Buckeyes recruiting staffer Erin Dunston leaving for position at Michigan

COLUMBUS — Ohio State is losing a key member of its recruiting staff to its arch rival: Assistant Athletic Director for Football Recruiting & Events Erin Dunston is leaving the program for a position at Michigan, Lettermen Row has learned.

Dunston had been with the Buckeyes since 2021 as the director of on-campus recruiting and had recently been promoted to her position. Now she’s trading in scarlet and gray for maize and blue.

She previously worked at Kansas and Purdue. Dunston was included in On3’s 2022 rising star personnel and recruiting staffers you need to know.

She spoke to the media in 2021 after being hired about what brought her to Ohio State.

“The people and the vision and the family atmosphere that [Ohio State coach Ryan] Day and Mark Pantoni really showed me is what brought me to Ohio State,” Dunston said. “The challenge of having these kids come back on campus in such a high volume brought me to Ohio State. And obviously we didn’t know at the time, how many kids we were going to have, but we knew that it was going to open back up one day.

“So that’s what really brought me to Ohio State.”

Mark Pantoni, the head of the Buckeyes recruiting operation, called Dunston ‘a rock star’ when she was hired.

Now three years later, she is leaving for the rival and defending national champ — Michigan.

The Buckeyes previously lost running backs coach Tony Alford to Michigan during spring practice. New Wolverines coach Sherrone Moore is pushing to beef up his operation, and he’s going after Ohio State in the process.