Ohio State Football: The future of Kerry Coombs

The Ohio State football team had defensive issues while Kerry Coombs was the sole defensive coordinator. Those issues came to a head when the Buckeyes lost to Oregon and gave up over 600 yards of total offense, including over 400 yards on the ground.

Soon after that, Coombs was removed as the defensive play-caller and was banished to the booth during games. Since then, the defense has been much better, and actually looks like they could hold up against a good team under the direction of Matt Barnes.

Coombs talked this week during the bye week press conference that this has been the most trying time in his career. He said this transition hasn’t been easy, but he’ll do anything to help the program win as many games as they possibly can.

What is Coombs’ future with the program now? He clearly won’t ever be a sole defensive coordinator in Columbus again. He showed that it’s not something he’s good at. What he’s good at is developing elite corners and recruiting the heck out of the players in the secondary.

That makes the future with Ohio State much murkier. Would he want to go somewhere else where he has full control of the defense? Has this experience soured his relationship with Ryan Day? Or does he love the Ohio State football program enough to stay on in a reduced role?

Those are tough questions to answer. The Buckeyes are a much better program with Coombs on staff as a secondary coach. His ability to recruit and develop players in the secondary is unquestioned. Losing him as a recruiter would be a heavy blow to the program.

These are questions we won’t likely get answers to until the end of the season. What we do know is that Coombs is still working hard to get better and helping the Buckeyes win at any cost. He is the ultimate team player, even if his schemes have failed.

I really do like Coombs as a person. I hope he stays on staff as a DB’s coach.