Porter: Change of scenery will help McKinley discussion

There are going to be some changes with McKinley High School’s football program. Probably the best place to start is moving the team’s weekly Quarterback Club meeting from a local restaurant that serves alcohol to the high school.

Head Coach Ron Johnson reached out to cross-sections of the community last year after he was hired. He used to have his meetings at the Canton Negro Oldtimers Association, but the group lost its building in foreclosure.

Johnson wanted to make sure anyone who wanted to talk about the program could. The group met Tuesday at Walther’s Cafe, and it wasn’t a pretty sight.

Johnson was put through the ringer for three hours. He was verbally abused and physically threatened. It was a trying and embarrassing week after the night played out on local talk radio, too.

“It was a crazy week, but that’s the greatness that is Canton, Ohio, and Canton McKinley High School,” Johnson said.

Asked if he had second thoughts about coming to McKinley, Johnson said no way.

“Never in a million years,” he said. “This is the greatest job in the State of Ohio. I feel such a responsibility to deliver for these kids and the fans and the community. That’s not going to change. It’s an awesome responsibility and one I cherish.”

McKinley fans were upset their football team was 2-2 after four weeks with losses to Huber Heights Wayne — a better team, period — and Fitch, a better team on that night. Would the scene that played out at Walther’s on Tuesday have played out if the Bulldogs were 3-1 or 4-0?

No.

The bottom line is winning. Are there legitimate concerns by fans as it relates to Johnson’s handling of the team? Maybe.

A couple of callers last to me last week suggested the team’s grade-point average isn’t any better because of Johnson but because of the kids. That’s a two-way street. McKinley’s team grade-point average has made significant strides.

“I’ve dealt with Brian (Cross) and Spider (Miller), and I’m not saying anything negative about them, but in terms of off-field things, there is no one better than Ron Johnson,” said Bill Greene, Scout.com’s Ohio recruiting analyst. “He puts out a packet of information for each kid, and it has every bit of information you’d want.

“He provides their transcript, and no coach does that. He has true heights and weights, and everybody else lies. He puts all their film on one DVD instead of seven or eight for each kid. From my point of view, he’s the best to deal with maybe in the entire state because of the way he does it.”

During the offseason, there was a Scout.com recruiting combine in Pittsburgh. It started at 8 a.m. Players needed to be there by 7 to warm up. Johnson took a group of McKinley players, which meant they left around 4:30 in the morning.

“A lot of coaches sent players with a parent or assistant coach,” Greene said. “Ron Johnson was there.”

Some McKinley fans were upset with a paragraph I wrote last week that dealt with past Bulldogs at times being a liability to college recruiters because of grades.

“Now? Grades? With the program he has in place, we’re not seeing that at all,” Greene said. “From what I’m seeing, the academic performance is a lot better than it has been. McKinley kids get what they deserve because of Ron Johnson.”

PART OF THE JOB

Fans criticizing the McKinley coach is nothing new. It happened to Thom McDaniels. It happened to Kerry Hodakievic. Both won state titles.

When Cross was the head coach, the complaint was the team’s grades fell. Now that Johnson is the head coach, the improvement in grades has nothing to do with the coach?

“I don’t remember what the team GPA was when I took over, but I know it wasn’t where our administration wants it, or where we thought it could be,” Johnson said. “We’ve worked diligently on it. We don’t let our kids miss school anymore. If you don’t miss school, you don’t miss class, and you don’t miss practice. You teach them how to play the game of school and how attendance and behavior directly impacts your result in the classroom.”

I don’t know what kind of coach Johnson is or will be on game nights. I think a season and a half is way too early to evaluate him. He has made a significant difference in academics with his team.

The bottom line is his players are more marketable to college coaches than they ever have been. That’s worth more than a 2-2 start.

ARE THEY ALL IN?

At the Tuesday meeting, there were parents as well as fans questioning Johnson’s ability to lead the program. If parents are second-guessing the coach in public, it probably is happening at home as well.

“I don’t know if the players are involved in it,” Johnson said. “It would be naive to say they’re not aware of it. It shouldn’t have any impact on their preparation. We haven’t sacrificed one minute of our coaching because of it.

“I think it’s melodramatic by the same token to say it galvanized our team. I think we went business as usual in practice.”

McKinley beat Jackson, 44-28, on Friday to improve to 3-2. Apparently, the players aren’t questioning the coach.

“It reconfirmed what we knew that they’re mature as football players, and it showed how mature they are as young men,” Johnson said.

DWINDLING FAN BASE

The fan base at McKinley has been shrinking for years, and it’s not a reflection on Johnson. This is a downward spiral that well proceeded him.

McKinley has lost more than 50 percent of its season-ticket base in the last 10 years. Canton City Schools officials said season tickets sold this year are 1,270. Ten years ago, it was 2,961. That’s a 57 percent decrease.

Massillon has experienced a drop as well but not nearly as dramatic. Massillon has 3,808 season-ticket holders this year, and it had 4,725 10 years ago, about a 19 percent decline.

ON THE SIDELINE

Johnson said he coached the Jackson game from the sideline, and he will continue to coach from there the rest of this season.

He had coached in the press box, a criticism of some fans.

GLENOAK MUST WIN?

GlenOak is coming off an impressive win at Fitch, but the Golden Eagles (4-1, 2-0) still are in need of computer points. Before beating Fitch, GlenOak had just 5 second-level points, the least amount of any team in the top 15 in Division I, Region 2.

NOW IT GETS TOUGH

Aside from playing GlenOak in the second week of the season, Massillon had a relative breeze the first half of the season. GlenOak is the only team the Tigers played with a winning record through the first four weeks of the season.

On the back half of the schedule, head coach Jason Hall has five teams with a combined record of 14-5-1 through four weeks. Not all games were completed in time. A big test comes Saturday at Cleveland St. Ignatius.