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Safeties Coach Matt Guerrieri (Official Thread)

ScriptOhio

Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.

OHIO STATE HIRES FORMER INDIANA CO-DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR, OSU SENIOR ADVISOR AND ANALYST MATT GUERRIERI AS SAFETIES COACH​


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A familiar face is back to coach safeties for Ohio State's defense.

Matt Guerrieri, who served as a senior advisor and analyst for the Buckeyes in 2022 before a year as Indiana's co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach, is back to replace the recently fired Perry Eliano. Ohio State officially announced Guerrieri’s hiring on Wednesday.



Guerrieri has coached alongside Knowles for seven seasons between their time together at Duke and his year as an OSU analyst.

“He’s been everything,” Guerrieri said of Knowles in a September interview with Eleven Warriors. “I didn't know anybody in coaching, so I worked as many camps as I possibly could, and one of the camps that I worked was Duke’s camp. ... I just worked the camp with him, that's how I got to know him, on a Saturday in the middle of June. And anyways, built a relationship with him, was fortunate to shortly after that interview for a GA job there, and was fortunate to get that and then our relationship kind of took off from there. So since I've been with him, he put his arm around me and mentored me, and on and off the field, he's been a huge influence on my life.”

“HE PUT HIS ARM AROUND ME AND MENTORED ME, AND ON AND OFF THE FIELD, HE'S BEEN A HUGE INFLUENCE ON MY LIFE.”– MATT GUERRIERI ON JIM KNOWLES' INFLUENCE ON HIM


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Matt Guerrieri
Safeties Coach
(Pronounced: gurr-AIR-ee)

Guerrieri, the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Indiana in 2023, has Ohio and Ohio State ties. He is from Willoughby Hills, Ohio and is a graduate of Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin High School, and he spent the 2022 season in Columbus as Ohio State’s senior advisor and analyst on defense. He has a seven-year history with Buckeye defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, stretching back to 2012 when the pair first worked together at Duke University.

Guerrieri has extensive experience – eight years – coaching safeties. He was a graduate assistant for three seasons at Duke before being named safeties coach prior to the 2015 season. He coached safeties for the Blue Devils from 2015-21 and, when Knowles left Duke after the 2017 season to go to Oklahoma State, Guerrieri became the team’s co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach for the next four seasons (2018-21).

While at Duke, Guerrieri was one of three finalists for the 2020 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Assistant Coach of the Year award, a nominee for the 2018 Broyles Award, and one of 247Sports’ Top 30 Coaches Under 30 in both 2018 and 2019. He mentored All-American Jeremy Cash and five additional all-conference honorees. Cash, the 2015 ACC Defensive Player of the Year, was also a finalist for the Nagurski Trophy, Thorpe Award and the Lott IMPACT Trophy.

Guerrieri also coached at Duke Michael Carter II, a fifth-round NFL Draft pick who has played in 47 games and started 20 times the past three seasons for the New York Jets.

Before joining the Blue Devils, Guerrieri spent the 2011 season as a defensive graduate assistant at Lenoir-Rhyne University, where he helped coach the secondary and the outside linebackers.

Guerrieri was a three-year letterman at Davidson College and a starting safety for the Wildcats. He was a senior captain and a three-time All-Pioneer Football League honor roll selection. He graduated from Davidson in 2011 with a degree in sociology. He earned his master's degree in Christian studies from Duke in 2014.

Guerrieri is married to the former Alex Thompson, from Asheville, N.C. The couple has two young sons, James and Max.
 
https://buckeyehuddle.com/community/threads/more-reaction-from-the-big-recruiting-weekend.8698/

While Guerrieri will have an opportunity to put his own stamp on safety recruiting, the top target doesn't appear to be changing, and that's a good thing. Ohio State's top safety target in 2025, Olney (MD) Good Counsel star Faheem Delane, is considered by many to be the nation's top safety prospect in that class.

Delane was a bit surprised by the Eliano news, but Guerrieri has very quickly worked to smooth things over.

"I talk to him all the time now," Delane told me this week.

Delane likes what he has seen so far from Guerrieri and his friendship with Buckeye cornerback pledge Blake Woodby (both are DMV area kids) has kept this thing on track for the Buckeyes where in the past we've sometimes seen changes like this make a recruitment go off the rails (AJ Harris - Kerry Coombs).
 
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