Ohio State football: Can Ryan Day keep his staff intact?

The Ohio State football team has had a lot of success in the last few years. With success comes more opportunities for assistant coaches. Can Ryan Day keep his staff together?

The Ohio State football team has plenty of great assistants under Ryan Day. They are a big part of the reason why Day has succeeded so far in two full years as a head coach. The Buckeyes have done a pretty good job of being able to keep their staff together. Can Day keep that up?

There are a few assistants who are candidates to move on and possibly get a head coaching job in the next few years. Al Washington, the linebackers coach, is certainly one of those guys. He will surely move on to a defensive coordinator position soon if Day doesn’t give that to him.

The only way Day would do that is if Kerry Coombs once again struggles. Coombs will get a chance as the sole DC this season. If he struggles, Washington could either replace him or join him as a Co-DC. He’s probably the biggest candidate to move on.

Brian Hartline is also a name that is hot. Hartline has done a truly phenomenal job recruiting and developing the wide receivers since he took over for Zach Smith in 2018. Hartline has been the best recruiter outside of Ryan Day on the entire coaching staff.

The challenge for Day will be to keep all of these guys together. Change is inevitable when it comes to the coaching carousel. The Buckeyes will succeed as long as Day is able to keep the current staff together. That may only be for a year or two longer.

Day seems like a great coach to work for so none of these assistants are leaving unless they truly get better job offers. For Ohio State’s sake, I hope that’s not for a few more years.