Ohio State Football: It sounds like Kerry Coombs won’t call defensive plays

The Ohio State football team hasn’t had this bad of a defense in a long time. The worst one I can remember in modern history was back in 2013. Luke Fickell, who was the defensive coordinator at the time, took a lot of heat. He was able to turn things around though.

Kerry Coombs is now under fire after another poor performance from the defense against Oregon. The difference between his defense and Fickell’s defense is that Coombs’ lost the team a game. Ohio State’s loss in 2013 to Michigan State wasn’t on the defense.

It sure sounds like changes are coming though. Based on Ryan Day’s comments during his weekly radio show today, Coombs may not be calling plays on the defense on Saturday. Day said that basically he can’t worry about hurt feelings and he has to do what’s best for the team.

The only one who would have hurt feelings is Coombs. Based on that comment alone, it sounds like he won’t be calling plays for a while, and maybe not ever again. There’s even a chance he ends up in the press box instead of on the field when the Buckeyes play on Saturday.

Day has to do what’s best for the team. It’s hard to argue that taking Coombs’ playcalling duties away isn’t what’s best for the team right now. I don’t expect the defense to become dominant overnight, but I do expect to see some improvements in the next couple of weeks.

It seems that Coombs has kept his job for now. I’d be very surprised if he was the defensive coordinator at the end of the season though. It’d be ideal if he could slide back into his DB coach role and keep recruiting like he does. That’s the role he thrives in the most.

We’ll see if this makes any difference this week.