Urban Meyer did not wait very long to make his first staff change.
Just days after Ohio State was throttled 31-0 by Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl, the Buckeyes’ head coach announced his team had a new quarterbacks coach. Ryan Day took over the position; Tim Beck moved on.
But the turnover on Ohio State’s coaching staff didn’t stop there. One week later, Meyer announced the hiring of Kevin Wilson as offensive coordinator. Like Beck, Ed Warinner also moved on.
Day and Wilson joined Bill Davis, who was hired prior to the Fiesta Bowl to replace Luke Fickell, to give the Buckeyes three new assistant coaches for the 2017 season. A lot of change for a team and program as successful as Ohio State, but Meyer felt it was necessary.
“The team is at it and going at it with the intent that that will never happen again,” Meyer said on National Signing Day. “We also understand it’s college football and we’re dealing with young people so there’s going to be some changes that are made throughout, including minor changes where we — I think it’s time to refresh the program a little bit. From minor things about where we stretch, where we practice, we’ll switch fields, switch lockers, doing all kinds of — just changing up some things.”
“I’m going to change the coaches’ offices all around,” Meyer continued. “There’s a business where you change — change equates to 15 percent increase in production and so that’s the whole thing we’re going to do this year, just going to change it up a little bit.”
Spring ball is almost here for Ohio State, so it’s almost time for those changes to be fully implemented in practice. The Buckeyes are scheduled to have their first spring workout for the 2017 season Tuesday.
Ahead of that, our spring preview series rolls along today with a look at Ohio State’s three new assistant coaches and what each must try to accomplish during spring ball.
Ryan Day — Quarterbacks Coach
Barring an injury, J.T. Barrett will be the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback in 2017. He’s entering his fifth year in the program and has won a ton of games at Ohio State, yet many feel Barrett regressed a bit — or at least didn’t improve — after Tom Herman’s departure following Barrett’s redshirt freshman season in 2014.
So, we’ll start there. One of Day’s biggest tasks this spring is building a relationship with Barrett and figuring out what’s “broken” with the Buckeyes’ signal caller. Whether that’s a mechanical thing, a confidence thing, whatever, Day — and Ohio State — need Barrett back to the player who finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting as a redshirt freshman.
Another task for Day that might be equally as important is assisting in determining the Buckeyes’ backup behind Barrett. There is plenty of talent waiting in the wings with Joe Burrow, Dwayne Haskins and Tate Martell, but it’d certainly help if Ohio State established some sort of pecking order coming out of spring ball.
The backup battle will likely come down to Burrow and Haskins as every freshman quarterback at Ohio State under Meyer redshirted during his first season. If that is indeed the plan for Martell, keeping him engaged throughout spring, summer and especially fall will be another duty for Day.
But for now, Day needs to find a way to manage the reps his quarterbacks take during spring practice. Barrett needs enough to improve, but there also needs to be an adequate number for Burrow and Haskins for the Buckeyes to figure out a backup plan.
Kevin Wilson — Tight Ends Coach, Offensive Coordinator
The duties for Wilson this spring are a bit different. Sure, as the new tight ends coach he has a responsibility to develop Marcus Baugh, A.J. Alexander and Ohio State’s trio of redshirt freshmen — Jake Hausmann, Luke Farrell and Kierre Hawkins, all of whom are going through their first spring practice — but Wilson’s biggest priority may be repairing the offense.
Eleven Warriors’ Kyle Jones explained the Buckeyes’ offense won’t be entirely overhauled with Wilson running the show, but there will be some new wrinkles in place. Those need to be installed now so that when fall camp rolls around Ohio State doesn’t have to spend time doing it. Wilson also needs to develop a relationship with Barrett, who will be working under the third offensive coordinator of his collegiate career.
Bill Davis — Linebackers Coach
Davis has big shoes to fill as the replacement for Fickell, who left to become head coach at Cincinnati. Fickell was a mainstay on the Ohio State coaching staff so it certainly won’t be easy for just anybody to come right in and pick up where he left off.
Davis does have two returning starters to work with in fifth-year senior Chris Worley and junior Jerome Baker, so his biggest task this spring will be finding a replacement at middle linebacker for the departed Raekwon McMillan. Middle linebacker is often looked at as the captain of a defense so the void left by McMillan’s departure is obviously important.
Figuring out how to fill that hole, whether it be with one of his returning starters or another player — perhaps Dante Booker — will be Davis’ biggest challenge this spring. He’ll also need to develop some of the young Buckeyes’ linebackers, many of whom will be fighting to earn spots on the two-deep in the fall.
