Coming off his first national championship, Ryan Day has had to deal with a lot of coaching turnover. The Ohio State football team has had to replace its offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, and offensive line coach so far this offseason. Day had to deal with the most coaching turnover in his head coaching career.
The Ohio State Buckeyes have yet to name a new defensive coordinator, but they have made hires at the other spots. Tyler Bowen is the new offensive line coach, coming in from Virginia Tech. The new offensive coordinator is Brian Hartline, which is an internal promotion.
Day decided to make another internal promotion on Monday morning. He promoted tight ends coach Keenan Bailey to co-offensive coordinator. That means he will share duties with Hartline. While Hartline will likely still call plays, it matters that the Buckeyes are making another internal promotion.
The Ohio State football team has made another internal promotion
Bailey will help Hartline in his transition to offensive coordinator, but this seems more like a fluffy job title promotion than anything else. The Buckeyes will be replacing a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball, and having a first-time OC could make things tough.
Still, this internal promotion of Bailey matters because it gives us an idea of what Day is trying to do with his staff moving forward. It seems like he is trying to build a coaching tree of his own. He wants to have a staff that he can call his own and that learned from him.
That could give us an idea of what the Buckeyes are thinking on the defensive side of the ball. They still haven't named a DC, despite the fact that's the position that has been open the longest. All signs point to either an internal promotion at this point or Day hiring Matt Cullen from the Chiefs.
Adding another internal promotion to the staff makes me believe that it could be a Matt Guerrieri/Tim Walton combination for the defensive coordinator job. That could be what Day decides to do in the next few days.