Ohio State has a new safeties coach.
Cincinnati cornerbacks coach Perry Eliano was officially hired by Ohio State on Friday as the Buckeyes’ new safeties coach.
Welcome to Ohio State, @Coach_Eliano#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/dMvW6cgtuZ
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) January 14, 2022
“Perry’s work the last two years at Cincinnati speaks for itself,” Ryan Day said in a statement. “He has developed great players and has been a huge part of the Bearcats’ success. He has 15 years of collegiate experience coaching either safeties or cornerbacks and that was the kind of experience we were looking for. I look forward to welcoming Perry and his family to Ohio State University.”
Eliano helped develop All-American cornerback Sauce Gardner at Cincinnati this past season, and the Bearcats had the second-best passing defense in the country with an average of 169.2 passing yards allowed per game.
Eliano is one of two new secondary coaches for the Buckeyes in 2022 along with Tim Walton, who was previously the cornerbacks coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars and will now be Ohio State’s cornerbacks coach. He is one of three new defensive assistants joining the Buckeyes’ staff along with new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.
Ohio State is now set to have four new assistant coaches for the 2022 season after also hiring Justin Frye as its associate head coach for offense and offensive line coach. Previous offensive line coach Greg Studrawa, secondary coach Matt Barnes, defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs and linebackers coach Al Washington will not be returning for the 2022 season.
Eliano coached cornerbacks at Cincinnati for two seasons after spending three years at New Mexico as special teams coordinator, cornerbacks coach and eventually interim head coach in 2019. Eliano has also coached at Bowling Green, UTSA, Central Arkansas and Sam Houston during a 19-year coaching career.
A native of Killeen, Texas, Eliano was a defensive back at Stephen F. Austin from 1996 to 1999, and served as a graduate assistant at the program in 2001 and 2002.
