Ohio State football: My two cents on fixing the defense

We’ve seen a myriad of opinions on fixing the Ohio State football team’s defense. Here is my two cents on a few things I’d like to see.

Hire an experienced defensive coordinator – This is a no-brainer, but I think it is the most important thing that can be done to improve the situation. Ryan Day likes to promote from within. An admirable practice that shows loyalty to current staff members, but it is not the way to go here. Kerry Coombs was a disaster.

Matt Barnes was a marked improvement, but even he became way too predictable. If Day does go outside the program to get a coordinator, he is going to have to set aside his affinity for having co-coordinators. Experienced coordinators want to be the only ones with their hands on the wheel.

Day will need to hand them the keys and get out of the way. The word is Chris Ash, who oversaw the Ohio State football team’s national championship defense in 2014, was interested after last season, but Day did not want to turn the unit over completely to him.

With former Buckeye Marcus Freeman being named head coach at Notre Dame, I’m all for bringing back Ash, who is currently on Urban Meyer’s staff in Jacksonville. If Ash returns, my hope is he brings along his quarters coverage (a four-deep zone with three underneath that is balanced against run and pass) and rugby tackling (aim for the hip, wrap and roll).

That coverage scheme was good enough to win a national title and I’m all for anything that improves tackling (which was awful against Michigan). Regardless if it is Ash or someone else, Day needs to bring in someone currently outside his program to run the defense.