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The Cradle of Coaches is a nickname given to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio for producing star football coaches including Earl Blaik, Paul Brown, Woody Hayes, Bill Arnsparger, George Little, Weeb Ewbank, Sid Gillman, Ara Parseghian, Bo Schembechler, John Pont, Carmen Cozza, Bill Mallory, Jim Tressel, Joe Novak, Ron Zook, Dick Crum, Paul Dietzel, Bill Narduzzi, Randy Walker, John Harbaugh, Gary Moeller, Larry Smith, Dick Tomey, Sean Payton, Terry Hoeppner, and Sean McVay.
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Miami fields a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision program in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). Miami started playing football in 1888 but did not have a paid coach until C. K. Fauver in 1895.
Miami has also produced notable basketball coaches Darrell Hedric, Randy Ayers, Herb Sendek, Thad Matta and Sean Miller. Hedric, currently a scout for the Toronto Raptors, is an Ohio and Cincinnati Basketball Hall of Famer and holds the record for Miami victories. Ayers was a four-year starter for Miami, leading the team to back-to-back NCAA appearances in 1977 and 1978, and later served as a head coach for Ohio State and assistant coach in the National Basketball Association. Sendek began his head coaching career at Miami and led the RedHawks to the postseason in each of his three seasons. Matta, currently the head coach at Ohio State, was an assistant under Sendek for one memorable year that included a regular season MAC championship and NCAA tournament appearance, and also for one year under then-head coach Charlie Coles.
Baseball Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston is also a graduate of Miami. Legendary University of Tennessee basketball coach Ray Mears is a graduate of Miami. Additionally, hockey coach George Gwozdecky served as head coach at Miami prior to leaving for Denver, where he won two national championships.
The Cradle of Coaches also was the subject of sports documentary film that aired on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (Ohio) in 2015. The film captured the story of John Harbaugh's induction as well as perspective from other members.
Official members of "The Cradle"
* Weeb Ewbank played football, basketball and baseball at Miami, and coached the basketball team before becoming an established football coach.
† Bob Kurz wrote "Miami of Ohio - the Cradle of Coaches" book
Super Bowl winning former head coach John Harbaugh was inducted in their Hall of Fame in 2014.
Evolution
Recently the nickname has been applied by journalists to the entire state. Ohio-linked coaches are involved with football programs in the Southeastern Conference, including national championship coaches Les Miles at LSU; Cincinnati alum Urban Meyer, formerly at Florida and currently at Ohio State; and Kent State alum Nick Saban at Alabama. National championship coach Bob Stoops from Oklahoma is a native, former USC head coach Pete Carroll was an Ohio State assistant, and Youngstown State alum Mark Mangino was named the 2007 National Coach of the Year as the head coach of Kansas before returning to YSU as an assistant in 2013. Jim Harbaugh of the University of Michigan, Bo Pelini of Nebraska and Gary Pinkel of Missouri are also native Ohioans, and in 2008 the natives of the state comprised 15% of the college head football coaches, while only having 4% of the population, and 15 of the last 20 teams to play for the college football national championship had head coaches with Ohio connections.