Updated: January 29, 2014, 4:15 PM ET By Austin Ward | ESPN.com COLUMBUS, Ohio — Bad weather left Tom Herman stranded on the highway for hours, kept him up all night, forced him to abandon a rental car and ultimately rely on the kindness of a stranger to make it to the airport. But Mother Nature still couldn’t claim a victory over the Ohio State offensive coordinator despite literally freezing over his recruiting trail on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. The snowy, icy conditions that wreaked havoc on the Atlanta area did force Herman into a 19-hour travel odyssey that he dutifully detailed on his Twitter account. But ultimately one of the most productive recruiters on the coaching staff found a way to the airport, caught a flight that was only scheduled one hour later than his original plans called for and needed to only reschedule one meeting, perhaps giving the Buckeyes a big offseason victory over quite a formidable opponent. “No, no, there’s no way I was losing,” Herman said by phone after arriving in the Dallas area, showering and heading out to look for some caffeine. “I won. “I don’t know if I was fighting Mother Nature, and I certainly don’t want to blame the city of Atlanta, but they aren’t as equipped to deal with that weather as a city in the midwest or the north. Anything that would have happened like this in Columbus or Iowa or wherever it probably wouldn’t have been an issue.” Instead it turned into a major problem for one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country, with Herman experiencing the gridlock on the roads firsthand as the perilous driving conditions made getting around Atlanta almost impossible. Thanks again to everyone for their well wishes and prayers. Please continue to pray for those still stuck out there. It is truly a mess. — Tom Herman (@CoachTomHerman) January 29, 2014 Herman passed the time in the unmoving traffic by snapping photos, providing running updates and reading messages of support from fans on his Twitter account, staying up through the night until calling for help in the morning, receiving some advice from ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt to ditch his rental car and then deciding to walk to the airport. It wasn’t any easier to get around on foot, either, but after falling “five or six times,” Herman was able to hitch a ride with Delta employee Terry Spiller. Even that part of the journey wasn’t a smooth one, as Herman and Spiller stopped to assist a woman who had fallen near the side of the road, calling an ambulance and waiting for help to arrive…
Continue reading this article at ESPN: Tom Herman, Ohio State Buckeyes offensive coordinator, started walk to airport
