Ohio State hasn’t yet officially announced any new coaching staff hires for the 2025 season, but Ryan Day expects that to happen sooner than later.
Following his presentation at the Ohio High School Football Coaches’ Association clinic, where he spoke Friday about the 2024 Ohio State football team’s journey to winning a national championship, Day said he couldn’t yet confirm any promotions or new hires for the 2025 season but that Ohio State is close to finalizing its new coaching staff.
“We're still putting the finishing touches on it,” Day said. “I’m hoping by this weekend or the beginning of next week, we'll have everything out there. We're making good progress. We obviously have a bunch of really good guys on staff, but a bunch of other guys who are obviously interested in the positions, so we're going to work hard to get this thing kind of ironed out here in the next few days.”
Ohio State is expected to replace Chip Kelly by promoting current wide receivers coach Brian Hartline to offensive coordinator and current offensive analyst Billy Fessler to quarterbacks coach. Ohio State is expected to replace Justin Frye by hiring Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen as its new offensive line coach and run game coordinator.
It remains unclear how Ohio State will replace Jim Knowles as defensive coordinator, though current safeties coach Matt Guerrieri and secondary coach Tim Walton are both viewed as potential candidates for an internal promotion while Kansas City Chiefs defensive line coach Joe Cullen and Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Randy Bates are among the external names who have been floated as possible staff additions.
Ohio State made one piece of coaching staff news official on Thursday when it announced that Day was signing a new seven-year contract with Ohio State worth $12.5 million per year. Asked about that new contract on Friday, Day said he is honored by Ohio State’s commitment to him and thanked his players, assistant coaches and Ohio State’s administration and fans for making that possible.
“I just want to say thank you to everybody involved,” Day said. “Starting with Buckeye Nation, and then on to the Board of Trustees, President (Ted) Carter, (athletic director Ross Bjork), our coaching staff and then obviously, our players. None of that would even be possible without everyone together on it. We're just honored to be able to represent Ohio State again for the next seven years.”
