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How New Coach Tyler Bowen Will Change Ohio State's Offensive Line · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning. From Monday, March tenth, I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, tom Or the Texas game in one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and seventy three days, the game against Michigan in two
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  Speaker 1: hundred and sixty four days. You're planning your next event,
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  Speaker 1: make it unforgettable with Grateful Griddle, Thumas's favorite food truck
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  Speaker 1: serving up smashburgers, gourmet sandwiches, and good vibes. Book you're
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  Speaker 1: catering today at gratefulgriddleoh dot com. I'm going to continue
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  Speaker 1: our spring football preview today with one of Ohiosted's new
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  Speaker 1: assistant coaches, Tyler Bowen. He is the offensive line coach.
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  Speaker 2: He's also the.
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  Speaker 1: Run game coordinator. Gonna get a chance to hear some
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  Speaker 1: of the things he had to say when he met
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  Speaker 1: with the media last week. He is, of course, served
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  Speaker 1: as the offensive coordinator at Virginia Tech. Now he's just
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  Speaker 1: the run game coordinator and working under new offensive coordinator
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  Speaker 1: Brian Hartline. So what has it been like working with
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  Speaker 1: Brian Hartline so far?
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  Speaker 2: Well, heart's been great.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, as organized as anyone I've ever been around,
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  Speaker 3: sharp football mind in every area of it. I think
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  Speaker 3: the biggest thing you learn as a coordinator and me
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  Speaker 3: doing that job for the last three years, you learn
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  Speaker 3: how to be a really good assistant coach, you know.
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  Speaker 3: And I think that's my number one job for Coach
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  Speaker 3: Hartline is to be the best assistant coach I can be.
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  Speaker 3: Whatever his vision is for the offense, to be able
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  Speaker 3: to go out and make sure that those five guys
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  Speaker 3: can execute that vision. And that's what you learn being
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  Speaker 3: a coordinator. You know, everyone's got a role, We've all
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  Speaker 3: got a job to do. To be able to go
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  Speaker 3: out and do that job at a high level, to
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  Speaker 3: go with the collective vision of what our offense is
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  Speaker 3: trying to do.
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  Speaker 1: Bowen comes to Ohio State without a lot of relationships
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  Speaker 1: with the guys on the roster for the Buckeyes right now.
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  Speaker 1: May have chriss crossed with paths with some of them
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  Speaker 1: during the recruiting process, but doesn't sound like it was
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  Speaker 1: too many. So walking in the door and just starting
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  Speaker 1: to get to know guys, building trust with those guys,
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  Speaker 1: how do you do all that in this really short
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  Speaker 1: window leading up to spring ball?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think that's you mentioned, and that's the most
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  Speaker 3: important thing is to try.
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  Speaker 2: To build trust with a group and you've got to do.
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  Speaker 3: It in a short short amount of time. And trust
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  Speaker 3: it's not easy to build, it's very easy to lose.
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  Speaker 3: So the first thing you know that I tried to
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  Speaker 3: attack here before you even get into the x's and
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  Speaker 3: o's and talking about inside zone and gap schemes and
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  Speaker 3: all the things that go into at six man protection,
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  Speaker 3: is you want to I wanted to meet with each
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  Speaker 3: player individually and get an idea of their story.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't recruit them.
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  Speaker 3: I have not been with them day to day for
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  Speaker 3: you know, however long they've been in this program. So
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  Speaker 3: to be able to sit down with them and have
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  Speaker 3: anywhere between a twenty to forty five minute meeting, that's
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  Speaker 3: how I started the job here with each individual gull
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  Speaker 3: on the offensive line, to hear their story, where they've
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  Speaker 3: come from, their background, all those things, to try to
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  Speaker 3: bridge that process and also give them a piece of myself.
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  Speaker 3: You know, you know my family, you know my track
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  Speaker 3: record where I've been, you know my path to get here,
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  Speaker 3: you know my path as a player, all those little things.
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  Speaker 3: Because you're you're trying to build that trust in a
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  Speaker 3: short amount of time, and that's where it starts, right
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  Speaker 3: It starts with the person.
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  Speaker 2: At the end of the day, you know, the football
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  Speaker 2: is the football.
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  Speaker 3: This is a people business, right, You've got to you know,
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  Speaker 3: our job is to motivate, direct, coach, develop people. Right,
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  Speaker 3: So the first thing to me is attacking that individually
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  Speaker 3: and us getting on the same page and getting the
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  Speaker 3: idea of each other's background. So we tried to do that,
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  Speaker 3: and then obviously we've dove into the football piece. You know,
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  Speaker 3: as we're getting closer to springball and having those meetings
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  Speaker 3: and that shared brotherhood and all those things. I can't
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  Speaker 3: wait to get my family up here and get them
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  Speaker 3: around the guys, because I think that brotherhood's important.
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  Speaker 1: Bowen is known as a great recruiter. That was a
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  Speaker 1: big part of his hiring and big part of the
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  Speaker 1: narrative around his hiring when the Buckeyes announced that. Now,
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  Speaker 1: is it a little different being Kyler Bowen going into
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  Speaker 1: a building with a Virginia Tech logo on your chest
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  Speaker 1: as opposed to a block oh or just being on
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  Speaker 1: the phone and being Tyler Bowen from Ohio State now
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  Speaker 1: instead of Virginia Tech or some other program.
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  Speaker 2: I always look at this with recruiting.
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  Speaker 3: I think it's so true every program there's a different
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  Speaker 3: level of difficulty, right, It's all difficult, however you do now.
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  Speaker 3: I think the biggest transition is going from a role
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  Speaker 3: as a coordinator back to the role as position coach
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  Speaker 3: in that recruiting mode, which has obviously been something that
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  Speaker 3: I've been excited about.
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  Speaker 2: To be honest, that's something that I cut my teeth doing.
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  Speaker 3: But I think each program you go to, it's a
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  Speaker 3: different it's a different level of difficulty based on who
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  Speaker 3: you're competing against.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 3: When you're at certain programs, you're not going to compete
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  Speaker 3: against a program like this, right, But when you're at
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  Speaker 3: this program, you're competing nationally with other programs, right, So
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  Speaker 3: it's all the same level of difficulty. And I still,
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  Speaker 3: you know, it goes back to kind of what we
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  Speaker 3: talked about with the trust with the offensive line, like
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  Speaker 3: it is a people business and the first thing and
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  Speaker 3: no different than we did with our individual players, but
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  Speaker 3: with the recruits that have been on Ohio State radar
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  Speaker 3: for a while and our radar for a while, but
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  Speaker 3: also new ones is try to build that relationship and
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  Speaker 3: bridget quickly make sure that we're getting people on campus
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  Speaker 3: to be able to sit down face to face. You know,
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  Speaker 3: I haven't had an opportunity with a ton of these
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  Speaker 3: guys to go visit them in person unless they were
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  Speaker 3: regionally at the place I was. So, you know, I
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  Speaker 3: think all of that has been exciting. You know, I
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  Speaker 3: don't know if it's certainly the here is really really strong, right.
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  Speaker 2: But I always look at it.
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  Speaker 3: I'll never say it's easier or better, right, wrong or different.
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  Speaker 3: It's just a different level of difficulty and you've got
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  Speaker 3: to attack it that way.
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  Speaker 1: As I mentioned off the top, Tayler Bowen, in addition
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  Speaker 1: to beating the offensive line coach, is also the run
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  Speaker 1: game coordinator for the Buckeyes. Now, so what does that mean?
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  Speaker 1: Is there a Tyler Bowen run game or is that
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  Speaker 1: just sort of something that depends on who he's got
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  Speaker 1: and what he's working.
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  Speaker 3: I'll look at the run game like this, particularly this
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  Speaker 3: time of the year. You in today's college game, to
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  Speaker 3: play and particularly run the ball at a high level,
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  Speaker 3: you better have a diverse scheme, right, So that's going
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  Speaker 3: to look very multiple at this time of the year.
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  Speaker 3: And then as we go, we're funneling that down to
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  Speaker 3: what does this team do well, what does this offensive
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  Speaker 3: unit do well in the run game, and I think
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  Speaker 3: you're always looking at it that way. If you don't
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  Speaker 3: have the ability to attack the defense from the A
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  Speaker 3: gap to the D gap and on the perimeter, at
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  Speaker 3: some point, you know they're going to be able to
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  Speaker 3: hunker in and you know, have an opportunity to make
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  Speaker 3: it difficult for you.
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  Speaker 2: Don't mean you can't do it, but they can make
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  Speaker 2: it difficult.
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  Speaker 3: So to be able to have that diversity to go
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  Speaker 3: in schematically and then from there, you know, what do
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  Speaker 3: we do? Well, what are those five guys do? Well,
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  Speaker 3: what are our running backs see? Well, you know where's
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  Speaker 3: our quarterback involvement in it? You know all those things
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  Speaker 3: play into the run game. So I wouldn't say there's
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  Speaker 3: ever one thing.
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  Speaker 2: I know this.
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  Speaker 3: We want to have a physical, downhill run game that
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  Speaker 3: does not generate TFLs and havoc.
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  Speaker 2: Right, that's the number one thing, Right.
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  Speaker 3: We were doing our best all the time to not
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  Speaker 3: create TFLs and have it. So it really starts there,
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  Speaker 3: right before you go run the ball really well, you
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  Speaker 3: can't give up TFLs, right, We've got to keep the
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  Speaker 3: ball moving forward.
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  Speaker 2: So I look at it that way.
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  Speaker 3: Every year, every team's different every unit takes on the
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  Speaker 3: different identities, but you've got to start diverse enough to
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  Speaker 3: attack the defense in every area and then figure out
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  Speaker 3: what pieces in that game plan week really fit to
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  Speaker 3: go against that defense based on what we do well.
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  Speaker 1: Bone has bounced around a bunch, been with a bunch
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  Speaker 1: of different programs and a bunch of different head coaches
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  Speaker 1: over the year. So who are some coaches who've been
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  Speaker 1: an influence on Bowen and his philosophy?
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  Speaker 2: Oh man, there's a ton.
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  Speaker 3: I don't I'll miss somebody if I just start spitting
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  Speaker 3: off names.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I'll go all the way back.
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  Speaker 3: I think early in my career it's fortunate to play
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  Speaker 3: for a really good head coach that was run minded
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  Speaker 3: and very diverse in what we did. And then also
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  Speaker 3: become a young coach in my first job, and that
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  Speaker 3: would be Ralph Frigent. That that someone comes to mind
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  Speaker 3: right away. But then even moving on, you know the
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  Speaker 3: spread game we coach morehead. You know where I was
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  Speaker 3: with him at a couple of different places and running
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  Speaker 3: that type of system invaluable. The experience I had with
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  Speaker 3: the Jacksonville Jaguars, you know, with what we did wasn't
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  Speaker 3: a great year. From a results standpoint, but you take
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  Speaker 3: a lot of knowledge from that situation and then you know,
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  Speaker 3: go into a place like I just came from where
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  Speaker 3: you're in a rebuild and you're having to evolve every year.
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  Speaker 3: Your personnel may not be necessarily to go equate, but
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  Speaker 3: we've got to figure out how to the talent and
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  Speaker 3: equate the run game based on what we have. So
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  Speaker 3: I think all those have been valuable experience. I don't
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  Speaker 3: know if there's you know, I don't know if there's
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  Speaker 3: one person in particular, I would say, you take.
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  Speaker 2: Good and bad from everywhere you go.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, I'm not trying to give a cop
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  Speaker 3: out answer, but that I mean, that's the truth. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: if nothing else, I don't believe you can be in
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  Speaker 3: this profession and not be a lifelong learner, you know.
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  Speaker 2: And that's how I view it. Every year.
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  Speaker 3: If we're not studying best practices of technique, if we're
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  Speaker 3: not studying best practices of what's new schematically, if we're
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  Speaker 3: not looking at our own film and saying, how could
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  Speaker 3: we make this better? How can we enhance it, then
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  Speaker 3: we're going to fall behind.
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  Speaker 1: Jumping from one school to another in the middle of
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  Speaker 1: a recruiting cycle can always be a little bit awkward.
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  Speaker 1: You've been selling one thing and now all of a
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  Speaker 1: sudden you're with a new school and you're selling something different.
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  Speaker 1: So how does the messaging change when you go from
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  Speaker 1: recruiting for Virginia Tech to recruiting for Ohio State.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think it starts with the personal relationship.
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  Speaker 2: For sure.
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  Speaker 3: You know, there's a trust level that's builting in any
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  Speaker 3: relationship we have, but it's also kind of bridging the
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  Speaker 3: gap of what this program means, you know, And I
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  Speaker 3: think it's a good testimony for guys that I had
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  Speaker 3: prior relationships with on you know, why did I want
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  Speaker 3: to come here? You know, why did I want to
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  Speaker 3: be a part of this, which what I think is
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  Speaker 3: the best program in college football. So I think that
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  Speaker 3: part of it makes the communication easy, but it still
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  Speaker 3: starts with those personal relationships.
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  Speaker 2: Those don't go away.
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  Speaker 1: This is one of these questions. So it's kind of
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  Speaker 1: interesting sort of get the inside sort of details on
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  Speaker 1: the hiring process. So when did Tyler Bowen first get
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  Speaker 1: contacted about the Ohio State job and how did that go?
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  Speaker 1: What did he think and what made him decide to
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  Speaker 1: make that move. This is going to be two answers
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  Speaker 1: kind of butted together. It was kind of a series
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  Speaker 1: of back and forth questions.
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  Speaker 3: Well, obviously you know what's going on in the in
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  Speaker 3: the landscape of coaching, you know. I think it was
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  Speaker 3: a time, if I'm remembering correctly, it's all been a whirlwind.
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  Speaker 3: We were out on the road or I was on
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  Speaker 3: the road and number popped up, and it was great
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  Speaker 3: because I'd been around coach day before when I was
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  Speaker 3: down in Jacksonville and knew a couple of people here
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  Speaker 3: and obviously have always competing against this program and also
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  Speaker 3: admiring it from Afar. I was very excited, and then
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  Speaker 3: the conversation started from there in the interview process. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: I think I think you think about alignment with the
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  Speaker 3: type of coaches you want to be around, the type
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  Speaker 3: of head coach you want to work for, the ability
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  Speaker 3: to compete at the highest level. I think all of
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  Speaker 3: those things attracted me.
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  Speaker 1: Here Bowhen we'll get his first chance to really see
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  Speaker 1: his offensive linement on the field at a practice on Monday,
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  Speaker 1: March seventeenth, when the Buck guys opened up spring ball.
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  Speaker 1: But what are some of his first impressions with the
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  Speaker 1: guys that he's seen that he's going to be working
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  Speaker 1: with this spring.
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  Speaker 3: You said it best first, I'm going to reserve a
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  Speaker 3: lot until we get on the field. Obviously, there's a
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  Speaker 3: body of work with some guys from last year that
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  Speaker 3: you're seeing on film, watching every snap that they went
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  Speaker 3: through last year, and guys moving around and all those things.
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  Speaker 3: I'd say the thing that stands out to me is the.
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  Speaker 2: The athleticism in the room.
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  Speaker 3: That we've got guys that can poll and kick out
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  Speaker 3: and get on the perimeter and do things. I think
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  Speaker 3: there's a general level of athleticism that sticks out and
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  Speaker 3: guys that have experienced different spots. So you hope as
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  Speaker 3: we get in the spring, and hope's a bad strategy,
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  Speaker 3: but as we go through spring we're able to create
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  Speaker 3: some flexibility up front.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we're going to have much more this week talking
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  Speaker 1: about the Buckeyes and football and previewing the start of
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  Speaker 1: spring ball in one week. I can't believe it's already
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  Speaker 1: almost here. Short off season. It has been a little
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  Speaker 1: bit of a fire drill I think within the program
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  Speaker 1: to get this stuff done in a shorter timeframe. Great
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  Speaker 1: to be headed back in there in about a week
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  Speaker 1: for the start of spring football, so can't wait for that. That,
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  Speaker 1: plus much much more coverage this week. A lot of
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  Speaker 1: other stuff going on around Ohio State this week. The
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  Speaker 1: women's basketball team waiting to find out where they are
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  Speaker 1: going to be headed for the NCAA Tournament. The men's
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  Speaker 1: basketball team headed to the Big Ten Tournament. The women's
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  Speaker 1: hockey team found out that they are the number two
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  Speaker 1: seed nationally for the NCAA Women's Hockey Tournament. Men's hockey
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  Speaker 1: will be wrapping up their quarterfinal series with Wisconsin on
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  Speaker 1: Sunday night, and then we'll see where their season goes
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  Speaker 1: from there and then. But man, lots of stuff going
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  Speaker 1: on all this week at bucke huddle dot com, plus
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  Speaker 1: all of that fun conversation on the huddleboard presented by
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  Speaker 1: Jeff Ruby's Columbus That is all at bucke huddle dot com.
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  Speaker 1: We hope to see you there. That'll do it for today.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day.
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  Speaker 1: We'll talk to you tomorrow.