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2026 tOSU "Special" Teams Discussion

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brodybuck21 said:

Rob Keys Will Be Ohio State’s Special Teams Coordinator for Rest of 2026 Season After Robby Discher’s Firing​

By Dan Hope on November 10, 2026 at 12:20 pm @dan_hope
Rob Keys

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
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Coaching special teams will be a collaborative effort for Ohio State’s staff for the rest of the 2026 season.
Rob Keys, who’s worked with Ohio State’s special teams as a member of the Buckeyes’ extended coaching staff since 2022, will coordinate Ohio State’s special teams for the remainder of 2026 after Robby Discher’s firing, Ryan Day said Tuesday.
Several other Ohio State coaches will assist Keys in that effort. Day said Matt Guerrieri will lead the punt team, while James Laurinaitis will lead the kickoff team for the rest of 2026. Keys will lead the punt return team, while multiple coaches will split up coaching the kickoff return unit.
Keys joined Ohio State’s staff in 2022 after 11 years as the head coach at Findlay, a Division II school in Northwest Ohio. He’s worked with special teams throughout his five years at Ohio State, most recently holding the title of senior analyst.
The de facto leader of Ohio State’s special teams in 2024 and 2025, when the Buckeyes didn’t have a full-time special teams coordinator, Keys will now lead Ohio State in that phase of the game again. The Buckeyes will be counting on him to clean up what’s been a unit plagued by penalties and miscues throughout the 2026 season, leading to Discher’s firing after only nine games at Ohio State.
Day said he fired Discher because “there’s just been too many detrimental plays,” specifically calling Oregon’s 30-yard fake punt – which flipped the momentum of the game that Ohio State led 14-3, but ultimately lost 41-28 – against the Buckeyes “embarrassing.”
“I'm not gonna get into all the details of it at this point, but to me, that was a breakdown in a big way,” Day said.
Day said he will not make any more coaching changes before this week’s game against Northwestern, though he will continue to evaluate whether more changes should be made going forward. He also said he has not yet decided whether he will hire a full-time special teams coordinator in 2027.

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So let me get this straight… I have no clue who Rob Keys is. But, to fix the issues we’ve been having on special teams for last few years, we’re going to promote the guy who’s been coaching the special teams for the last few years?
 
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