There are some who are wondering why the Ohio State Buckeyes added a veteran NFL scout to their recruiting and personnel department during a dead period. On the last day of June, OSU made official the hiring of Andy Howell, who has front office experience with the Cleveland Browns, New York Jets, and Miami Dolphins.
There are very valid reasons why Ryan Day and Mark Pantoni added another figurehead to the program's operation. Bucknuts' Patrick Murphy explained that all-important pipelines, such as the burgeoning one from the Yellowhammer State.
"For head coach Ryan Day and general manager Mark Pantoni, hiring a seasoned professional scout signals a concerted effort to run the Scarlet and Gray's recruiting department like an NFL front office. Howell's hire marks the 12th full-time front-office addition for Ohio State, underscoring how seriously the program is investing in infrastructure beyond the coaching staff. As the transfer portal continues to shape the balance of power in the sport, having a dedicated, experienced eye to evaluate collegiate talent is essential. Howell brings exactly that to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center," Murphy wrote.
"The time in the NFL means Howell has a track record of identifying and vetting talent at the highest level, work that translates directly to assessing transfer prospects who already have college tape and statistical records to evaluate, rather than traditional high school recruiting projections. As the Buckeyes look to maintain their standing as one of the sport's top transfer destinations — a status reinforced by the Scarlet and Gray's deep involvement in the Alabama pipeline and other high-profile portal additions in recent cycles — having dedicated, experienced evaluators in place becomes increasingly important."
Ryan Day building an NFL talent factory that's too big to fail
Very few coaching staffs across the country are building the kind of all-encompassing teams that Day has in Columbus. Not only has Day added former NFL head coaches as his coordinators, like Chip Kelly and Arthur Smith at OC and Matt Patricia at DC, but he's also bringing on front office execs with pro experience to help his program negotiate on the back end with recruits. Just like NFL free agents.
With seemingly endless funds, the Buckeyes will be competitive in hiring personnel. Not only will Ohio State bring on guys in roles that most teams don't even have the budget to have on their staffs, but the Buckeyes will be in a position to replace the guys they already have with top names in the industry.
Building things the right way now will pay dividends in the future. Once this machine is fully built, it'll be too big to fail. Even bad years will be forgotten about because of the hires to make up for it the following offseason. Rinse and repeat indefinitely.
The Howell hiring also seemingly confirms that this NIL game will continue to be played with mostly the same rules for a long time. Whatever is being blabbed about on Capitol Hill that could change the sport doesn't seem like it'll have much impact on the recruiting trail. Everything is progressing naturally in that regard, hence hirings like this.
Because if NIL were going to be curbed, there wouldn't be positions like this anywhere, let alone at one of the biggest spenders in the country.
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