Former Buckeye Pearson wants shot as OSU running backs coach
Pepe Pearson dreams of running out of the Ohio Stadium tunnel. As a coach.
“Not as a player. I've been there,” said Pearson, who said he would love to join Ryan Day's staff as a replacement for Tony Alford, who coached OSU'S running backs for nine seasons before leaving Wednesday for a similar role at Michigan. “Having played there, the tradition … it would be awesome to come back home and do what I want to do.”
What he wants to do is coach the Buckeyes running backs.
“It's been a dream, something I've thought about ever since the day I got into coaching,” he said. “I can picture myself running out of the tunnel at the Shoe, giving back to these players. I get chills every time.”
Pearson, 48, coaches running backs at Tarleton State, an FCS school in Stephenville, Texas. He joined the Texans after spending 2020-21 working under Eddie George as running backs coach at Tennessee State. Before that, he spent five seasons at Marshall, where he recruited and coached 2019 Conference USA MVP Brendan Knox out of Franklin Heights.
Pearson also coached in Columbus at Ohio Dominican and St. Charles, where he got his first job working with running backs after leaving Ohio State and spending nearly 31⁄2 years bouncing around the NFL and NFL Europe.
Pearson lacks experience coaching at a Power Five school but feels he has the chops to succeed wherever he works.
“I always felt like I am a Power Five coach,” he said. “But I understand the timing of the way things happen sometimes. If given the opportunity as a running backs coach (at Ohio State) I would be able to prove myself at that point and open some eyes of people who wonder why I haven't coached at a Power Five yet.”
Pearson heard about the OSU opening Wednesday and admitted that Alford's move to Michigan caught him by surprise.
“It was a shocker, for sure, to go to that Team Up North,” he said. “That's different, but I don't know his personal choice for doing it, so I'll leave it alone.”
Pearson, a native of Euclid, Ohio, ranks 10th in OSU career yards with 3,076 yards. A year after George rushed for 1,927 on the way to winning the 1995 Heisman Trophy, Pearson followed with 1,484 yards, sixth best in school history at the time. His 27 career touchdowns top other two-year starters Chris “Beanie” Wells (23), Antonio Pittman (21) and Michael Wiley (20).
roller@dispatch.com