For most kids growing up and playing football in the state of Ohio, attending Ohio State University is the ultimate dream. For former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, he had his sight sets on becoming a Buckeye, up until an encounter with an unnamed coach who seemed to forget his visit with Roethlisberger.
On his Footbahlin’ podcast, which was recorded in Columbus, the home of Ohio State, Roethlisberger said he had an unofficial visit with Ohio State, and had a great meeting with an unnamed coach, although OSU’s head coach during Roethlisberger’s recruitment would’ve been John Cooper.
“Sat in his office, and I was the greatest thing since sliced bread. He’s like, ‘My man, you are everything we want, we can’t wait to have you, this is going to be great. We’re gonna come in here, you’re gonna dominate, you’re gonna play right away,’ all this stuff that they probably sell everybody on. And I was like, ‘This is awesome.’ Cause you’re sitting in this office, you’re seeing trophies, I mean, it’s The Ohio State University,” Roethlisberger said. “You feel so wanted, like you actually feel important.”
But a week later, Roethlisberger said he saw the same coach, and the interaction was very different.
“I was like, ‘Hey coach. How you doing?’ And he just kind of kept walking,” Roethlisberger explained. He assumed the coach didn’t see him, so he went up to him again. “And so I saw him again and I was like ‘Hey coach,’ like, he definitely didn’t see me, I just saw him a week ago, he loved me. ‘Hey coach, how you doing, Ben.’ Just had no idea who I was. So I was crushed, devastated. So I did what probably no Ohio-born kid would ever do. I canceled my Ohio State visit the next week.”
Obviously, being snubbed by someone who treated like you a king the week before is grounds to not want to attend a school. Obviously, recruiting is a game and kids get promised things and treated in a way that’s a lot different than they do after they actually commit, but to forget a player a week after a visit is pretty extreme. That made it an easy decision for Roethlisberger not to attend Ohio State.
Instead, he ended up in Oxford instead of Columbus, playing for Miami (Ohio) where he threw for 10,829 yards over three seasons with 84 touchdowns and led to him being selected 11th overall by the Steelers in the 2004 NFL Draft. The rest is history.
But what if Roethlisberger had gone to OSU? There’s a chance that if he played well, the higher level of competition would’ve raised his draft stock and put him in the same conversation as Eli Manning and Philip Rivers in the ‘04 draft, leaving him unavailable for Pittsburgh when they were on the board. So Steelers fans everywhere should probably thank that OSU coach for forgetting Roethlisberger, leading to an outcome that led to two more Super Bowl trophies in Pittsburgh.
Instead of Roethlisberger, Ohio State rolled with QB Steve Bellisari and later QB Craig Krenzel, who in 2002 led the Buckeyes to a 14-0 season and a national title. So it’s not as if things went sideways for OSU after passing on Roethlisberger, and it’s safe to say things probably worked out best for both parties.
It’s an interesting to scenario to ponder what would’ve come of Roethlisberger had he gone to OSU, but he found a home in Miami and later in Pittsburgh. Now, it’s just a footnote in his recruiting memories, but it’s something that probably really stung a lot for an Ohio kid to be forgotten about his state’s landmark university and football program. But he’s probably better off for it, and while Krenzel might have the national championship, I don’t think Roethlisberger would trade his two Super Bowl rings for one.
