GALION — He has worked his magic for the past seven seasons, revitalizing Galion’s once proud but long dormant football program. But if the Tigers are to continue their run of recent success, veteran coach Chris Hawkins will need to pull another rabbit out of his hat.
Galion, which won two conference championships in its three years in the North Central Conference, is headed to the rugged Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference as a member of the eight-school Red Division this fall. The Tigers’ conference schedule includes the likes of 19-time playoff qualifier and three-time state champ Marion Pleasant, 13-time postseason participant Jonathan Alder and emerging powers River Valley and North Union.
“It’s not just a step up in competition,” said Hawkins, whose 47-26 record at Galion speaks for itself, “it’s two or three steps up.”
The Tigers won NCC championships and advanced to the playoffs each of the past two seasons. Galion joined the NCC in the fall of 2011 after ending a 67-year affiliation with the Northern Ohio League at the conclusion of the 2010-11 school year (Galion was a charter member of the NOL in 1944).
The NCC disbanded after the 2013-14 school year, about three years after several conference members announced their intention to leave the league to form the Northern 10 Athletic Conference. Galion, along with Richland County schools Ontario and Lucas, were left scrambling to find new conference homes. Ontario joined the NOL last year, while Lucas was admitted to the Mid-Buckeye Conference.
Hawkins, who played and coached in the old NCC at Wynford and enjoyed a successful stint at Willard in the NOL, has never seen a conference schedule like the one that awaits the Tigers this fall.
“The NOL has a great reputation, and rightfully so, but that reputation is based largely on the top two or three schools,” Hawkins said. “Tiffin Columbian is always at the top and then there are one or two schools each year that challenge Columbian.
“I would say, from top to bottom, the MOAC is tougher than the NOL.”
Seven of the MOAC’s eight Red Division schools have made the playoffs at least four times and all seven have been to the postseason at least once since 2007. Jonathan Alder was the Division IV state runner-up in 2006 and Marion Pleasant captured the Division V state crown in 2002 to go with titles in 1996 and 1972.
“When you look at the teams in our Division, (Division VI) Fairbanks is probably considered the weakest on paper and they have a great tradition,” Hawkins said. “Fairbanks was 2-8 last year, but five of those losses were to playoff teams.
“Then you have Pleasant and Jonathan Alder with all of their tradition and River Valley and North Union, which have really established themselves within the past decade or so.”
Upper Sandusky, which spent the past three years in the NCC with Galion, will be in the MOAC Red this fall but will be replaced by Division II Marion Harding after football season. The Division also includes Division III (and growing) Buckeye Valley.
“Marion Harding hasn’t had a great record the last few seasons, but they always have Division I college recruits,” Hawkins said. “Buckeye Valley just keeps getting bigger and bigger They are Division III now, but with the way all those Columbus-area suburbs are growing it’s just a matter of time until they are Division II.”
Hawkins, who took over at Galion in 2007 (the Tigers were a combined 3-47 in the five seasons before his arrival), was a driving force in Galion’s move to the MOAC.
“This was partly my brainchild,” he said. “We could have gone back to the NOL and we looked into joining the Ohio Cardinal Conference, but I just thought the MOAC made more sense.
“It is a great football league, but beyond that the rest of our programs fit better in the MOAC than those other leagues.”
Critics contend that mid-week trips to Jonathan Alder in northeast Madison County and Fairbanks in southern Union County could be too much to ask of Galion’s student-athletes, especially those in middle school. League officials already have addressed the issue, Hawkins said.
“Our middle school programs are going to play geographically, not teams within the division,” Hawkins said. “The (MOAC’s eight-team) Blue Division includes schools like Northmor, Cardington, Mount Gilead and Fredericktown, which are a lot closer to home.
“There are going to be some issues that arise, but I just felt like the MOAC was the best decision for the student-athletes of Galion.”
Follow Curt Conrad on Twitter @curtjconrad.
“It’s not just a step up in competition,” said Hawkins, whose 47-26 record at Galion speaks for itself, “it’s two or three steps up.”
