Ohio State Hires Longtime Alabama Staffer Sam Petitto As Director Of Player Personnel

Ohio State made another offseason addition to its coaching and support staff on Sunday, hiring former Alabama director of personnel operations Sam Petitto to serve as director of player personnel, first reported by Lettermen Row’s Alex Gleitman. 

Petitto, who reportedly started in his role on Monday, will be the lead assistant to Ohio State general manager of player personnel Mark Pantoni. He replaces Marc Votteler in that role, who spent just one season with Ohio State and left this offseason to become associate athletic director of player personnel at Mississippi State. 

Petitto joins the Buckeyes’ staff after a long stint in player operations under now-retired Alabama head coach Nick Saban. He spent the last eight seasons as the Crimson Tide’s director of personnel operations, helping the program secure the nation’s top-rated recruiting classes in 2023, 2021, 2019, 2017 and 2016. Petitto also played a role in Alabama’s recruitment of current Ohio State players such as safety Caleb Downs, center Seth McLaughlin and quarterback Julian Sayin. 

Before his time at Alabama, Petitto was the director of player personnel at Georgia for two seasons and also had stints at North Carolina, Grambling State and Southeastern. He was also a defensive graduate assistant at Alabama in 2008 and a head coach for three different high school programs in Louisiana in the late 1990s.