Via press release from Ohio State.
Ohio State head football coach Urban Meyer announced the hiring of two individuals to his administrative staff today: Brian Voltolini will be the team’s director of football operations and Mark Pantoni is the team’s director of player personnel. Both worked for Meyer at the University of Florida.
Voltolini will be responsible for the operation of the football program’s budget, scholarships, team travel, housing, camps and clinics. Pantoni will supervise all aspects of the program’s administrative duties for recruiting, including on-campus official and unofficial visits, budgeting, travel and database management.
“I am really pleased that Brian Voltolini and Mark Pantoni wanted to be a part of the football program at The Ohio State University,” Meyer said. “I have spent considerable time working with each and I certainly appreciate the passion and the effort that both bring to their positions every day.”
Voltolini has worked on a Meyer staff for nine seasons, starting with Meyer’s first head coaching position in 2001 at Bowling Green State University. He spent two years there, working as video coordinator with additional responsibilities in the area of operations, before moving on to the University of Utah with Meyer.
Voltolini spent three seasons at Utah, from spring 2003 through the spring of 2006, finishing his tenure as director of video while also handling administrative operations duties in the areas of recruiting budgets, billing and youth camps.
Meyer recruited Voltolini to Florida in 2006, and for the next five years he directed the football video/software operations, including managing Meyer’s coaching web site. He took over football operations for the 2010 season – Meyer’s last at Florida – before spending the 2011 campaign on Will Muschamp’s Florida staff.
“Brian not only has a sharp awareness of what needs to be done for an efficient, fluid operation of a football program,” Meyer said, “but he also has that keen sense of knowing what the program needs from an operations perspective. And I appreciate that greatly.”
Voltolini grew up in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and has a degree in psychology with a minor in sociology from the University of Idaho (1999). He and his wife, the former Lindsey Wilde, have three children: a son, Deacon, and daughters Scarlett and Lucia.
Pantoni has worked at the University of Florida for the past five years, and he has had direct responsibilities as a recruiting program coordinator for the past two seasons, including serving as the director of football administration from March of this year through the end of the regular season.
Pantoni’s vast knowledge of recruiting is something that one recruiting website said would be missed most about his moving on to Ohio State.
“Pantoni did a lot of everything, but what will be missed most of all is his knowledge,” a reporter for “alligatorarmy.com” wrote. “He was an encyclopedia of stats, measurements, strengths, weaknesses, potential, abilities … this list could go on and on.”
“Mark has proven abilities at organizing recruiting efforts and in building relationships with prospects and their families,” Meyer said. “I have seen how well he understood recruiting in the state of Florida and nationally, and I am certain his efforts are going to be well-received in the state of Ohio. He is one of the hardest working people I have been around.”
Pantoni also helped with Florida’s highly successful summer camp showcase, Friday Night Lights. One of the best-known on-campus summer camps, this one-night event was held under the lights in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium with music and highlight videos on the scoreboard.
A Florida native, Pantoni grew up in Sarasota and attended the University of Florida. He has both bachelor’s (Summa Cum Laude; 2004) and master’s (2006) degrees from Florida in applied physiology and kinesiology.
Pantoni’s wife, the former Kristin O’Berry, is also a Florida native (Jacksonville) and a Florida graduate.
