Ohio State coaches to win a Super Bowl: Mike Vrabel has chance to join exclusive group

Ohio State coaches to win a Super Bowl: Mike Vrabel has chance to join exclusive group originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Mike Vrabel’s coaching career started at his alma mater Ohio State.

Advertisement

Vrabel, however, admitted that it was not the best start at a Super Bowl 60 press conference on Tuesday. The New England Patriots coach detailed a story he tells coaches who ask about the interview process.

“Nobody is going to have a worse first interview than I did,” Vrabel said at his press conference. “I wasn’t prepared. I sat down with Urban Meyer in front of a staff, interviewed for a position and completely bombed it and had no idea.”

“That’s probably my first adversity.”

It’s safe to say Vrabel has figured it out. The former Ohio State All-American got his first coaching job with the Buckeyes, and he has worked his way into a chance to become the second former Ohio State player to win a Super Bowl as a head coach when the Patriots face the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl 60 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday.

Advertisement

Who was the other coach? That’s an interesting trivia question.

MORE: Revisting Mike Vrabel’s time as a Patriots linebacker

Vrabel played defensive line at Ohio State from 1993-96. He was a two-time All-American who still holds the school’s career record with 36 sacks. He set a school record with 13 sacks in 1995, which stood until 2007.

The Buckeyes were 22-3 in Vrabel’s final two seasons, including a 12-1 record in his senior season. That Ohio State team featured Hall of Fame tackle Orlando Pace and a defensive line led by Matt Finkes and Luke Fickell, now the coach at Wisconsin.

Advertisement

Ohio State lost the regular-season finale to No. 21 Michigan 13-9  but beat No. 2 Arizona State 20-17 in the 1997 Rose Bowl. Vrabel did not win a national championship as a player at Ohio State.

He coached for the Buckeyes as a defensive line and linebackers coach from 2011-13 before taking a job as a linebackers coach with the Houston Texans in 2013. Ohio State won the national championship the following season under Meyer.

MORE: Inside Mike Vrabel’s playoff record as a coach

Mike Vrabel and Ohio State coaches who won Super Bowl

Ohio State has five coaches who won national championships in college in Paul Brown, Woody Hayes, Jim Tressel, Urban Meyer and Ryan Day.

Advertisement

Brown led the Buckeyes to a national championship in 1942 as a head coach before winning three NFL championships with the Cleveland Browns in 1950, 1954 and 1955. Brown also was the owner of the Cincinnati Bengals from 1967-91 – and the franchise made two Super Bowl appearances in 1981 and 1988. Brown, however, never won the Super Bowl as a head coach.

One of Brown’s former players did. Don McCafferty played offensive line for Paul Brown on that 1942 national championship team. McCafferty was the head coach for the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl 5 on Jan 17, 1971. Baltimore beat Dallas 16-13 on a field goal by Jim O’Brien with five seconds remaining.

So, Vrabel would be the first coach from Ohio State to win a Super Bowl since McCafferty, which is a nice piece of Super Bowl trivia ahead of Sunday’s game.

MORE: Complete coaching timeline for Mike Vrabel, from Ohio State to Patriots

Advertisement

Super Bowl coaches by college

Here is a look at every Super Bowl coach and the college they attended. Miami, Ohio, has the most Super Bowl coaches with three, a group that includes Weeb Ewbank, John Harbaugh and Sean McVay. Coaches are in alphabetical order by college: