Ohio State Football: Larry Johnson far away from retiring

After last season, one of the biggest questions facing the Ohio State football team was the future of Larry Johnson. The legendary defensive line coach had a rough year. He’s one of the best recruiters in the entire country, but the defensive line was terrible last year.

There were questions about whether or not he’d even get to stay on staff. There were thoughts that he could retire too considering he’s 70 years old. Well, Johnson is back and he seems to be ready to keep coaching for the near future based on what he told reporters today.

Speaking to the media, Johnson says that retirement is “a long way off” and he’s ready to attack this season. It seems like he is not going to let the speculation continue to be fired off about his future. He will retire when he’s good and ready, or Ryan Day is going to have to fire him.

I said after last year that Johnson very well could have retired after the defensive line struggled mightily. I didn’t think he’d get fired because of how good he’s been at recruiting and developing defensive linemen, specifically defensive ends. He’s got tenure.

The Ohio State football program should have a succession plan ready just in case. If the defensive line doesn’t improve this year, Day might ask him to retire. In other words, soft fire him. He isn’t a young man anymore and other programs will start to negatively recruit that aspect.

We’ll see how well the defensive line adjusts to a new scheme. I have a feeling it will be a lot better than it was last year. There’s simply too much talent up front for them not to be. I think Johnson could still coach for another four or five years if the line plays well.

The Buckeyes should still be thinking about the future, but the present looks good too right now.