OC Chip Kelly (National Champion)

[scarletngray]

Really like Chip and hope that he stays. I think the fact that he is out recruiting is a good sign. That being said, there are some great Offensive minds out there that would love to coach at THE...

 

[Sgt Brutus]

Alternating between bad coordinator hires has been the thing that has screwed the team out of title aspirations more than anything else over the past decade.

2013 (defense bad)
2014 (two good coordinators, national champs)
2015 (offense bad)
2016 (offense bad)
2017 (defense bad)
2018 (defense bad)
2019 (two good coordinators, absolute screw job against Clemson barely keeps the team out of an epic matchup against LSU for the championship)
2020 (defense bad)
2021 (defense bad)
2022 (two good coordinators, get screwed against Georgia with a non-targeting call out of an easy matchup against TCU for the championship)
2023 (uncharacteristic mediocre QB play, UM in Day’s head, and Hartline promotion moves this away from a good OC year)
2024 (two good coordinators, national champs)

The right coordinator hire is pretty fucking important.

Tim Beck and Kerry Combs are the only subpar coordinators I can remember. Too many factors contribute to how a season goes other than the OC and DC.

Also, didn't mean to imply the hire wasn't important, just that Ohio State has the prestige and money to lure a lot of good candidates to the position like they have done under Urban and Day. It's on the HC to make the right hire and then make sure they fit into the program. Knowles and Chip were home runs. I have faith in Ryan Day to do it again!

 

[Buckeye86]

Tim Beck and Kerry Combs are the only subpar coordinators I can remember. Too many factors contribute to how a season goes other than the OC and DC.

Everett Withers was fired after the 2013 season because the defense was so bad. Chris Ash was brought in and they won a championship in 2014.

Tom Herman left after the 2014 season and was replaced by Tim Beck/Ed Warriner which blew an insane amount of talent in 2015 and was a disaster in 2016.

Day was brought in the fix the offense in ‘17, but the defense started to show major cracks under Schiano after Fickell left following the ‘16 season and then completely collapsed in 2018.

2019 was a golden year with Day/Wilson and Hafley on defense.

But then Hafley left and Coombs was a disaster in ‘20 ‘21 before Knowles was brought in.

When Kevin Wilson left after the ‘22 season the offensive transition was bad (Hartline promotion) which was partially responsible for subpar results in ‘23.

So by my count, that’s five bad coordinator decisions tanking eight seasons since 2013.

 

[billmac91]

Everett Withers was fired after the 2013 season because the defense was so bad. Chris Ash was brought in and they won a championship in 2014.

Tom Herman left after the 2014 season and was replaced by Tim Beck/Ed Warriner which blew an insane amount of talent in 2015 and was a disaster in 2016.

Day was brought in the fix the offense in ‘17, but the defense started to show major cracks under Schiano after Fickell left following the ‘16 season and then completely collapsed in 2018.

2019 was a golden year with Day/Wilson and Hafley on defense.

But then Hafley left and Coombs was a disaster in ‘20 ‘21 before Knowles was brought in.

When Kevin Wilson left after the ‘22 season the offensive transition was bad (Hartline promotion) which was partially responsible for subpar results in ‘23.

So by my count, that’s five bad coordinator decisions tanking eight seasons since 2013.

While we can't predict what will happen after the 2025-2026 season, I think a very solid blue-print has been left for whoever the next DC is.....Assuming Caleb Downs stays healthy, you just continue to build on what they did down the stretch, which is confuse the hell out of QB's and offenses by playing a safety at LB depth while not necessarily giving anything away in pass defense bc he's so smart & athletic he erases the ground he gives up if he drops into coverage...

It's an absolute cheat code.

The real question IMO, is what happens when Downs leaves for NFL, bc u can't just replace that level of player, who we've basically built a defense around...