Urban Meyer spilled the tea on what Ryan Day told him about Ohio State football’s new coaching staff addition
Ohio State liked how it went the first time going to the NFL to get to an assistant, so they did it again.
The Ohio State Buckeyes had a big decision after their season ended on how they wanted to replace Brian Hartline. Hartline was both the wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator, which has now been split into two roles.
Ohio State acted quickly to hire former LSU wide receivers coach Cortez Hankton after the season, but the OC hire took a bit longer.
Ryan Day went back to the NFL for another coordinator just like he did with Matt Patricia for the defense, and came away with Arthur Smith as the new offensive play caller.
Urban Meyer provides insight into Ohio State hiring Arthur Smith
“Coach Day told me what kind of direction he’s going to be headed without going too far into detail,” Meyer said recently on The Triple Option podcast. “I think Ohio State’s jumping all over themselves cause they see Matt Patricia as the template to go hire someone.”
Someone that’s going to focus on the scheme and Arthur Smith’s got to be one of the best in the business at it, what he’s done in his career.”
Smith was last with the Pittsburgh Steelers as the offensive coordinator and before that, he was the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. It was clear that Day wanted to get someone with prior play-calling experience whom he could trust to lead the offense. Much like the hands-off approach with the defense, which allows more of a CEO role for Day.
Ohio State’s offense will still have plenty of group input after hiring Arthur Smith
Day didn’t bring Smith in to reinvent what they do with their offense. This comes off as a move for the Buckeyes to bring in some of the ideas that work for Smith, especially with the run game, to mesh with what’s going on in Columbus. Ohio State isn’t going to get away from their passing attack where they spread it out and let Julian Sayin get their athletes the ball.
Co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Keenan Bailey will still be plenty involved in the offense. Smith has a background of working with tight ends in the NFL, and that’s right up Bailey’s alley.
Bringing in Smith from the NFL was undoubtedly the biggest decision the Buckeyes had to make this offseason.
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