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Ohio: How’d they get here?
Where would Ohio be today if it hadn’t been for Nebraska?
Ohio, an original member of the Mid-American Conference, went over 50 years without winning another league title. Ohio won four in the Bill Hess days (1958-1977), but none since 1968.
Bob Kappes, who took over for the team after Hess died of cancer before the 1978 season, only brought Ohio to a 3-8 record. Brian Burke had a steady, 6-year tenure (31-34-1 overall record, 26-26 MAC). Former Ohio quarterback Cleve Bryant became its head coach in 1985, but only won nine games in five years. Tom Lichtenberg won eight games in his five years, including zero in 1994.
Jim Grobe won a few games for Ohio, but his career ended up being more like Burke’s (33-33-1, 27-20 MAC). Then there were the Brian Knorr years, which included just 11 wins from 2001-2004.
Ohio only enjoyed five winning seasons in the 27 years after Hess’s passing. The Bobcats were ready for a miracle to walk through its doors.
By then, Nebraska had already tossed Frank Solich out of theirs.
For the unaware: Nebraska was the real deal in pretty much every decade up through the 1990s. Solich was a stud fullback who was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1965. Once Tom Osborne finally stepped down from an astonishing, 25-year career (capped by a perfect 13-0 record in 1997), Solich became, in a phrase, the guy after the guy.
Solich went 58-19 in six years as the Huskers’ coach, but that wouldn’t be good enough. After a 9-3 season in 2003, Nebraska became the first school to ever fire a coach after they won that many games in a season.
Solich went around the country and studied the game without coaching in 2004. Ready to get back into coaching in 2005, he was shown interest by Pitt and Indiana. Army offered him a head coaching job, but Solich turned it down to be Ohio’s coach.
In the 16 years that followed with Solich at the helm, the Bobcats went 115-82 overall, 77-46 in MAC play, and finished only two seasons with losing records.
Solich, second to Don Peden’s 121 career wins from 1924-46, became one of the all-time great coaches in Ohio history, yet he never won a league championship.
In four trips to the MAC Championship game, Ohio came away empty-handed all four times (2006, 2009, 2011, 2016).
After Ohio’s Covid-shortened, 3-game season in 2020, Solich retired due to cardiovascular health concerns. He finished with a career coaching record of 173-101. Tim Albin, the former NAIA title-winning coach who had been on Solich’s staff since the beginning of his Ohio tenure (also: at Nebraska from 2000-03), was named Solich’s replacement.
Albin got Ohio to Detroit twice in his four years. First came in 2022 when it lost to Toledo. Then in 2024, the Bobcats won their first MAC title in 56 years with a 35-point win over rival Miami.
Albin wasted no time and took the Charlotte head coaching position before the team’s bowl game.
Brian Smith took over for the 2025 season, and he led Ohio to an 8-4 record. In December, Smith was fired for “serious professional misconduct,” and is currently in a legal battle with the school over his firing.
Now entering his first year as a head coach at any level, John Hauser, 46, will lead this year’s team after four years as a defensive coach.
While the last two replacements since Albin’s departure aren’t from the Solich line of hires, there are still a handful of coaches on staff who were hired to Solich’s staff before his retirement (including one of his former players).
Hauser takes over a program that’s vastly different than the one Solich took over decades ago. In the last four seasons, Ohio has posted a total record of 40-14, the best mark of any MAC team in that stretch. Also, it’s won a league title in recent memory.
PLAYERS OF NOTE
QB, Levi Davis — I normally don’t list quarterbacks that I don’t expect to see starting right away, but this freshman is going to be a name Ohio fans will be continually inquiring about this season. There’s a chance Nick Poulos or Matt Vezza take all the snaps this year behind center, but Davis is a really exciting prospect from Ohio (Olentangy Orange HS) who had a ridiculously successful 2025. He was the point guard for the basketball team, which won its first-ever state championship, then led the football team to a perfect 15-0 season.
RB, Duncan Brune — From Germany. Brune has played in all 27 games of his college career with Ohio, where he rushed for 84 yards and a score in 2024, then 585 yards and 8 TD last season. He also has 7 kick returns for 118 yards.
DT, Nehemiah Dukes — Second-year transfer from Youngstown State. Dukes was a full-year starter in 2025 and finished the season with 30 tackles (7 solo, 2 TFL, 1 sack) and 3 pass breakups.
S, DJ Walker — Fourth-year defender and third-year starter for the defense. As a redshirt-freshman in 2024, Walker was a Second Team All-MAC pick. Last year, he was named a defensive captain. In his 31 games played (27 starts), Walker has recorded 115 tackles (71 solo, 13 TFL), 3 interceptions, 11 pass deflections, and 1 forced fumble.
DB, Eli Thompson — Spent the last three seasons with Holy Cross, picked up Second Team All-Patriot Team honors in 2025 as a starting cornerback. In 27 games (19 starts), Thompson recorded 85 tackles (66 solo, 6.5 TFL, 1 sack), 7 interceptions, 25 pass breakups, and 1 forced fumble.
