Ryan Day has wasted no time in making a coaching staff change following the disappointing loss to Oregon
The Ohio State Buckeyes have started staff changes nine games into the 2026 college football season.
The Ohio State Buckeyes’ Week 10 loss to the Oregon Ducks was unacceptable. It marked Ohio State’s third loss of the season and all but ends the Buckeyes’ hopes of making the College Football Playoff in 2026.
The season hasn’t gone according to plan in Columbus, and change has to come as a result. Head coach Ryan Day has already decided to part ways with one assistant after an offseason move that clearly didn’t work out.
Ryan Day fires Ohio State special teams coordinator Robby Discher
Ohio State brought in special teams coordinator Robby Discher from Illinois during the offseason. According to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz, who first reported the news, Day has fired Discher coming off the Oregon game. The decision follows the inability of Ohio State’s special teams unit to show any improvement this season.
The latest blip came in the first half against the Ducks. Oregon ran a fake punt from its own 31-yard line, and the 30-yard pass set up a touchdown that gave the Ducks a 17-14 lead over Ohio State at halftime. It was a game-changing play in a contest the Buckeyes couldn’t afford to lose.
After the game, Day called the play disappointing. Still, it was just one special teams play for a unit that has been a negative across the board this season.
Special teams problems didn’t get fixed in Columbus
Special teams has long been a struggle for Ohio State over the years. Discher was brought in specifically to upgrade the unit, and that simply hasn’t happened.
The numbers back it up. Through nine games, Ohio State already has 14 special teams penalties. That’s more than the 10 the Buckeyes committed during the entire 2025 season, and there’s still plenty of football left on the schedule.
The timing of the move says a lot about where the program stands. A coordinator is already out the door nine games into the season is a big statement.
This is just the first of Ohio State’s coaching staff changes that are expected to come. With playoff hopes all but gone, the focus in Columbus is shifting toward fixing what went wrong in 2026. The coming weeks will show how far Day is willing to go in reshaping his staff.
