By Patrick Weider
After Chip Kelly left for the Las Vegas Raiders. Ohio State Head Coach Ryan Day had to decide about his offensive coordinator position. He could have gone to the veteran coach’s route and picked up a proven coach, but instead, he chose to promote Brian Hartline to the lead play-caller. He has been a co-offensive coordinator for the last two years, but he was not been the play-caller, Day has decided to give him his shot and let him call plays. In addition, Ohio State promoted Billy Fessler from an offensive analyst to quarterbacks coach and hired Tyler Bowen from Virginia Tech to be an offensive line coach. Below are my thoughts on all three hires.
Brian Hartline Offensive Coordinator/Play Caller
The 38-year-old Brian Hartline has been Ohio State’s wide receiver coach since 2018 and has been one of the best recruiters and developers of talent in College Football. He has helped recruit and develop future NFL wide receivers Chris Olave, Marvin Harrison Jr., Jeremiah Smith, and several others. In the 2023 season, he added the offensive coordinator title, but he has never been the lead play-caller. After learning from Chip Kelly last year, he will now get his shot to call plays for the Buckeyes. This move was always the next step for Hartline and Ohio State. There might be growing pains for Hartline as a play-caller, but coming off a National Championship Ohio State will have plenty of leeway for next year.
https://twitter.com/CFBONFOX/status/1887266405940355455
Billy Fessler Quarterbacks Coach
Billy Fessler was promoted to quarterbacks coach after previously being an offensive analyst last season for Ohio State. The 29-year-old Fessler was at UCLA the year before as the quarterbacks coach and spent time at Akron as a quarterbacks coach and play-caller. He is a young coach, jumping into an important role next year as Ohio State will be replacing quarterback Will Howard.
The Buckeyes will need Fessler to help develop Julian Sayin or Lincoln Keinholz into the next starting quarterback. I do not think it is a risk because Day would not promote him unless he thinks he is up for the job. Will Howard mentioned Fessler and the impact he had on him this season, so I expect Fessler will be able to handle the job and be successful. Fessler also had last year to learn from Chip Kelly, and Ryan Day is still considered one of the best developers of quarterbacks in College Football.
https://twitter.com/JBook_37/status/1887260072302231649
More Sports News
Tyler Bowen Offensive Line Coach
This is the most interesting hire for Day and Ohio State. Tyler Bowen was previously the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at Virginia Tech for the last two years. He left an offensive coordinator position for a position coaching position, which is rare to see. Now coaching at Ohio State is a higher level than Virginia Tech, but it is not something you see every day for a coordinator to give up that title.
The best part about this hire is Bowen will be able to help Hartline with game planning, especially in the run game. The other big thing I like about this hire is he is known as a good recruiter. From 2018-2020 he had the title of offensive recruiting coordinator for Penn State, being able to sign stars like offensive tackle Olu Fashanu and tight end Tyler Warren. Under previous offensive line coach Justin Frye, offensive line recruiting was lacking, there is a strong indication that this could improve under Bowen. Bowen’s hire makes a ton of sense as a former offensive coordinator and offensive lineman himself.
https://twitter.com/landon_tengwall/status/1887234178187448353
Final Thoughts
In 2015 Ohio State lost offensive coordinator Tom Herman after winning the National Title the previous year, so Urban Meyer replaced him with Ed Warinner, his offensive line coach, and brought in another coach in Tim Beck. It led to a clunky situation as Ohio State’s offense was never the same. I bring this up as a cautionary tale for Day and the Buckeyes. I do not think this is the same situation, but it is something to monitor. Hartline has been building for this moment for years and Fessler and Bowen both have good experience. Time will tell if these hires were the right moves by the recently extended Day, but logically they make a lot of sense.
