As the Columbus Aviators gear up for their inaugural UFL season, first-time head coach Ted Ginn Jr., a Buckeye legend and former NFL wide receiver with 14 years of pro experience, shared insights at Media Day on his path to coaching, camp progress, quarterback battles, and the league's evolving rules.
First Camp Impressions: Settling In Strong
Ginn admitted initial uncertainty after his first-ever draft but praised the team's quick adaptation over the first two weeks.
"Didn't really know what I drafted at first. My first time ever doing a draft, me and a couple of guys in my staff," Ginn said. "But the first two weeks have been great. My kids came out, and my biggest question to them was, we wanted to look like something. And, man, it's been looking like something. You're starting to see the kids settle into the systems on the offensive side and defensive side and the special teams phases too. I'm happy with what I'm seeing, and I'm able to see what we want and what we don't."
Path to the Sideline: From Player to Coach
Ginn credited former Ohio State teammate Cardale Jones—a "childhood little brother"—for pitching the job, leading to a solo decision without much family input.
"He called me... 'Hey, bro. How you feel about coaching?' And I was like, you know, I don't really know. But he broke it down to me... Give me a couple weeks. He stayed consistent... When I agreed to it and was able to put the staff together, I started getting the joy and the confidence that I could do it. Now I'm here. I'm in camp. I'm running day 12 of camp. I can really say I'm doing it."
Building the Staff: Todd Haley's Veteran Edge
Securing offensive coordinator Todd Haley was key, thanks to UFL support. Ginn valued Haley's receiver background and system knowledge.
"When that name came across, I called him, and our first conversation was just great. He has a background in receiver. To have the dual threat that Todd brings, head coach, assistant coach, receiver coach. He had been around. I needed that experience. He was able to go out and pick guys that understood his system... Now, we don't have four new guys coming in with twenty-five new guys on offense trying to learn one system."
Quarterback Competition: Confidence in the Trio
As a former WR, Ginn knows QB play is crucial. He expressed faith in Jalen McClendon (early QB1), Jalen Morton, and Aiden Saenz.
"I got confidence in all of them. It's been a battle.” Ginn said of the quarterback play. “It's just great to see them guys come out every day and compete, you know. And we got three great quarterbacks that stand tall, and I like all of them. And I wanna give all of them an opportunity. We know one can only play, and we're gonna figure out what's the best one to play or what's the best packages to play - create that foundation that you might not just need one quarterback always before a place. You know, this is a league that's doing different things and creating different ways that the league is is is is adopting in a lot of different ways. I would love to showcase all three of them every week.”
This open approach could lead to creative rotations, fitting the UFL's innovative style.
Coaching Philosophy: Motivate Beyond the Field
"My coaching style definitely comes from my dad. You get involved with the kid, understand what the kid needs. It might not always be football. The opportunity just to motivate. If you just change thirty days, you might get a shot to where you wanna go. But these thirty days will change you, and it's not just gonna help you on the football field—it's gonna help you with life."
On His Coaching Goals:
"My coaching goal is what it looks like… It's like, you get the interview, you know, but then you gotta go back, and you got to write it and word it and and do it a certain way for it to be able to be read right, so you can be able to put the literature and the the knowledge out. I think that's the same way with what I have going on, is being able to understand time within practice, you know, being able to understand time within meetings, you know, being able to float around and to not just be one-sided to a ball that somebody might think that I am too.” Ginn responded. “Being able to motivate the whole entire thing, talking to my equipment people, talking to my training room staff, you know, just having accountability with everybody, I think, makes this picture be a big picture that we want and what it looks like.”
On the WR Room: Talent and Scheme Fit
"It's great talent... Some guys, they shouldn't really be in this room, to be honest. But being in this room, you just fall in love with the work ethic that this room brings, the leadership that they bring. It's a very hot room. They're working their butts off, and there's a lot of spots, you know, and you've got to be able to play on special teams… It's what you do individually within the system… I think anybody can go out and play x. Anybody can go out there and play z. What do we put out there together as far as a whole, what's the core look like.”
Ginn on his thoughts on the UFL as a whole right now and its direction.
“I just think, you got the eight coaches that we have here right now are some of the best coaches that you can have in this game... I think it's something that could be around for a while.”
“This would be my first year, so I don't really know for but I hear from different coaches that been in the XFL, the other leagues that's been tied or been associated with this of this has been a great experience.”
“But it's something that with us being here and being able to create a wave to bring the kids back into the NFL and the NFL adopting us as some type of, you know, D league, you know, or something like that, I think that will help this league in a lot of different ways. They're putting a stamp on it, you know, but you keep bringing the players out and people keep coming in. You keep getting guys like me putting in great, great staffs. It could grow.”
On new rules like no punting inside the 50 (banned from the +49 and in, except final 2 minutes of halves, to force aggressive play):
“I think it's just football. It's just football in a different style, and it's needed. You know? And I hate it because, you know, me as a specialist, kick off return and punt return really survived me in that league... It would've hurt me.”
“But it's just you know, the world is evolving. Football is evolving. I think it's great for this style of football. I don't really like it for... you know, not for the NFL, but I like it for what's going on here. It just helps keep a lot of people engaged and in tune.”
Message to Columbus Fans:
"Don't be shy. Come on out and see some football. Bring your friends, bring your family. Eat some popcorn. Have a hot dog on a nice Sunday, Saturday, or Friday night… Come watch the Aviators fly."