No matter where trophy resides, this decade belongs to Ohio

NEW ORLEANS -- This has been the Ohio decade.

It started with Youngstown native Bob Stoops running the table with Oklahoma in 2000. The pride of Mentor, Jim Tressel, got his ring in 2002. Ashtabula's Urban Meyer won it all with Florida in 2006.

Buckeyes and coaches: The state of Ohio has plenty of both. (Getty Images)

Each small-town Ohio boy won a national championship in his second season with his school. In the process, these three redefined expectations for coaches everywhere. If they could do it in two years, surmised the average AD, why can't my guy?

Maybe it's an Ohio thing. This is their time. This is their state's time. No matter what happens in Monday's BCS National Championship Game, four of this decade's eight BCS titles will have been won by Ohio natives.

That's not a coincidence for Ohio. That's a dynasty, and not a new one.

• Eight of the nine championships since 2000 (USC and LSU shared in 2003) will have been won by coaches who are either from Ohio or at one time or another coached at Ohio State. Larry Coker, Nick Saban and Pete Carroll were all Buckeyes assistants.

• Ohio State is in the BCS title game for the third time in six years.

• Mt. Union in Alliance, Ohio, has won nine Division III titles since 1993.

• The Flying Stoops brothers (Bob, Mike and Mark) have had an impact on the game since they began playing tackle football -- in the streets of Youngstown.

• Troy Smith came out of inner city Cleveland to win the 2006 Heisman. His high school coach, Ted Ginn Sr., has developed a steady stream of college talent out of Cleveland Glenville High.

There's something that connects all of them. Sit down and listen to LSU coach Les Miles, his defensive coordinator Bo Pelini and the Stoops brothers. They're all Ohioans who seem to speak with the same clipped, no-nonsense tone.

Maybe it comes from a stern, blue-collar, Rust Belt upbringing. Miles' father Hope once offered a new winter coat to his son if he leveled a certain opponent on a kickoff return in a high school game. When young Les whiffed on his block, Dad could be heard yelling from the stands, "It's going to be a cold winter, Les," according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

California, Texas and Florida produce more players, but Ohio players are intensely loyal. Sixty-six of the 136 I-A Ohio recruits (48.5 percent) went to in-state schools last year, according to Mapgameday.com. Compare that to California, where only 23 percent of the recruits stayed home.