Two Ohio State assistant coaches have been contacted by other schools about head coaching jobs, while another assistant coach turned down an opportunity to become a coordinator, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said on his radio show Thursday on 97.1 The Fan.
Meyer did not identify which coaches have been contacted, though it is known that one of them was Greg Schiano, who had a deal in place to become Tennessee's head coach until the university backed out of that deal following backlash from the Tennessee community.
Other candidates for promotions at other schools could have included offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson, who has previous head coaching experience at Indiana. Co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Ryan Day was a potential candidate for the head coaching opening at Mississippi State (which ultimately hired Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead), according to Fox Sports' Bruce Feldman, while he was also a speculative candidate for the offensive coordinator opening at UCLA because of his history playing for and coaching with new UCLA coach Chip Kelly.
Meyer said the timeline for coaching changes this offseason has been accelerated by the early signing period for recruiting, which has created an additional challenge for Ohio State to deal with as it prepares for Saturday's Big Ten Championship Game against Wisconsin. Meyer gave credit to his assistant coaches, however, for handling their potential opportunities elsewhere the right way.
"I don’t want to have those conversations now because we expect laser focus. I can say this: My staff is very professional, and at some point, if you want to leave to be a head coach, those are conversations to have but what’s happened is, the early signing day has moved everything up, and we’re one of the handful of teams still playing, because everybody else is down," Meyer said. "And you can see people making coaching changes, and our players deserve the very best. And that’s what I feel so great about our staff is yeah, there were a couple opportunities. Two in particular turned it down and said ‘I’m ready, let’s go beat Wisconsin.'"
But while Meyer doesn't like having to deal with coaches potentially taking other jobs while the Buckeyes are in the most important part of their season, he is glad that he has a staff of coaches that other schools are interested in hiring.
"There’s two types of coaches: Ones they want, and ones they don’t want. And we got a bunch of wants," Meyer said. "As long as that’s happening, that means I’ve hired the right people. And so, that comes with life in the big city. I can’t stand it, but that’s a part of the deal."
