With over 20 years of experience at the college and NFL levels, including 13 as a head coach, you might be expecting new Ohio State co-coordinator Greg Schiano to vastly expand the Buckeye defense's playbook once spring practice begins. With only three starters returning to the unit in 2016, you might also think now is as good a time as any to switch things up on that side of the ball.
But when the Silver Bullets hit the turf inside Ohio Stadium on Sept. 3, you might be surprised at what you'll see. After spending his career working alongside some of the masters of the 4-3 defense, Schiano's schematic philosophy closely resembles that of his new colleagues.
Defensive line coach Larry Johnson's unit has been perhaps the strongest unit on that side of the ball since he arrived in 2014, thanks to many of the lessons he learned during 18 seasons teaching the intricacies of a four-man rush at Penn State. When Johnson arrived in Happy Valley in 1996, the Nittany Lion defense was trying to fill the role of their recently departed secondary coach, who was none other than Greg Schiano.
Schiano's co-defensive coordinator, Luke Fickell has been immersed in the Buckeyes' version of the 4-3 scheme for much of the past two decades as both a player and coach. In that time, Ohio State's philosophy of pass coverage changed with the departures of coordinators like Fred Pagac, Jim Heacock, and Everett Withers, but their method of stopping the run with a downhill, 1-gapping philosophy along the defensive line is still roughly the same it's been since Fickell lined up at defensive tackle in the late 1990s.
“I had a chance to meet with Luke before I took the opportunity,” Schiano said in his introductory press conference last month. “He and I talked through a lot of different scenarios and I’m very comfortable with what I’m here to do and it’s going to be a great situation.”
But despite all of the similarities between he and the current Buckeye coaches, the question that remains is how he compares to the man he's replacing, Chris Ash. During his short time in Columbus, Ash transformed the Ohio State secondary from a unit prone to undisciplined mistakes and constant communication breakdowns into a championship group that slowed down some of the nation's best receivers.
Ash is of course known as one of the premier teachers of the 'Quarters' scheme that he successfully implemented at Wisconsin to Arkansas before coming to OSU, making him such an attractive hire for Urban Meyer. Thanks in part to the way Michigan State used the philosophy to slow down the Buckeye offense in 2012 and 2013, it has emerged as one of the most common methods of countering 'spread' attacks.
With two of the best offenses on the 2016 OSU schedule, Oklahoma and Indiana, featuring classic 'spread' offensive systems, and many of the 'pro-style' systems at Michigan State, Nebraska, and Penn State incorporating spread elements as well, it's nearly guaranteed that we'll see the Buckeyes continuing to play the same Quarters scheme. That would've likely been the case though, regardless of who had been hired to replace Ash.
"...Everything is up to the head football coach, so whatever Coach Meyer feels is best is what we're going to do," said Schiano when asked about the schemes he'll employ in his new role. Even though he spends more of his time focused on the OSU offense, it's clear that Meyer is a believer in the philosophy Ash was brought in to teach.
Based simply on his time in Tampa Bay, Schiano should be familiar enough with any basic defensive scheme to teach it to a bunch of young men barely old enough to vote. Luckily for Fickell, Johnson, and cornerbacks coach Kerry Coombs though, their new co-worker is very well aware of the intricacies of their existing defensive system.
During his time coaching defensive backs for the Chicago Bears from 1996-1998, Schiano's boss and mentor Dave Wannstedt turned the Quarters concept into a philosophy after initially experimenting with it as Jimmy Johnson's defensive coordinator with the Cowboys. Though they called it 'Double Switch" for the way the safeties and cornerbacks could swap receivers, the basics of the call remain the same today as they did then.
At the time, opposing offenses regularly featured two running backs and only operated out of the shotgun on 3rd and long, and the multiple-receiver sets and option attacks of today offer an entirely different challenge. But during that evolution, Schiano's version of the Quarters system seemed to adapt just fine, and was seen regularly during his time with the Buccaneers.
In fact, Schiano was often criticized for playing the look too often in Tampa, especially once he had all-world cover corner Darrelle Revis at his disposal. Any zone scheme can be exposed if properly diagnosed and executed, and Cover 4/Quarters is no exception.
Schiano may well have not gotten the most out of Revis' talents, as a defender that can keep up with a receiver no matter where he goes is invaluable. But players like him are rare in the NFL, and nearly unheard-of at the college level, making a zone-heavy scheme perfect for the young secondary that Schiano will be running in Columbus. Additionally, man-coverage takes the eyes of the secondary away from the backfield and removing them from run support, a gamble few coaches are willing to make when the threat of a running quarterback is present.
However, this doesn't mean we won't see new looks from the back end of the Buckeye defense. Schiano's experience will allow him to diagnose when and where to implement multiple versions of Cover 3, something he did with regularity while at Rutgers and Tampa Bay.
“I see Greg, once Chris leaves, assuming a very similar role,” Meyer said last month when the hiring was announced. “As you notice, I like to have two people kind of in that room. I don’t believe in dictatorships. I believe in teams and teams on staffs, too.”
With that in mind, Schiano's experience making decisions within the course of the game may be his most valuable asset for the Buckeyes, allowing him to not only diagnose what an opponent may be doing, but more importantly what can be called to stop it. Though he'll likely be in charge of calling coverages on gameday, his input may prove invaluable for Johnson and Fickell as they make adjustments to the front.
But at the most basic level, Schiano is a passionate teacher of the fundamentals, a philosophy dates all the way back to his days as a defensive backs coach at Penn State. Despite his familiarity with nearly every scheme in the OSU playbook, his focus will undoubtedly be on the technique needed to play them correctly, spending valuable practice time every single day on tackling, proper angles, and causing fumbles. In this manner, he may be the perfect man to tutor Erick Smith, Malik Hooker, and the rest of the young Buckeye safeties, looking to fill the big shoes let behind by Vonn Bell and Tyvis Powell.
Make no mistake, Greg Schiano's time in Columbus will be brief, as he isn't looking to be an assistant for very long. Ash is just the latest member of the Meyer coaching tree to be handed the keys to a program of his own, and Schiano would surely like to claim a branch of his own.
However, his experience will act as a master key for the Ohio State defense in 2016, fitting in wherever needed and opening doors that others cannot. The Buckeyes are lucky to have a coach like him on board.
