Ohio State dance team lines up for practice Dec. 19. Credit: Courtesy of Patrick Carmichael
When most student-athletes graduate from Ohio State, they take with them a tool belt of skills and lessons to help carry them into life and begin their careers.
For Melissa McGhee, she took more than life lessons — she stepped into her role as head coach of the dance team the year after her senior season as a dancer.
“It was really challenging. I, being naive at the age of 22, looked at it as ‘How hard can it be?’” McGhee said. “And boy, did I get slapped in the face.”
The Toledo native began dancing at the age of 2, training at a ballet-only studio. When looking at colleges, two schools stuck out for her, both academically and athletically — the University of Michigan and Ohio State.
“My whole family is Michigan fans and I grew up going to Michigan games,” McGhee said. “I had a friend that I grew up with at the studio that was on the team at Ohio State and came to watch them. We have some connections here and I got the Morrill Scholarship, so it just made the most sense in the long run.”
McGhee was named a team captain during her senior season, which was a transitional year for the dance team. During 2010-11, the team was in the process of switching from a club to a varsity team in the athletics department.
After the transition, a vacancy was left in the head coaching position and the Department of Athletics asked McGhee to step in for one year. Now, 10 years later, she’s brought multiple national titles back to Columbus and was recently named the National Dance Coaches Association College Coach of the Year.
“It’s an award that’s voted on by its members, so from that perspective, I felt humbled and honored and that people thought enough of our program,” McGhee said. “It’s not necessarily about me, it’s about the fact that people respect our program. It was more a reflection of the team’s work and success than my own.”
Senior dancer Maddie Smith said she agrees that the award was a team effort, but saidMcGhee’s hard work and dedication also played a huge role in their success.
“She’s not about herself, she’s about this program and this team, and she’s so selfless in that way,” Smith said. “We’re able to all come together and achieve things like her winning the coach award and us winning a national championship, and it’s such a symbiotic relationship. We can’t do anything without her and she can’t do anything without us.”
In the past three years, McGhee has led the dance team to four championships — the 2018 pom and jazz titles, 2019 pom and 2020 jazz. The team placed second in both categories in 2017.
“Getting second in both categories was definitely like throwing gasoline on a fire, the motivation definitely increased,” McGhee said. “Once we got over the first hurdle in 2018, that was a culmination of years and years of hard work of our alumni.”
Smith said McGhee is one of those notable alumni, as McGhee’s own time on the team allows her to understand her dancers on a deeper level and help them succeed.
“For her to be able to advocate for the team right after she graduated really worked to benefit the program because the administration took her seriously being on the team for four years,” Smith said. “I also think that her being on the team definitely gives insight into what we experience. She knows what it would feel like if she was in our shoes.”
She’s not just concerned about their dancing careers, either. Smith said McGhee supports her dancers just as much academically and mentally as she does athletically.
“She doesn’t just care about our dancing, she cares about our career, she cares about our life outside of dance, she cares about our mental, physical well-being,” Smith said. “It just goes so much beyond dancing.”
Although the dance team has had an unprecedented year, much like other sports, McGhee said their passion is as unwavering now as previous years. The Universal Dance Association’s national competition is still scheduled for mid-January, meaning the Buckeyes could still defend their title.
“The thing that has not changed is that when people join the team, it’s because they have a passion for Ohio State and they have a passion for dance,” McGhee said. “That has been consistent with any generation.”
