As alumni return to Ohio's campus this weekend for Homecoming, four former Ohio athletes will not have far to travel.

Elmore Banton, Joe Carbone, Bob Cooley and Larry Hunter all have made their journey back to Ohio, and they have returned for more than just the parade and football game.

They are all athletes who have returned to coach at the school where they competed. Banton is the head Ohio track and cross country coach; Carbone is the head baseball coach; Cooley is the head men's golf coach and Hunter is the head men's basketball coach.

Ohio Athletics Director Tom Boeh said the number of former athletes who have returned to coach at their alma mater is low at Division I schools, but Ohio is an exception.

"What we have here is highly unusual," Boeh said. "In our business it's really unusual to have that many coaches who are graduates."

Banton, who ran cross country for Ohio from 1962 to 1965, said he thinks it is no longer common for alumni to return to coach at the school where they competed.

"I used to say it wasn't unusual, but the trend now in athletics is not to bring back alumni to work at the university," Banton said. "As I look at other coaches at other schools I see that there are not as many ex-athletes as there were 15 to 20 years ago."

When former athletes return to coach, Banton said it is positive for the university.

"Coaches who do come back stay longer and retire there because that's where their roots are," he said. "Where they're not former athletes they try to move up the ladder, and end up leaving."

Carbone said when former players return to coach it helps establish consistency within the sports program.

"It's a tradition," Carbone said. "Old coaches and alumni see the connection from the old regime to the new regime."

Banton said he agrees.

"I think when you have a coach who comes back and is a former athlete it brings back tradition. The rivalry at Miami has died because the new coaches and administration doesn't care about beating Miami. We used to get awards for beating Miami. We can lose those traditions."

Banton returned to his alma mater in 1980 as head coach because he feels loyal to Ohio, he said.

"I'm from the old school, and I'm a loyal idiot," Banton said. "I love Ohio. I've always liked it. It's a great university, and a great place to go to school and coach. Every coach would love to get to their old school and coach."

Banton said he has been offered other jobs, but decided to stay at Ohio because he enjoys coaching at his alma mater, he said. He said Carbone and Hunter also have refused other offers to stay with Ohio.

Banton said many things have changed since his days as an Ohio athlete.

"Number one, there were no women's athletics," Banton said. "There were club sports, but not varsity."

Boeh said because Ohio did not have women's sports during those days, there are few former women athletes who have returned to Ohio as coaches. But that should be changing soon.

"I think that in the not too distant future we will have women coaches who played here," Boeh said. "If you look at the ages of (Banton, Carbone and Hunter), you see that is why there are no women coaches (who are former Ohio athletes) now. When those guys were in school there were no women's teams."

Hunter, a guard for the Ohio basketball team from 1968 to 1971, said he has viewed changes in the game during the 29 years he has been a coach.

"Freshmen were not eligible to play varsity," Hunter said. "Athletes today, because of the availability of strength coaches and specialized training techniques, are overall more stronger and more talented than in those days."

One aspect of the game that has not changed is the way Hunter said he measures success.

"An athlete defines his or her career by winning championships," Hunter said.

Hunter said he bases some of his coaching on what he learned at while an athlete at Ohio.

"The defense hasn't changed all that much; it is very similar to how I played close to thirty years ago," Hunter said.

Hunter, who has two degrees from Ohio, said he returned to the school in 1990 because of what Ohio has to offer.

"(Ohio is) a terrific institution with a lot of great things happening here in terms of experiences for young people.

"I have great memories of my experiences here, having been taught at the collegiate level and coached at the collegiate level. (It is) the best college coaching job in the Mid-American conference."

Carbone, who played baseball for Ohio from 1966 to 1970, also said he returned to coach the Bobcats because his days as an Ohio student-athlete were enjoyable.

"I think anytime you have a real good experience somewhere it is easy to come back," Carbone said. "I had a great education and a great time here, but I never imagined I would come back and coach at Ohio."

Carbone had been planning to get a job coaching high school baseball until an opportunity opened up for him to coach at Marshall. He spent 15 years as an assistant coach at Marshall, Toledo and Ohio State before being hired at Ohio as the head coach, he said.

Carbone said returning to Ohio has been an enjoyable experience for him.

"It's really something special to coach at your alma mater," he said. "For (those coaching at their alma mater) there's an intense loyalty to the athletic department and the community."

Carbone said coaches like himself, Banton, Hunter and Cooley have more of a will to win for the university from which they graduated than other coaches.

"I don't know if they have more loyalty because I know Coach (Jim) Grobe didn't go here and he is very loyal to his team," Carbone said. "But I think they live or die with the university more because they play with the heart. There is undying loyalty and pride and passion to the school they went to."

Cooley was unavailable for comment.