAVES OHIO STATE TO BECOME BOSTON COLLEGE'S DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR

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Jeff Hafley is leaving Ohio State to become the head coach Boston College, but Ryan Day does not believe Al Washington will follow him.

Despite rumors that Washington and Hafley would be heading to Boston College together with Washington becoming Hafley's defensive coordinator, Ryan Day said he does not expect that to happen.

"If that's something he wanted to do, I'd be very, very surprised," Day said of Washington in his Monday press conference. "I don't see that happening."

Washington and Hafley have worked together to transform Ohio State's defense this season and Washinton has already made a huge impact for the Buckeyes on the recruiting trail.

Day said he does not foresee any other changes to the full-time staff, either.

"I'd be surprised if any of that stuff happens," Day said. "I think we're in pretty good shape, pretty solid."

Entire article: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...n-leaves-ohio-state-to-become-boston-colleges
 
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ScriptOhio said:
RYAN DAY SAID HE WOULD BE “VERY, VERY SURPRISED” IF AL WASHINGTON LEAVES OHIO STATE TO BECOME BOSTON COLLEGE'S DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR

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Jeff Hafley is leaving Ohio State to become the head coach Boston College, but Ryan Day does not believe Al Washington will follow him.

Despite rumors that Washington and Hafley would be heading to Boston College together with Washington becoming Hafley's defensive coordinator, Ryan Day said he does not expect that to happen.

"If that's something he wanted to do, I'd be very, very surprised," Day said of Washington in his Monday press conference. "I don't see that happening."

Washington and Hafley have worked together to transform Ohio State's defense this season and Washinton has already made a huge impact for the Buckeyes on the recruiting trail.

Day said he does not foresee any other changes to the full-time staff, either.

"I'd be surprised if any of that stuff happens," Day said. "I think we're in pretty good shape, pretty solid."

Entire article: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...n-leaves-ohio-state-to-become-boston-colleges
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Ohio guy. I think there's a decent chance he becomes the Buckeye DC in the next 1-2 years. He'd be nuts to pass that up to go to a dead end like BC.
 
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NFBuck said:
Ohio guy. I think there's a decent chance he becomes the Buckeye DC in the next 1-2 years. He'd be nuts to pass that up to go to a dead end like BC.
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Salary and job security: Al is currently getting $500K plus the bonuses

Ohio State's assistant coaches will all be in line for the following bonuses in 2019 in addition to their base salaries:
  • Big Ten East championship: 8.5 percent of coach's base salary
  • Big Ten Championship Game win: 4.25 percent
  • New Year's Six bowl game: 17 percent
  • Non-CFP bowl game and at least nine wins: 4.25 percent
  • College Football Playoff berth: 21.25 percent
  • National championship game berth: 25.5 percent
I have no idea what BC is paying their coordinators; however, (considering the higher cost of living in Boston) I'll bet he'll do better financially by staying put.
 
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THE HURRY-UP: AL WASHINGTON GETTING MORE COMFORTABLE AND HITTING STRIDE AS A RECRUITER IN YEAR TWO, GROUP RECRUITING AT CORE OF OHIO STATE'S SUCCESS

WASHINGTON MORE COMFORTABLE IN YEAR TWO

For the first time since 2016, when he was in the last year of a four-year run as a Boston College assistant, Al Washington and his family did not have to move to a new house at the conclusion of a regular season.

After one-year stints at Cincinnati and Michigan in 2017 and 2018, respectively, Washington is in his second offseason with the Buckeyes. Now that he’s fully entrenched in the program for a second consecutive year, Washington says that continuity, comfortability and familiarity are now giving him an easier pathway to do what he does best on the recruiting trail – be genuine.

“For me, personally, I’ve had a unique experience. Every year I’ve been at a different place,” Washington said via teleconference two weeks ago. “You can educate yourself on what a different school can offer a player or a student-athlete. You can educate them on facilities, different exposures, but it’s hard to educate them on the actual program – the people that are living and breathing the program – because you just got there.

“I think my time last year, when I first got to Ohio State, to be honest it was difficult from where I was coming from. A month earlier, I was talking to a kid from one school, and a month later I’m at a new school. That’s not necessarily the most natural thing. Not knowing the full class, that’s difficult.”

He has had more than a year to get to know the team, and he says he truly feels part of that team now. That he no longer feels like an outsider. Going into the spring and summer having a clearer picture of the small-scale day-to-day operations, plus the big-picture goals the program has, Washington can be more authentic in detailing Ohio State to high school players.

“If I’m recruiting an offensive lineman, I can tell them with everything in my soul that he’s not gonna play for a better coach,” Washington said. “I can look that kid in the eye and mean it. And people pick that up. People are smart. They can read people. You can sense those things. It’s the same thing talking to a tight end.”

Washington is ranked No. 12 in the national recruiter rankings for the 2021 class, being the leader recruiter of Reid Carrico and Jaylen Johnson, and he had a big hand in the recruitments of Jack Sawyer and TreVeyon Henderson – a relationship established during Washington’s days at Michigan and his connections in Virginia.

He was also instrumental in building a relationship with Tegra Tshabola (Washington was the one who offered the in-state offensive lineman in November) and as the lead recruiter for C.J. Hicks, and it feels like he is really starting to hit his stride as a recruiter at Ohio State.

He was not alone in those recruitments, however, and he is the first to bring that up. He says an all-hands-on-deck strategy is what makes Ohio State recruiting run like a well-oiled machine.

“We do a lot of group recruiting here, which I think is probably the reason why we do well as a staff – because we work together,” Washington said. “I’m in the process right now with a couple players that me and Kevin (Wilson) are involved in. I can’t name names or anything, but I can tell you this – you’re far more effective when you can speak from experience as opposed to what you read.

“I’m not theorizing. I’m talking with experience, and that’s different. It creates a better vibe, if you will, when you’re talking to young student-athletes and families. That’s the biggest difference, for me, from year one to year two.”

Entire article: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...tting-stride-as-a-recruiter-in-year-two-group
 
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HOW AL WASHINGTON CUT HIS RECRUITING TEETH AND LEARNED HOW TO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS AT THE FCS, DIVISION II, DIVISION III LEVELS

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Al Washington is just a few days away from helping lead one of college football's colossal brands into a battle on the sport's brightest stage.

It's late December of 2019, and even as he sits in an Arizona ballroom on media day, fresh off answering a bombardment of questions on how to contain Clemson's rushing attack or how to handle Trevor Lawrence in the College Football Playoff, there is no hesitation when asked to recall memories from 2007.

And, really, how could he forget?

Even at one of the lowest levels of the profession, that was the year his coaching career saw its true take-off moments. It was the first major step on a journey that helped bring him all of this – the 100,000-fan atmospheres, opportunities to work with and develop NFL talent and stashing more than $500,000 a year in his bank account.

All of that began with learning the best ways to build relationships and recruit at a small private research school on the east coast.

Washington accepted his first non-graduate assistant college coaching job that year as a defensive line coach at Division III Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the city of Troy – a smallish town sitting just outside Albany and nestled about halfway between the Massachusetts border and Schenectady in Upstate New York.

He was less than a year removed from his retirement as a defensive tackle, which was highlighted by 48 games played as a three-year starter at Boston College and a brief stint up north playing for Canada’s Saskatchewan Roughriders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

It’s not like it was a career destined for Canton. But still, here he was, at a level much lower than what he was used to, grinding as part-defensive line coach, part-admissions counselor and part-tour guide for RPI – a job he credits his stepmom for attaining since she sent RPI his résumé, unbeknownst to him, while he was on the precipice of leaving the world of coaching football behind.

At RPI, his duties included heading up information sessions with prospective students, taking families all over the university to show them the campus digs, doing laundry for the players and film exchange with opposing coaches in the Liberty League.

“I did it all, man,” Washington tells Eleven Warriors, a grateful and telling open-mouthed smile forming as he leans back and reaches behind himself to grab those memories from the back of his head. “I was responsible back then – and this was only 12 years ago – to exchange film with the opponent. You would have to go travel and meet halfway with the other coach. So you drive two hours to meet at a rest stop, exchange the DVDs – back when DVDs were big – and then drive back.

“And it’s all on faith. ‘Cause I’m not gonna watch the tape until I get back to the school. I get back, and half of it doesn’t work. And then you have to set up another time to go back and get the rest of it. It was just a pain in the tail, but it was all those moments – the 24-hour nights – all those moments, man, they were kind of a headache in the moment, but now you just look back and laugh and enjoy those times. … (We did) anything that was needed. That’s the beauty of that level. I was a coach, but I had to do all the other pieces. I had to video exchange, cut film up, we all did that. Everybody did that. That’s just the way it was. It definitely shapes you. It makes you appreciate it.”
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“Every stop I’ve had, they’ve helped cut my teeth,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I made it. But you definitely look back at your experiences, man, and you appreciate where you are. They motivate you.”

Entire article: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...iii-division-ii-and-fcs-levels-as-a-recruiter

Just sayin': Working at the Division III, Division II, and FCS levels is called "paying your dues". It's like that in most occupations, you have to work your way from the bottom up.

However, I guess there are exceptions like, if your father is the head coach at scUM and/or your uncle is the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens; and you are good with crayons, etc......:lol:
 
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