Ohio State Football: Assistant coaches key for success

The Ohio State football program made a lot of changes in the offseason when it comes to the coaching staff. Gone are Kerry Coombs, Matt Barnes, and Greg Studrawa. In are a bunch of coaches who have a lot to prove now that they are in Columbus.

Those new assistant coaches are going to have a lot to do with the success that the Buckeyes have this season. Jim Knowles is changing the whole defense and is looking to improve a unit that was not so good the last two years. Quite frankly, it’s the side of the ball that cost them a national title in 2020.

If Ohio State is going to make it back to the National Championship Game and win it this time, the defense just has to be average. We know that Ryan Day is the reason these changes were being made. He saw that the defense wasn’t what it needed to be so he made those changes.

He also hired Justin Frye to coach the offensive line after they struggled mightily in the losses to Oregon and TTUN. He thinks that Frye can instill a toughness that was not there prior to him being hired. We’ll see if that change can make the Buckeyes’ offense even more deadly.

Day has no issue giving credit to his assistants when things go well. He knows that they are an extremely important part of what the Buckeyes are trying to do as a program. He would give them all of the credit if the Ohio State football program won a national title this year.

All of these assistants have pedigrees either at Ohio State or other schools. We’ll see whether or not they can step up on the big stage an deliver. I have the utmost confidence that they can.