2018 Ohio Football Coaches Poll

By Staff Report Jan 31, 2019, 12:00am

See how the 2018 MaxPreps computer rankings stack up against the Ohio Football Coaches poll!

Computer rankings.  Some people love them. Some hate them.

Although the math formula that produces the rankings is meticulous — a carefully crafted, dissected work of science that isn't subject to traditional editorial bias — not everyone agrees with the output. The particularly goes for the coaches, who spend endless gobs of time analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of their own team and others.

As a farewell to the 2018 football season, MaxPreps invited every head varsity football coach from Ohio to participate in a poll to pick the top 10 teams in the region. Here are the results. 

Without further ado...
 

Computer Ranking
   
Coaches PollDifference
1St. Edward (Lakewood)


1Archbishop Hoban
+1
2Archbishop Hoban (Akron)


2St. Edward
-1
3Colerain (Cincinnati)

3Colerain
0
4Mentor (Mentor)

4St. Ignatius+1
5St. Ignatius (Cleveland)


5Mentor
-1
6Washington (Massillon)


6Washington
0
7Pickerington Central (Pickerington)


7Pickerington Central
0
8Elder (Cincinnati)

8Kirtland
+9
9Wyoming (Cincinnati)

9Kenston
+4
10Hilliard Davidson (Hilliard)


10Winton Woods
+4
11Euclid

11Avon
+4
12Central Catholic (Toledo)


12Wyoming
-3
13Kenston (Chagrin Falls)

13Hilliard Davidson
-2
14Winton Woods (Cincinnati)


14Olentangy Liberty
+5
15Avon 

15Elder
-7
16Northmont (Clayton)

16Marion Local (Maria Stein)
+16
17Kirtland

17Archbishop Alter (Kettering)
+19
18Memorial (St. Marys)

18St. Xavier (Cincinnati)
+8
19Olentangy Liberty (Powell)


19McKinley (Canton)
+8
20Hilliard Bradley (Hilliard)


20Orrville
+8
21Maple Heights


21Central Catholic
-9
22Dublin Coffman (Dublin)


22Dublin Coffman
0
23Wadsworth

23Pickerington North (Pickerington)
+6
24Springfield 

24Archbishop Moeller (Cincinnati)
+7
25Reynoldsburg

25Euclid
-14

Beyond taking the poll, we asked coaches a few more open-ended optional questions that included their opinions on the local football scene. We promised anonymity. 



Which team, besides your own, will make the biggest improvement between now and the start of next season?

Lakota West topped the list here; honorable mentions also go out to: Dublin Coffman, Fairfield (Fairfield, Ohio), Hamilton (Hamilton, Ohio), Minster (Minster, Ohio) and Steubenville (Steubenville, Ohio).

Which program — beside your own — is the best in terms of participation, community support, student support, academics and player personal development?

Kudos to Marion Local (Maria Stein, Ohio) and Kirtland who won this in a landslide victory.  Other schools that were repeatedly mentioned were Colerain, Hilliard Davidson, Washington (Massillon), Pickerington Central and St. Edward.

If you took a one-year break from your team, which program would you most want to shadow and why?

Marion Local (for being a perennial powerhouse) and Kirtland (a small school with high participation and consistent winner) were the clear winners here. Two other schools were close:

* St. Edwards. Coaches want to know what coach Lombardo's recipe for success is year-after-year.

* Arcbishop Hoban. The team's recent surge has coaches wanting to know how the Knights have become more dominant in recent years and how they are keeping their participation high with their two-a-day practice schedule.



What do you think: is the computer ranking or the coaches poll a more accurate reflection?  Find us on social or send us an email to share your opinion: support@maxpreps.com.