Carlston returns to Athens as the new Head Coach of the Volleyball program.

https://ohiobobcats.com/news/2021/7/12/womens-volleyball-...

What?

I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I have some concerns:

1.His record for his last 3 years at OSU:
2017 15-16
2018 12-20
2019 15-17 (fired)

What happened ?

2.How come no other school hired him since he was fired ?

3.He's not a kid.
How much "gas is left in the tank" ?

4.He left O.U. for "greener pastures".
Assuming he's as successful this time, does he jump again ?

That being said, I hope this hire turns out to be a big "get' for O.U.

Hiring someone from the outside 2 months before the start of the season would be a disaster in the short term, so hiring Geoff makes perfect sense. And hopefully he will move the program forward again.

Geoff had a solid run at THE osu although it didn't end well. He coached in the most powerful conference in the nation, taking over a mediocre program and qualifying for the NCAA tourney 7 times with 5 sweet 16 teams.

Geoff's run at OHIO will unlikely be surpassed.He made the NCAA tourney every year and won 5 straight MAC championships.

Geoff loved Athens, and came back a few times when he was the OSU coach to greet his former players at alumni events. He even posted on this message board before he left, maybe the only OHIO coach who ever has.

Welcome home Geoff!

Geoff certainly won't need OJT and has some idea of the lay of the land. I also assume he knows what he's getting into. Ohio is a different school, with a different VB program and different competition than when he left.

The school he's coming back to has serious, if not severe, financial issues. A little more than a year ago, the school negotiated a settlement with the NCAA over VB recruiting violations that were seemingly minor but repeated. The settlement included recruiting restrictions. I have no idea if they remain in place.

What will the staff look like and how large with it be? What is the recruiting situation?

Further, interest in the VB program waned under Deane Webb. By the end of his tenure we were no longer serious contenders for the MAC championship. Attendance plummeted. The BobcatAttack VB thread went weeks without comments. Remember how the board blew up when Geoff left? He's back now and the number of comments is still in single digits. Women's hoops garners far more interest at Ohio now.

As far as I can tell there was no announcement of a 2021 recruiting class, the VB page at Ohio Bobcats still has last year's roster (who's on it now? Doesn't practice begin in a couple weeks?) and last year's schedule. Interestingly enough, if you go on the Marquette website, you'll find we will take on old friend Ryan Theis in the Redbird Classic at Illinois State on Sept 4.

I believe Geoff can recruit and can coach. But he'll need support, financial and otherwise (like simply keeping the webpage updated) from the university and support from fans other than the alumni band. Without it, he'll find his first act at Ohio will be difficult to follow.

It is possible that Geoff has time left on his OSU contract and we were able to snatch him up and save some $'s. Additionally we may not have to relocate him as he lives in Columbus like Boals does.
Someone, I am sure, will do some digging into the financial aspect of this hire.



GO BOBCATS

Geoff lives in Colorado, and he wasn't fired from Ohio State, his contract wasn't renewed. So, Ohio is saving $0 in regards to financial considerations with him coming from Ohio State.

They did create a Twitter account yesterday, prior to the coaching announcement.

Ohio volleyball on Twitter? There has been a Twitter account for vball for years. It's how I track scores on away games.

Way back when, it was @ohiovolleyball. I think we're on #3 now...