Ohio State Football: Buckeyes poised to dominate the 2020s

The Ohio State football team has been one of the most accomplished since 2000, but the Buckeyes are ready to become the most successful in the 2020s.

The success Ohio State has experienced since the turn of the century has been staggering. The hiring of Jim Tressel sparked the new modern era of Buckeye dominance as Ohio State appeared in three National Title Games (2002, 2006, 2007) winning one with a perfect 14-0 record.

In 2006, Ohio State was shocked by the Florida Gators who were coached by Urban Meyer. Six years later, coach Meyer found himself returning home to coach his beloved Buckeyes and we all know the story. We thought Tressel had the program flying high, but Urban’s relentless pursuit of elite players pushed the program to an even higher level.

The Buckeyes won over ninety percent of their games under coach Meyer including an improbable National Championship and five total bowl wins and three Big Ten titles. The most important record from his tenure was undoubtedly finishing 7-0 against That Team Up North.

Alongside Ohio State, Alabama and Clemson are the only other programs to experience as much success with the Crimson Tide leading the way. With Meyer now retired, Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney are the two premier coaches in the sport, but Ryan Day seems to be hot on their tails.

The 2019 season was not a fluke or beginner’s luck, Day and the Buckeyes aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, the football program continues to trend in the upward direction building on its past while making changes along the way.

Brilliantly, Day left the infrastructure in place coach Meyer had built because it was working. Nothing was broken, so he just put his own spins and touches on the team instead of totally revamping or overhauling it.

His coaching hires spoke volumes as he brought on Al Washington, Greg Mattison, Jeff Hafley and Matt Barnes to rework the defense, and they did just that and more. The Buckeyes led the country in multiple categories for the majority of the 2019 season. The impact of Day’s hires were felt immediately and will be again in 2020.

Texas hired Mike Yurcich and Jeff Hafley accepted the head coaching position at Boston College which left Ohio State with two vital vacancies. Day wasted no time in promoting Corey Dennis, a young coach who has a high understanding of the game and the offense, as the new quarterbacks coach.

Conversely, Ryan Day and AD Gene Smith exercised patience in replacing Hafley by waiting for the Tennessee Titans’ postseason run to come to an end, which it did Sunday evening in Kansas City. The end meant Kerry Coombs could finally (officially) return to Columbus.

Rumors have been swirling for weeks that Coombs was returning to takeover for Hafley, and as Letterman Row reported earlier he will be doing just that earning a base salary of $1.2mil according to Buckeye Extra. 

Coombs has been known to always bring the juice and intensity to the Ohio State sidelines as he is a human can of Red Bull. He is an elite recruiter who knows the Cincinnati area very well, and paired with Washington and Larry Johnson the Buckeyes should be able to land just about whoever they desire on the recruiting trail.

Ryan Day is strategically building his program for success and it’s all been rooted in learning from Urban Meyer and surrounding himself with an elite staff and players. One of his first moves was landing a transfer who might be just a little famous in Columbus now. Justin Fields lit up the scoreboard and rewrote some of the record books in 2019.

Day will get Fields back and this will be the first time he has gotten a second year with a quarterback since the early 2010s. Expect even bigger things from Fields in 2020 who will emerge as a generational talent behind Trevor Lawrence as a prospect. He can beat you with his arm or his legs and now has a full year’s experience while playing on the biggest stages.

WR Coach Brian Hartline has quickly developed into one of the nation’s top recruiters as he landed Julian Fleming over Penn State which left State College stunned. The Buckeyes look poised to finally breakthrough and become the next dynasty in college football in the 2020s.

Though Ohio State has seen unprecedented success for the last twenty years, some years they’ve fallen a bit short in head scratching ways. Nobody is perfect, but those problems have seemed to have been addressed and eliminated so the Buckeyes can take the next step forward, as hard as that is to believe.

The Ohio State football team under Ryan Day looks ready to win multiple National Championships this next decade and become the sport’s next dynasty. Get ready Buckeye Nation — 2019 was only the beginning of the Ryan Day era which will feature innovation, toughness and laser focus.