The Ohio State football program has been without an offensive coordinator for almost two months since Brian Hartline decided to leave the Buckeyes to become the new head coach of USF. Since then, it has been pretty clear that Ryan Day was looking for an OC from the NFL ranks.
Brian Daboll was the early favorite for the Buckeyes, but he continued to take interviews for other NFL jobs. All of the college coordinators were already taken, so Day was painted into a corner by going into the NFL ranks. That did work with the hiring of Matt Patricia last year for the defensive coordinator position.
Day has now decided who he wants to bring to Columbus to be his next offensive coordinator. We told you about the rumors floating around about Arthur Smith. Now, it looks like that hire is slated to become official, according to multiple reports from multiple sources.
The Ohio State football team set to hire Arthur Smith as their new offensive coordinator
Smith has been an NFL head coach before, as he was the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons for three seasons before heading to Pittsburgh. Smith has served as the offensive coordinator for the Steelers for the last two seasons under Mike Tomlin. With Tomlin fired and Mike McCarthy as their new head coach, the Buckeyes were his best option.
The Buckeyes have struggled to run the ball with a lot of consistency over the last couple of seasons. Smith specializes in coordinating offenses that are based on the run game. That might not be what Jeremiah Smith and Julian Sayin want to hear, though.
That doesn't mean that Smith doesn't want to throw the ball at all, though. He will let Sayin air it out to Smith, knowing that he is their best player. Still, the Ohio State Buckeyes are likely to run the ball more than they have done in other Ryan Day offenses.
Day will still be involved in the offense, but it's pretty clear that Smith will be calling the plays.