Ohio State’s national championship run was made possible by the work of its assistant coaches. After leading college football’s top defense, Jim Knowles defected to Penn State. The Arizona Cardinals poached offensive line coach Justin Frye. Now, offensive coordinator Chip Kelly is headed back to the NFL. In his first stint in the NFL, Kelly was the head coach for the Philadelphia Eagles for three years and then flamed out as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.
After leading the Buckeyes to a title and commanding a more efficient offense, Kelly makes the jump. Considering his $6 million salary is greater than a handful of head coaches in the league, the jump is understandable. This will be the third offseason in a row (and fourth time overall, thanks to Bill O’Brien) that Day will have to hire/promote a new offensive coordinator.
This is not a new phenomenon among champions. For example, Nick Saban won six titles at Alabama with five different offensive coordinators and three defensive coordinators. Day nailed the hire of Kelly but he’ll have to do the same to replace his mentor.
The Search for the Next Ohio State Offensive Coordinator
Familiar Faces
Kevin Wilson might be the easiest candidate to replace Kelly as offensive coordinator. The former Broyles Award winner was hired before the 2017 season by Urban Meyer after serving as the Indiana head coach for six seasons. He was one of the carryovers from Meyer’s staff to Day’s and stuck around until after the 2022 season. He spent two seasons with Tulsa with little success and came back after being fired in an analyst role.
Wilson’s offenses were among the best in college football in his time and helped develop first-round draft picks like Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields, and C.J. Stroud at quarterback. He also has experience as an offensive line coach, so this could kill two birds with one stone and Day can use that extra spot on the staff elsewhere (like finding a Larry Johnson succession plan…).
Brian Hartline is going to be the name most Ohio State fans will mention. While Hartline was technically the offensive coordinator in 2023, he did not end up calling plays as Day took the responsibility from him just before the season kicked off. Hartline looks to be one of the hot names working his way up the ranks and has even earned a few head coaching interviews. He’s perhaps the top recruiter and developer of talent of wide receivers and is not going to be a position coach forever.
The easiest route – and perhaps the best route with long-term implications – is to have Wilson and Hartline as co-coordinators and allow Hartline to develop as a play-caller.
#MAction in Columbus?
If Day wants to find some names outside of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, he could poach some head coaches from the MAC. Jason Candle was reportedly one of the names the Buckeyes were interested in before hiring O’Brien. Candle has had plenty of success in the MAC with a pair of conference championships and one more divisional title. He’s tied with Gary Pinkel with 73 wins at the top of the Rockets’ leaderboard.
Joe Moorhead is currently the Akron head coach and has not had too much success with the Zips. However, he was a solid offensive coordinator for Penn State (2016-2017) and Oregon (2020-2021). With the Nittany Lions, Moorhead’s offenses were some of the best in the Big Ten. In those two years, Penn State averaged 447.5 yards per game. With the Ducks, Moorhead was able to be successful with Anthony Brown at quarterback and even beat Ohio State in Columbus.
Has a former Michigan player ever ended up as a coach at Ohio State? Chuck Heater was a Wolverine running back before coaching the Buckeye secondary in the late 1980s. Scott Loeffler could be another defector, albeit it would be unlikely. His Falcons have gradually improved on offense, and last year, it produced the leading receiver…as a tight end.
Longshots
Tom Herman had a pretty ugly breakup when he left the Buckeyes after the 2014 season. He and embattled former wide receivers coach Zach Smith were not on best terms. Smith even alleged that Herman was the one who tipped off Brett McMurphy of the alleged misdeeds of Smith and wanted to bring Meyer down with the whole thing. Even then, everyone associated with that scandal is gone and Herman was a great offensive coordinator for the Buckeyes on their 2014 title run.
However, even if Herman is struggling as the head coach at Florida Atlantic, it’s unlikely.
If Day is looking for an accomplished play-caller with NFL experience, Jeff Nixon could be the answer. The Penn State alumnus has a wealth of coaching experience since he started off as a Nittany Lion graduate assistant in 1997. He bounced around and ended up as co-offensive coordinator at Baylor. In his final season with the Bears, he helped lead the offense to 11 wins. He parlayed that for more time in the NFL before taking over at Syracuse last year. His offense produced the game’s leading passer. That same quarterback was the one who transferred from Ohio State.
With that skill level, imagine what he could do with Ohio State’s weapons. And, hopefully, he won’t require the quarterback to throw it nearly 600 times in a season.
Revenge?
Finally, how about a little revenge? Andy Kotelnicki is currently the Penn State offensive coordinator. While the offense was the Nittany Lions’ weakness last year, he called a solid offense despite having no real wide receivers to speak of. At the same time, it produced a potential first-round tight end and a pair of 1,000-yard running backs. He’s been successful at every stop as an offensive coordinator, earning promotions from Buffalo and then to Kansas before Penn State.
Day could poach James Franklin’s offensive coordinator just as Franklin poached Day’s defensive coordinator.
Main Image: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports
