The Ohio State Buckeyes' Arthur Smith hiring as offensive coordinator has a cheery outlook from CBS Sports' Cody Nagel, who compared Ryan Day's marquee coaching staff addition to his previous smashing coordinator hire from the NFL ranks, Matt Patricia.
Nagel touted the collective NFL coaching experience for OSU's coordinator pairing. The NFL's long-time network partner is high on the Buckeyes being a worthwhile, professional product that'll click on the field this season.
"Ohio State enters 2026 with two coordinators who were coaching in the NFL during the 2024 season. Smith brings extensive pro experience after stints as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and inherits a star-studded offense featuring Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith. His hiring follows the blueprint Ryan Day used with Matt Patricia in 2025, which paid off with a dominant Buckeyes defense," Nagel wrote.
Arthur Smith brings outsized expectations unless freshmen develop quickly
Smith is only a theory as it pertains to College Football coaching. Basically, his entire hands-on coaching career came at the NFL level, with lower-level GA and administrative work being his collegiate experience with his alma mater, the North Carolina Tar Heels, and the Ole Miss Rebels, respectively.
Collegiate athletes function as pro athletes these days, so the lines might be blurred enough for the NFL-to-NCAA jump not to matter. Smith may have a perfect handle on how to feed his stars and keep them happy. He handled that sort of ego battle well with the Tennessee Titans. The same can't exactly be said with his Atlanta Falcons tenure. It's hard for history to even say anything about his Pittsburgh Steelers stint just yet.
It's unclear if Ohio State is a springboard back to the NFL or if he wants this to be more permanent. Either way, it's good to know that the insiders are high on what the Buckeyes are about to unleash this coming fall.
There's the usual display of bruisers in the trenches, thumpers in the middle, and ballhawks in the secondary, plus the dazzling skill-position lineage that's been amped up in recent years under Day. There's no reason not to expect another big season from the B1G's bourgeoisie with all that in mind.