Update: Brian Hartline tweeted Thursday that “right now my heart is at Ohio State and I do not have any plans to go anywhere else.”
I am aware of the speculation surrounding my name connected to other vacant coaching positions and appreciate all of the support, but right now my heart is at Ohio State and I do not have any plans to go anywhere else. #GoBucks
— Brian Hartline (@brianhartline) December 1, 2022
After losing Luke Fickell to Wisconsin, Cincinnati is exploring the possibility of hiring another former Buckeye player away from Ohio State to be its new head coach.
Ohio State wide receivers coach Brian Hartline will reportedly interview for the head coaching job at Cincinnati, according to Football Scoop’s John Brice. According to the report, “there has been a gain in momentum” for Hartline as a candidate and his interview with Cincinnati is “expected to take place in the near future, perhaps as soon as Thursday.”
Hartline isn’t the only candidate with Ohio State ties being considered for the job, as former Ohio State defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach Kerry Coombs is currently the Bearcats’ interim coach and is being considered for the full-time job. Cincinnati offensive coordinator Gino Guidugli is also a candidate to be promoted to head coach, while other potential candidates include Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, James Madison head coach Curt Cignetti and Tennessee offensive coordinator Alex Golesh.
Hartline is currently in his fifth year as Ohio State’s wide receivers coach. The former Buckeye and NFL wideout has only coached at his alma mater, starting his coaching career as a quality control coach in 2017 before being promoted to wide receivers coach in 2018. Hartline was promoted to passing game coordinator by Ohio State in January after Marcus Freeman made an effort to add Hartline to his staff at Notre Dame.
When Hartline was asked last November about the possibility of eventually leaving Ohio State for a bigger job, Hartline said that would be a difficult decision for him to make and that he wasn’t eager to leave the Buckeyes, though he acknowledged he couldn’t rule out the possibility.
“The conversations I have with my wife, we can’t imagine leaving the guys in the room,” Hartline said at the time. “... I’m also not a person to sit here and tell you like, ‘No, I’m never leaving Ohio State.’ I’m not saying I ever will. And you say go up the ladder, like, go where? This is the pinnacle of the ladder ... All I know is I love Ohio State and my wife’s from here, we live here, love my house, I don’t know. It would be really hard to leave.”
Ohio State wide receivers coach Brian Hartline was asked today how hard it would be to leave OSU for another job as his name continues to become popular in the industry.
— Garrick Hodge (@Garrick_Hodge) November 2, 2021
Hartline said he "couldn't imagine" leaving the Buckeyes and Ohio State is "the pinnacle of the ladder." pic.twitter.com/AzeiQwe6SG
