What are the Ramifications for Brian Hartline to USF?
- Nick Janning
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Well... it happened again. Ohio State has fallen victim to coordinator poachers. It was only a matter of time until the most valuable member of the staff takes a head coaching job somewhere else. It just couldn't have happened at a worse time.
I think I speak for every fan of OSU when I say, congratulations. We are privileged to have one man contribute as much as Brian Hartline has as a player and as a coach.
Brian Hartline is most commonly known as the man responsible for creating a dynasty of NFL dominant wide receivers for the past decade. However, his effect on Ohio State goes far beyond his god-like recruiting abilities. Here's a summary of what Brian Hartline has done for Ohio State:
Player (2006 - 2008)
90 Receptions, 1,429 Yards, 12 TD
34 - 6 record (21 - 3 Big Ten)
2 BCS National Championship games
3 - 0 vs Michigan
Coach (2017 - 2025)
89 - 14 record
4x Big Ten Champ
10 - 4 in bowl games
1 National Championship
4 - 4 vs Michigan
Per @brianhartline Instagram
...yeah, that's a guy who knows ball
On Wednesday, December 3rd (3 days before playing Indiana in the Big Ten Championship) Brian Hartline announced he will accept the head coach job at University of South Florida.
"USF is about to explode" Brian says. With it, potentially Ohio State's season.
The timing of this could not be worse. Now, with that being said, I do understand there are worse situations to be in. You could be Ole Miss who is having their best season they've had in decades, and lose their head coach and offensive staff. That sucks. I think there is a bigger issue at play. Hopefully we see change to coaches leaving their teams right before the playoffs. Wild I even have to say that.
We do need to consider that Ohio State may be facing a bigger issue than we think.
Ohio State just lost to Indiana 13 - 10 in a debatably relevant Big Ten Championship. While this Indiana team is as legit as any team could be, there's some real concern with putting up 10 points. Ohio state has been averaging 32 points per game. Something happened on offense.
Could it be our OC working out a contract for a new job? Could it be practice and film sessions cut short? Could it be distractions in the locker room? I wouldn't count out any of these as potential underlying causes to why we went 2 / 4 in the red zone with 1 touchdown. What's the solution?
A common buckeye fan may have been seen on the internet over the past few days talking about how Ryan Day needs to take over play calling (97.1 The Fan / Dead Air Sports). Knock that off. Ryan day has been calling plays as an offensive coordinator and head coach from 2017 - 2024. The same fans that are calling for Ryan Day to call plays are the same ones who complained about play calling in big games 2 years ago.
Look, I do agree that Brian Hartline accepting a new job in the middle of preparing for a Big Ten Championship game causes problems. How could it not? But Ohio State doesn't play for another 3 weeks. They'll have plenty of time to let this new job nonsense settle.
Ryan Day on play calling per Kellyanne Stitts ABC6
No, we don't need to hire a new offensive coordinator for the playoffs. No, we don't need to change who's calling plays. I really doubt Brian Hartline, arguably the most successful player and coach in the history of the school, will do anything to sabotage Ohio State's chances of winning it all. I would argue no one wants to win a national championship for Ohio State more than Brian Hartline.
Ohio State fans have a proud history of pessimistic opinions on their team. They hold their program to a higher standard than any other fan base in college football. And I wouldn't want it any other way. I think sometimes we need to check our conspiracies. Trust the guys who just won a national championship, and went undefeated in the regular season, will get the most talented team in college football prepared to win a National Championship.
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