The Ohio State football team is turning to a familiar face for offensive coordinator
The Buckeyes are giving Brian Hartline the ability to call plays in the 2025 season.
Ever since the Ohio State football program won the national championship, the only constant has been change. Players have been out the door to declare for the NFL draft or the transfer portal. Coaches have left for other programs or the NFL. So far, there has been a lot more change than not.
The Buckeyes are still looking for a defensive coordinator to replace Jim Knowles after he left Ohio State to take the same position at Penn State. They just hired Tyler Bowen to take the offensive line coaching position after Justin Frye left for the Arizona Cardinals to take the same coaching gig.
Even though the defensive coordinating gig has been the one that has been vacant the longest, that will be the last one that they are able to fill. The offensive coordinator position has been filled, and a familiar face will be calling plays for the Buckeyes next season.
Brian Hartline is the new offensive coordinator for Ohio State
Brian Hartline has been promoted to offensive coordinator for the Ohio State Buckeyes. While he technically held the Co-OC title already while Chip Kelly was in Columbus, he was not the play-caller. Now, he will be the one calling all of the plays next season.
Ohio State plans to name Brian Hartline as its new offensive coordinator, sources tell @cbssports/@247sports.
Hartline has continued to do elite work as a receivers coach, including most recently with guys like Jeremiah Smith, and as a recruiter. Now set for a promotion.… pic.twitter.com/v8O3y6oADQ
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) February 5, 2025
At some point, the Buckeyes were going to have to promote Hartline in order to keep him. He is someone who is extremely valuable to Ohio State’s coaching staff. They want to keep him at all costs because of his ability to recruit and develop wide receivers.
Hartline wants to call plays so he can eventually move up the coaching ladder. While he becomes a first-time play-caller, the Buckeyes really had no choice. Ryan Day had to make this move in order to keep him happy and keep him in Columbus for the long-term.
There will be a lot of talent that Hartline gets to work with next year, so he won’t have issues getting guys open. The Buckeyes are hoping that this works better than the last time they hired a first-time play-caller to a coordinating gig. Kerry Coombs didn’t work out so well on defense.
In addition, the Buckeyes have also named Billy Fessler as their quarterbacks coach. He worked with Will Howard last season as the Buckeyes won the national championship.
