Ohio State wrestling honors former Huron coach; Hunter Stieber scratched

COLUMBUSThe Ohio State wrestling team honored former head coach Chris Ford — who passed away Monday (Jan. 11) — prior to Sunday's Big Ten match against Nebraska in front of 3,355 fans at St. John Arena in Columbus.OSU held a moment of silence for Ford, the former Huron High School wrestling coach who was inducted into the inaugural class of the Huron Hall of Fame in 1993, and also coached at Ashland University before taking over at Ohio State.Ford was 81 years old."He was a great mentor, a great friend and we talked about a lot of things in life," current Ohio State coach Tom Ryan said. "He'll be missed. He was here last Saturday (Jan. 9) against Michigan. We were actually supposed to have lunch this week. He seemed healthy and looked great, but it's another lesson … you just never know."Ford graduated from Mansfield Senior and played football and participated in wrestling at Bowling Green State University. He began his coaching career at Huron as a student teacher in 1952. He became a full-time teacher at Huron in 1956.While at Huron, Ford was the defensive coordinator for the football team, coached field events in track and field — and also got the Tiger wrestling program off the ground.During his tenure at Huron, Ford guided Billy Joe Armstrong, Ted Willey and John Sharpe to state championships. The 1964 Tiger wrestling team placed third as a team at the state championships.Ford's Huron teams also posted a dual record of 67-10.After a successful stint at Huron, Ford moved on to Ashland College from 1965-76. He coached a national champion, 32 All-Americans and led the Eagles to a third place finish at the NCAA championships in 1976 while also winning Coach of the Year honors.Ford parlayed a 95-55-5 record at AU into the head coaching position at Ohio State, where he spent 10 years from 1977-86.Ford amassed a record of 115-92-3, the fourth most wins in Ohio State history. Ford coached Jude Skove to the national title at 158 pounds in 1986 — Ohio State's first champion in 20 years. He also coached two Big Ten champions and six All-Americans for the Buckeyes.Ford recorded winning seasons in each of his final six campaigns in Columbus, highlighted by a 17-7 mark in 1982-83. In that season, Ed Potokar won 50 matches, which still stands as a single-season school record.In a four-year period between 1980-83, Ford's team finished in the top five at the Big Ten championships four times. The 1980 Buckeyes' fifth-place showing was the program's best in 10 years."I met with him monthly, or sometimes maybe every two months," Ryan said. "He presented the relationships for me from his era. While he coached here he coached so many great guys, and they're all at about that age where their kids are through school, and Chris was responsible for a lot of the people who are giving and supporting the program."Overall, Ford compiled a career record of 299-76-8 and was inducted into the Ohio High School Hall of Fame in 1978, the AU Hall of Fame in 1989 and in 2010 was inducted into the Ohio Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.While at Ashland, practices were held in a basement under the college chapel before a wrestling facility was eventually built. On Feb. 7 last year, AU held a naming ceremony for its new varsity wrestling locker room, and the school put Ford's name on a sign just outside the main entrance.Ryan will speak at Ford's funeral on Tuesday, and the entire Ohio State wrestling team took a bus to the calling hours Sunday in nearby Worthington. Ryan noted the No. 11-ranked Buckeyes took with them a 21-17 win over No. 7 Nebraska, which would have made Ford very happy."I don't know what was inside each of them, or if there was an extra spark," Ryan said of his team. "But it certainly didn't hurt discussing Coach Ford's life and how he's helped the program."Hunter Stieber scratchedAfter returning last week for the first time since two Tommy John elbow ligament transplants nine months ago, Monroeville graduate Hunter Stieber was a late scratch for Sunday's match against the Cornhuskers.A two-time All-American, Stieber made his season debut at 149 pounds in a 5-3 loss to No. 6-ranked Alec Pantaleo (Michigan) on Jan. 9. But with Nebraska featuring No. 5-ranked Jake Sueflohn, Ryan erred on the side of caution when he saw Stieber on Friday."Hunter was going to wrestle, but he has the flu," Ryan said. "He had a good week of practice and got really sick on Friday. And with him not being 100 percent already, plus with the flu, I just worried and decided to play it safe. He'll be back on schedule (vs. Michigan State) next week."With 60 days until the NCAA championships in New York City, Ryan was asked if there was any frustration to not being able to get Stieber on the mat yet again. The Buckeyes are defending NCAA team champions.Despite wrestling just once, Stieber appeared at No. 12 in the national rankings at 149."There's frustration I think in general for everyone," he said. "That was our ninth dual meet today and it was our ninth different lineup. We want to show excellence. People come and pay money and give up four or five hours of their day, and they don't want to see average, right? They want to see excellence, and we want to provide that, and we haven't been able to."Some of it has been our fault, but some of it has just been bad luck with injuries," he added. "But we're getting healthy. We have an opportunity here with Michigan State, Purdue and Indiana, taking nothing away from those guys, to push through it, get healthy and be ready for the big showdown (Feb. 5) in State College (at No. 1 Penn State)."Two-time Ohio State All-American Hunter Stieber watches Sunday's match against Nebraska at St. John Arena in Columbus. The Monroeville graduate was a late scratch with the flu.Two-time Ohio State All-American Hunter Stieber watches Sunday's match against Nebraska at St. John Arena in Columbus. The Monroeville graduate was a late scratch with the flu.A moment of silence is held for Chris Ford prior to Sunday's Ohio State-Nebraska Big Ten wrestling match at St. John Arena in Columbus. Ford, a former head coach at Huron High School, Ashland and Ohio State, passed away Monday.