The Ohio State football team will have a new offensive coordinator this year. Now that Chip Kelly is with the Las Vegas Raiders, Ryan Day decided to promote Brian Hartline to be the offensive coordinator. While he was technically co-OC last year, he didn't call the plays.
Now Hartline will run the entire offense. He will call the plays and set the offensive game plan every single week. This isn't the first time that Hartline has had these duties. Day tried to give him these duties two years ago and allow him to be the full-time offensive coordinator.
Day ended up taking back play-calling duties right after Spring ball was over, so Hartline never got a chance to see what he could do. This year, Day has decided that he is going to let Hartline call the plays no matter what, and he's doing his best to stay out of his way.
Ryan Day is doing his best to let Brian Hartline run the Ohio State football team's offense
While talking to the media on Friday for the first time before Spring ball, Day mentioned that he is trying his best to let Hartline run all of the meetings with the offense. It's really hard for him not to take over and start doing things as he did before Chip Kelly came to Columbus.
Day knows that it's best for the Buckeyes if he remains more hands-off with the offense. He will obviously be involved in game-planning each week, but he won't be the one installing plays and actually calling them. He knows that it's better if Hartline has that job.
Last year was the first time that Day didn't call plays as a head coach for the Buckeyes. It resulted in them winning a national championship. He understands that he needs to let his guys do what he has paid them to do, even if there will be growing pains.
Hartline will have some things that he has to learn in order to become a good play-caller. By the time next year is over, he could become one of the best offensive coordinators in the country.