James Laurinaitis is officially a full-time assistant coach for Ohio State.
Ohio State promoted Laurinaitis to linebackers coach on Thursday, making him one of their 10 full-time assistant coaches one year after initially hiring Laurinaitis as a graduate assistant. Laurinaitis is signing a two-year contract with the Buckeyes.
BUCKEYES!!! https://t.co/A8ptZq4e2Q
— James Laurinaitis (@JLaurinaitis55) February 15, 2024
Jim Knowles will continue in his role as Ohio State’s defensive coordinator, but Laurinaitis will now be the linebackers’ primary position coach after Knowles handled that responsibility for his first two years with the Buckeyes.
Laurinaitis takes the place of fired special teams coordinator Parker Fleming on Ohio State’s full-time coaching staff. He rounds out Ohio State’s 10-man staff of assistant coaches for the 2024 season, joining two other new hires in offensive coordinator Chip Kelly (who replaces quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis after a brief stint on staff by Bill O’Brien) and safeties coach Matt Guerrieri (who replaces Perry Eliano).
| Coach | Title |
|---|---|
| RYAN DAY | HEAD COACH |
| OFFENSE | |
| CHIP KELLY | OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR/QUARTERBACKS COACH |
| TONY ALFORD | ASST. HEAD COACH FOR OFFENSE/RUNNING BACKS COACH |
| BRIAN HARTLINE | CO-OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR/WIDE RECEIVERS COACH |
| KEENAN BAILEY | TIGHT ENDS COACH |
| JUSTIN FRYE | RUN GAME COORDINATOR/OFFENSIVE LINE COACH |
| DEFENSE | |
| JIM KNOWLES | DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR |
| LARRY JOHNSON | ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH/DEFENSIVE LINE COACH |
| JAMES LAURINAITIS | LINEBACKERS COACH |
| TIM WALTON | ASSISTANT HEAD COACH/SECONDARY/CORNERBACKS COACH |
| MATT GUERRIERI | SAFETIES COACH |
One of the greatest linebackers in Ohio State history, Laurinaitis began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Notre Dame in 2022. He returned to his alma mater after just one year with the Fighting Irish to help Knowles coach Ohio State’s linebackers, and he quickly drew rave reviews from Knowles and the linebackers for the knowledge he brought to the program.
“He's really important,” Knowles said before the Cotton Bowl when asked about Laurinaitis’ value to the coaching staff. “I mean, you’ve got a guy who's a three-time All-American, a true Buckeye, a Silver Bullet. He handles a lot of the linebacker things that allow me to free up and do work in other areas. He's really been critical to our success.”
Laurinaitis said last February that he returned to Ohio State with a vision of eventually becoming the Buckeyes’ linebackers coach.
“I think for me, it all starts with, can I be the best linebacker coach in the country? And can I aspire to do that at my alma mater? I think that kind of to me is the first thing that comes to mind,” Laurinaitis said when asked what his long-term goal as a coach is. “And so I'll attack this year with that vision.”
His promotion comes after Ohio State’s defense was one of the best in the country in Laurinaitis’ first year back in the program, ranking second in the FBS in points allowed per game (11) and third in yards allowed per game (259.9). Laurinaitis has also drawn positive feedback from recruits and can play a larger role in Ohio State’s recruiting efforts now that he is one of the Buckeyes’ 10 traveling assistant coaches.
A three-time consensus All-American for the Buckeyes, Laurinaitis played in the NFL for eight years. He spent time working in media for 97.1 The Fan and Big Ten Network before starting his coaching career in 2022.
Laurinaitis becomes the third former Ohio State player on the Buckeyes’ current full-time coaching staff, joining co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Brian Hartline and secondary coach Tim Walton.
