Ohio State hires Arthur Smith, former NFL head coach and play caller, as offensive coordinator

Summary

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The Bill and Doug Show: Ohio State Hires Arthur Smith as Offensive Coordinator

Date: January 25, 2026
Hosts: Doug Lesmerises & Bill Landis (Blue Wire)

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Overview

In this lively episode, Doug and Bill react in real time to Ohio State’s blockbuster hire: Arthur Smith, former NFL head coach and respected offensive playcaller, will be the Buckeyes' new offensive coordinator. They break down why this is a unique, high-upside move, address possible concerns about Smith’s NFL background, and contextualize the hire compared to recent OSU coordinator moves. The conversation also explores implications for Ryan Day’s leadership style, staff structure, the future of big-time college football programs, and Smith's schematic tendencies.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Arthur Smith Hire: Surprising, Ambitious, and Overqualified?

• Bill Landis opens by noting this isn't a shocking direction for Ohio State, but Arthur Smith is a bigger name than expected, given his recent tenure as NFL OC and head coach.
  • “Not at all surprised that it’s an NFL guy coming … but the fact that Ohio State’s coordinators are two former NFL head coaches is kinda crazy.” (02:13)
• Doug Lesmerises emphasizes that Smith brings a stacked resume and more credibility than past hires. The key is whether Ryan Day will “fully trust this guy to run the Ryan Day Ohio State offense and offer some tweaks, some fresh ideas” (03:14)—and he believes the answer is yes.

2. Comparison to Previous Hires (Matt Patricia, Brian Hartline)

• The recent Matt Patricia defensive coordinator hire still colors perception, but Smith enters without the baggage Patricia carried after falling out of NFL favor.
  • Smith is “overqualified for this job. He was an NFL head coach, not just some coordinator who got stuck somewhere” (08:31).
• Doug points out that hiring someone with Smith’s profile means you’re not getting a “castoff” as much as a proven commodity who happened to be on the market.

3. Why Arthur Smith Wasn’t Obvious—and Why He’s Uniquely Qualified

• Bill and Doug break down how rare it is for a college program to attract an NFL playcaller in active demand:
  • “I think if Ryan Day was going to get a guy with Arthur Smith’s resume, I figured it would have been after everything in the NFL coaching cycle had shaken out… There are still teams looking for offensive coordinators in the NFL, and I think Smith would have at least gotten more interviews for those.” (09:43)
• Doug describes his own process researching NFL play callers who weren’t calling plays right now: “There are 24 of them, 15 unemployed. There are 13 open OC/head-coaching jobs… that’s good math for Ohio State.” (11:06)

4. Where Smith Ranks Among Potential Candidates

• Doug had Arthur Smith in his “top group” of NFL playcallers—alongside Brian Daboll, Todd Monken, Joe Brady, and Cliff Kingsbury—whom he believed were likely out of Ohio State’s reach.
  • “That’s how qualified I think Arthur Smith is for this job.” (16:24)
• Bill notes Smith belongs in a clear tier above fallback names like Matt Nagy or Greg Roman.

5. Smith’s Schematic Leanings: More Run Game, More Tight Ends?

• Bill highlights Smith’s reputation as a run-oriented mind (former OL/tight ends coach, high rushing rates in Tennessee and Atlanta), which could represent a “double down on the heavier personnel” at OSU.
  • “This is… a bit of a double down on the heavier personnel. We’re going to use more tight ends. We want to be a balanced team, but to do that, we have to be a better rushing team. Arthur Smith will make Ohio State a better rushing team.” (25:30)
• The hosts expect more balance, but not at the expense of OSU’s elite skill talent—Smith’s best past teams excelled with good personnel (see: 2020 Titans).

6. Smith’s Family Wealth and NIL Implications

• Doug quips about Smith’s family being the founders of FedEx: “If Ohio State’s looking for their whale, they just hired an offensive coordinator and they can call him Ahab.” (25:30)
• Bill clarifies the Smiths are Tennessee-based billionaires, but do not own the Titans or have direct CFB financial involvement.

7. Unique Staff Structure and Modern CFB Administration

• The new rules allow OSU to stack 'bonus coordinators' who don’t recruit on the road; Smith will focus solely on game-planning and offense.
  • “There’s no limit on how many coaches you can have. The only limit is the number who can go on the road and recruit… Arthur Smith will not be an on-road recruiter or have a positional designation—he’s just the head coach of the offense, scheming up the game plan and calling the plays.” (27:42)
• This mirrors Alabama’s NFL pipeline approach; hosts see OSU joining a select club of CFB superpowers with this kind of staff (OSU, Georgia, Bama).

8. Potential Drawbacks: Short Tenure and Relationships

• Both hosts acknowledge the reality: you can’t expect NFL-caliber coordinators to stick around in Columbus for a decade.
  • “That’s the cost… You don’t know how long they're going to stay. But if you create this situation, you become a place where other guys like this want to come here.” (32:55)
• Bill points out how OSU must avoid the “mad scientist” effect: “Arthur Smith will have to make sure that he doesn’t become a mad scientist… he’s got to have relationships with the players.” (37:06)

9. Big Picture: What this Means for Ryan Day and OSU’s Ceiling

• The move gives Ryan Day a “right-hand man” on both sides of the ball—veteran voices he needs to lead in a turbulent era.
  • “It should be the head coach and his two lieutenants… It’s Tony Soprano and Paulie Walnuts and the guy from the Bruce Springsteen band, right? You’ve got two capos… a defensive guy and an offensive guy. That’s what they need.” (41:09)
• With Hartline, Day had a rising mentee; with Smith and Patricia, he has peers for strategic dialogues and mutual challenge.

10. What if OSU Hadn’t Made a High-End OC Hire?

• Both hosts consider an alternate reality where OSU promoted from within or Day took playcalling back:
  • Bill: “Borderline disastrous… I think it’s difficult to wear that hat anymore when you’re a head coach in college football. I don’t think that would position Ohio State to be the best version of itself.” (52:45)
  • Doug: “The process that would have led him to that point—I would have worried about instead of acknowledging what worked and looking forward, he felt like he got bitten and is going back to what’s comfortable…” (53:03)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Doug: “This guy’s overqualified for the job. He was an NFL head coach—he’s not just some coordinator who got stuck somewhere.” (08:31)
• Doug (on the context of top NFL OCs): “Arthur Smith was as qualified and on a par with Brian Daboll, Todd Monken, Cliff Kingsbury, and Joe Brady… that's where I am on this hire. That is an awesome group for Ohio State.” (18:41)
• Bill: “When Arthur Smith has had good players, his offense has been really good. And what’s he going to have at Ohio State? Good players.” (45:31)
• Doug (addressing skeptical fans): “If you don’t like this, what do you want? Give me a name. If you don’t want this, you’re effing crazy. Freaking crazy.” (05:43)
• On NIL jokes: Doug (about the Smith family): “Every Ohio State player is just doing FedEx commercials now, getting paid $1.5 million to hold up a cardboard envelope.” (26:43)
• On how rare this is: Bill: “This is the kind of thing that only programs like Ohio State can do… only a handful.” (30:51)
• On Ryan Day’s evolution: Doug: “What a wonderful thing for Ryan Day and Brian Hartline to have that relationship… but in that moment… it should be the head coach and his two lieutenants, right?... that’s what they need. And then they got the Steelers’ offensive coordinator.” (41:09)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:13] - Why Arthur Smith is a uniquely qualified hire
• [05:43] - Doug challenges fans: what more would you want?
• [08:31] - Patricia vs. Smith as overqualified NFL hires
• [11:06] - How OSU found Smith among active/former NFL OCs
• [16:24] - Smith’s placement in Doug's (and national) OC tiers
• [25:30] - Expected schematic impact of Smith’s hire (run game lean)
• [27:42] - Explanation of new ‘bonus coordinator’/non-recruiter role
• [32:55] - Short-tenure realities and Saban/Bama comparisons
• [37:06] - Risks of non-positional coordinators losing player touch
• [41:09] - The need for Day to have two high-level lieutenants
• [45:31] - How Smith’s good offenses are about good personnel
• [52:45] - What if OSU had stuck with playcalling-by-committee?
• [53:03] - Why reverting to 2019-style playcalling would be a mistake

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Conclusion

Bill and Doug agree: Smith’s hiring is an aggressive, win-now move that mirrors the best practices of Saban’s Alabama, giving Ryan Day an NFL-caliber staff to maximize the 2026 Buckeyes’ national championship window. There’s risk in terms of tenure and unfamiliarity with college recruiting, but the ceiling is as high as Ohio State could hope for. This is a bold, creative, and possibly defining moment for Buckeye football leadership in the NIL era.

“This is an incredible investment that very few schools are able to do… the strategy behind it and the resume of the person they’re bringing in—it’s unlike anything in college football right now.” – Doug Lesmerises (30:51)

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Transcript

[Bill Landis]

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[Doug Lemarise]

Welcome back to the Bill and Doug Show. It's live at Condition. Ohio State hired an offensive coordinator, so Doug Lame Reese and Bill Landis are gonna talk about it. Bill Landis, what do you think of this hire? Arthur Smith, who's calling plates for the Pittsburgh Steelers like 17 days ago, is now going to be calling plays for the Ohio state Buckeyes in 2026.

[Bill Landis]

Yeah, a couple things, like not, not at all surprised that, that it's an NFL guy coming, coming to Ohio State to do this. It was just sort of like, which of these play callers who's kind of like flapping in the wind is going to be like the odd man out, right? As teams kind of shuffle, shuffle their coaching staffs. And Arthur Smith's name is one that was coming up for a couple of NFL coordinator jobs and those didn't land for him. Perhaps if he had held out longer, maybe, maybe something would have shaken out for him, but instead he's going to come to Ohio State. I will say, like, in terms of Arthur Smith's like, lean and expertise, it's not the way that I thought Ryan Day was going to go, but now that we do know that it's Arthur Smith, like, there, there are, you know, a couple different ways that it certainly makes sense that we can get into. So I don't know, like, good, bad, like, I, I, I don't know. Which I guess is like, what people don't want to hear, but, like, the fact that Ohio State's coordinators are two former NFL head coaches is, like, kind of crazy.

[Doug Lemarise]

It is. I think that's the important thing. Like, how so You're a ball knower. I'm a vibes knower. I don't care about lean, about expertise, like the NFL determined. This guy was good enough to be an NFL play caller, and he got a head coaching job based off being a play caller. And what I care about is, is the resume there, is the experience there, and is Ryan Day going to fully trust this guy? That's what I care about the most. Is Ryan Day going to fully trust this guy to run the Ryan Day Ohio State offense and offer some tweaks, offer some fresh ideas? Right. And I think the answer to that is yes, yes, yes, and yes. And this is like the Matt Patricia hire, which I think has to color all of our opinions on this because a year ago he made a similar hire and there were people who are like, I don't, I don't know about this, except there's really, there's none of.

[Bill Landis]

These, oh, were.

[Doug Lemarise]

I can't remember who it was. Somebody wouldn't have to care about their opinions. But that had some obvious downsides with Matt Patricia that, like, aren't here with Arthur Smith. Right. That, I mean, yeah, he did get, here's the thing that's like, oh, like he got, he got fired as NFL head coach. If he didn't get fired as NFL head coach, he wouldn't be in this job. You're not getting Sean McVeigh to come take this job. So if you're looking to the NFL, you're automatically going to have some things that the guy did wrong, which is why he might consider taking a college OC job. But then within that, this guy has never been fired as an oc.

[Bill Landis]

Oh, that's true. I mean, he's only been OC twice.

[Doug Lemarise]

But yeah, he was an offensive coordinator. He was so Good at it. He got a head coaching job. He got fired from that, and he immediately got an offensive coordinator job. And then his boss quit. And that's why he's on the market, right? He's not on the market because they're like, oh, my God, this freaking guy. He's lost it completely. It's like Mike Tomlin was like, I'm good. And Arthur Smith was like, what? I still need a job. And he was getting interviews. So I, I, like, honestly, I can see a little bit if you're. I'm not telling Ohio State fans how to think. I don't know what you want. What do you want?

[Bill Landis]

No, yeah, yeah.

[Doug Lemarise]

I mean, if you don't want this, what do you want? Give me a name. If you're in the chat and you don't like this, give me the name that you want instead.

[Bill Landis]

Yeah, I think, like something.

[Doug Lemarise]

Yeah.

[Bill Landis]

I don't know. Because you wanted experience, right? Like there. I think there are some younger NFL types that, that could have been exciting but would have brought like zero play calling experience and wouldn't, I think, be viewed sort of as like the adult in the room that. I think everybody was sort of on board with the idea that of Ohio State needing to, to run the offense because everyone else on the staff is like 30 years old and it's so like, it's no shade toward. Those guys are just like still pretty young in their coaching careers. So you needed somebody. And Arthur Smith is 43, who has like that cachet, who can lead a room, who's organized, who knows how to call plays, who understands the machinations of it on a game day, doesn't have to have his handheld and then like, you figure out the scheme stuff afterward. I, I think. Right. Like, it's not like, you know, if they, if they brought in a guy whose scheme fit was like totally out of left field, that like, we can have that conversation, I think have some concern. But if you just want expertise, which I think is probably the biggest box that Ryan Day was looking to check here, he did get that in Arthur Smith for sure.

[Doug Lemarise]

Yes. So, like, there are people, like, if you want to hire, if you wanted to hire somebody, if you wanted to hire somebody who's never been a play caller before at any level, you're just dying to make the same mistake again. If, if there are people. I'm not telling you how to. If you think that the, the op. The choice here was hire a guy to be the offensive play caller who's never called plays before. I'm not telling you how to feel. You're effing crazy. Freaking crazy. Because Ohio State had to do that in a very specific situation this year. And it did work, but they did it because the guy was the best position coach in America. And so, like, so take all those people out of the mix. So you have to get somebody who's done it before. So then now, like, like now, what are you looking for? Well, guess if you're looking for somebody who's done it before, why aren't they doing it now? You can hire somebody who's doing it at a lower level, successfully on the way up. They're doing it at a G5 school, they're doing it at a power conference school. But that you can steal them away. Once upon a time, Clemson stole offensive coordinator, right? And they wound up firing that guy. But that's not. We, like, know that's what Ryan did. That's not what Ryan Day was looking for. Ryan Day wanted NFL stuff. So if it's an NFL guy, it's got to be somebody who has an iffy part of his resume. Otherwise he wouldn't be available. So I can tell you so like that from that standpoint, here's the other thing. Not to guarantee it's going to work. This guy's overqualified. He's overqualified for this job. He was an NFL.

[Bill Landis]

Their coordinators are overqualified for the job.

[Doug Lemarise]

But Matt Patricia had been through the I'm not sure what's up with you cycle. There were not NFL teams beating down the door to hire Matt Patricia. Arthur Smith interviewed with the Titans to be their offensive coordinator, like, four days ago. He was in the interview cycle still. And I can tell you the story I was working on that. No see the light of day. But what category I had him in for the story I was working on, he was in the midst of this stuff still. He had not been rejected by the NFL. I felt like Matt Patricia had been rejected by the NFL because not only after being fired as the head coach of the Lions, then he kind like he was back with the Patriots and he was kind of doing weird stuff with the Eagles. And then he was, like, off for a year, right? He kind of felt like the NFL wasn't particularly interested in Matt Patricia anymore. And that to me, added pause to that. Arthur Smith. We're just, like, making comparisons here because as you said, they now have two coordinators who are former NFL head. Arthur Smith had not been through the rejection cycle. He was employed two weeks ago. He had a job and he did not get fired from that job. So to me, this is like, I kind of can't believe that he took it.

[Bill Landis]

Yeah, I, I am surprised that Ryan Day landed someone like, with, with this resume at this point. I think if Ryan Day was going to get a guy with Arthur Smith's resume, I figured it would have been until like, everything in the NFL coaching cycle had shaken out. Like, post super bowl, everyone's got their staff locked in for 20, 26 because there's all these parts, but there's still, there's still a handful of teams that are looking for offensive coordinators in, in the NFL. And, and I think Smith would have at very least gotten interviews for those. Yeah, we'll ask. It makes me wonder, like, what the offer was too, like, how aggressive was Ohio State with the money here.

[Doug Lemarise]

Yeah.

[Bill Landis]

Tickets to get him to, to like, not wait for that to happen. So at least three. You think it's. Yeah, I would say. I would say at least three. Yeah. I think he and Patricia will both be three, if I had to guess, which is by far the most that Ohio State has paid for a coordinator tandem. Yeah.

[Doug Lemarise]

Yeah. So let me give you the information that I threw out the window. And this is the story. This is how good I am at my job. I was just pounding away on this story. I was researching possible candidates for the OC job. You had done a great job laying people out on 1-5-35 possible.

[Bill Landis]

I'm so mad he wasn't on the list because I did. Because I didn't think Tomlin was going to step down.

[Doug Lemarise]

It's not your. Like, if you had done the list four days later, you would have done it, right?

[Bill Landis]

Yeah.

[Doug Lemarise]

So I was doing. Here's what I did. And this is. I just want to tell people, like, like this is how good I think this hire is. And there's the difference. Here's the thing. How do I, how do I say this? This is not to defend anything, but I think there is a difference between, like, how good is the hire and how well does it work out? I think this is indisputably a good hire. I don't know if it's going to work. I think the Patricia hire was like slightly eyebrow raising and it worked out great. But we're not here to re litigate Matt Patricia. Like sitting here today, this guy, this guy was coaching Aaron Rodgers 11 hours ago, and now he's going to coach Julian Sand. And I can't say that about the receiver position because Jeremiah Smith would have been the Steelers best receiver. This year by a mile. If Arthur Smith had Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate this year, Mike Tomlin wouldn't be retiring. Mike Tomlin and Arthur Smith would be at a steakhouse right now talking about how they can't believe they're in the NFC Championship game. Like, this is not so the Steelers. But here's the thing. Here's. Let me just, Let me tell you what the deal is. I went through people who had called plays in the NFL in the last three years, the 23, 24 and 25 seasons. I went through all of them. Head coaches and offensive coordinators who were the play callers. I then checked all of them who are not calling plays right now who do not currently have a play calling job. There are 24 of them. Oh, of those 24, 15 are actually unemployed. 15 people currently without jobs who have called plays in the NFL in the last three years. There are currently 13 potential play calling jobs available in the NFL. There are four head coaching jobs and nine open OC spots. Now, there might be a head coach hired who's a play caller. So that takes up two of the spots. Right? But I, in doing that math because, because I've been on shows, I've been on here, Doug, who do you think the OC is going to be? Whoever's left at the end of the NFL hiring cycle was my answer. NFL play caller with experience who doesn't get an NFL job. So I was trying to figure out, is that going to happen? What's the math on that? So when I did that Math, there's only 13 jobs for play callers at the most still open, and there's 15 guys who have done it recently. I was like, aha, that's good math for Ohio State. Yeah, right there. And then the other ones are like, could you get a guy who is a passing game coordinator in the NFL who's under an OC and under an offensive head coach who has a job but is not close to calling plays. Would he leave that job to come to Ohio State? I was going to go through those people and I was, I had my head down banging this story out and I looked up and people had been reporting Arthur Smith to the Buckeyes for half an hour and you had already written the story and I was just bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. So this is coming from that place. This doesn't make me an expert. This does not make me an NFL general manager. But I will just tell you like I was writing this story and in writing this story, I had a Top group of people, 24 people who had called plays in the NFL in the last three years who weren't calling plays right now, 15 of them unemployed. I was going to list all 24 of those people and I was going to say, I bet the, I bet the Ohio State hire comes from this group of 24. I had five people in the top group and the top group I labeled this recent play callers likely to get good NFL jobs and be out of Ohio State's reach. So they technically fit the category and they're all like unemployed right now. I had five people. This to me is the top group. Like, man, be great, but like, ah, they're just going to stay in the NFL. Guess.

[Bill Landis]

Okay, so Arthur Smith.

[Doug Lemarise]

Well, that kind of gives it away because I was going to build up too, and Arthur Smith, but yes. Yeah.

[Bill Landis]

Matt Nagy.

[Doug Lemarise]

No, Matt Nagy to me is in the next group because I thought he was more gettable because he is interviewing for jobs, but he doesn't seem quite as hot to me because he's kind of been. He got let go by the cheese. But anyway, like, I was basically going to come to the conclusion that I think Ohio State's going to hire Matt Nagy anyway. Continue. So Matt Nagy was not my top group.

[Bill Landis]

Greg Roman.

[Doug Lemarise]

No, Greg Roman was in the second group under the. He's gettable. He's unemployed and gettable. But also he's a Harbaugh guy. But is he a spurned guy? Because he's worked for both Harbaughs, but he just, he worked for Jim at Stanford and with the 49ers and just got fired by Jim Harbaugh with the Chargers. And so you don't know how many, how many paragraphs I was going to waste on would Ryan Day hire a spurned former Jim Harbaugh system? So no, but like to me this, this group is better than Matt N. And Greg Roman.

[Bill Landis]

Give me, give me the group because I'm just going to be here guessing all night.

[Doug Lemarise]

Joe Brady, who like, doesn't currently have a job because they fired Sean McDermott in Buffalo and like the new head coach, but he's interviewing for the head coaching job. He's going to get a job somewhere. Right. But like he, he currently kind of is a free agent. Cliff Kingsbury.

[Bill Landis]

Oh yeah.

[Doug Lemarise]

Brian Dable. Brian Dabel who's interviewing for the Raiders and Bill's head coaching jobs and also OC jobs. But like somehow if he fell through the cracks and Todd Monkin who was interviewed twice for the Browns job and is probably going to follow John Harbaugh to the Giants to be the play caller if he doesn't get a head coaching job. But like that's Todd Monkin, Brian Dabal, Cliff Kingsbury and Joe Brady. And I had Arthur Smith in that group. I made Arthur Smith the fifth person in that group in the of course you'd take him at Ohio State, but I don't think there's any way they're gonna get him. That's how qualified I think Arthur Smith is for this job.

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[Doug Lemarise]

And then I was going to run through Matt Nagy and Mike Kafka and Brian Callahan and Greg Roman and all these other guys. Right. But I thought Arthur Smith was as qualified and on a par with Brian Dayball, Todd Monkin, Cliff Kingsbury and Joe Brady. So that's where I am. That's where I am on this hire. That is an awesome group for Ohio State. He'd be fifth out of five in that group, but he's the top group and they got him.

[Bill Landis]

Yeah, I mean I would certainly put him in, in the tier like above, like the yeah, the Naggy, the. The Roman, those. Those kind of guys. And I would just like. I. Oh, of the guys you mentioned in that tier, I think the only one that I had on my initial list was Monkin. And he probably like, Monkey was probably like my 1. A guy for Ohio State, if they could ever. If they could somehow swing it. But I also didn't really think that was going to happen, especially after John Harbaugh got the New York Giants job, so. But I think those tears are right. Like, at least I agree with you, for whatever it's worth. So to get a guy from that group, I, I do think means something because then, like, for me, it'd be almost like, get a guy from that group or then like, take a swing on somebody young. Take a swing on the passing game coordinator who hasn't done it yet. Like, Greg Roman wasn't. Wouldn't do a whole lot for me, frankly, like a guy like that. Necessarily. So.

[Doug Lemarise]

But. But I would get it. But wouldn't you get it? I don't think Ryan Day is. Sure, yeah, he's gonna take a swing. Headspace.

[Bill Landis]

He's not. No.

[Doug Lemarise]

Going through this with Brian Hartline. And again, we don't want to make it sound like Brian Hart. Like it was. Oh, but it's just, it was. It was a guy who had never done it. And everybody reacts in all of these hirings, in every walk of life by doing the opposite of what just didn't work. So he was definitely going to get somebody experienced. And if Arthur Smith leaves in a year to go be an NFLOC or go be a college head coach or go be an NFL head coach, then maybe he will go with somebody younger. But he needed to. Like, he had been through this. He can now. He can go back. He doesn't turn off his brain. But maybe Ryan Day, what he can do is a lot of the things that you've been saying smartly, they need to refresh, they need to rethink. But he doesn't have to deal with the basics. Arthur Smith has the basics down. And Arthur Smith is going to bring some of his own ideas, too. And it's going to allow Ryan Day to be all the things that we want Ryan Day to be, that we saw him be in 2024 and that he couldn't be the same way in 2025. Yeah.

[Bill Landis]

So Arthur Smith position himself, positioning himself in college football to be the guy who succeeds Bill Belichick at his alma mater, which is unc.

[Doug Lemarise]

Yeah. So I, I don't know if everyone in here. So there's somebody who chooses. Tied to the natty, chooses to be in the group and like, come on this YouTube show and like, like a fan of the midest, most currently irrelevant college football. Like, if you're an Alabama fan, you are so desperate for human interaction because your team sucks so hard that you're in an Ohio State chat. And like, I might just, I might block them here soon. And by the way, someone's saying, wow, Doug, way to make it seem like Brian Hartline is ugg. Can't wait to post this on the message boards about this. Platypus 9068 says post it. What the hell is wrong with people? He was not a good offensive coordinatorline's mom because I said he wasn't good at call plays because he never did it before. Why? What the hell is wrong with people? So come in here and let's talk about Ohio State hiring an offensive coordinator. And if you're an Alabama fan, get bent. Your team freaking sucks. And if you're gonna go tell Brian Hartline on me, I'll call him, I'll text him. Brian, I didn't think you did a great job. I don't think Brian Hartline would dispute that Arthur Smith is more qualified. What is wrong with people? It's a good hire.

[Bill Landis]

Did you not think. No, I. Yeah, no, I think it is. I just think it's. I, I think from a, like a. Whatever schematic standpoint, it's interesting because it's not what I thought.

[Doug Lemarise]

Take us down. Take us down the schematic road because I think we can agree experience letting Ryan Day do his thing, just someone who's done it, is the most important thing. But certainly in when margins matter more, when the talent is flattened out, scheme matters even more. We saw Indiana had great scheme on both sides of the ball this year and, and certainly the idea that that Ohio State can elevate offensively. We saw how much of an impact Matt Patricia and what he wanted to do defensively and how that was different than Jim Knowles and it paid dividends immediately. It destroyed Arch Manning's Heisman campaign. So of course the scheme matters. Talk to the ball knowers.

[Bill Landis]

So I. This mostly stems from the fact that like Chip Kelly, like a reunion with Chip Kelly just like never seemed to be in the cards and Ryan Day was like sort of dismissive of the notion when he was asked about it at a press conference in like November or something like that. And then Chip ends up at Northwestern, right?

[Doug Lemarise]

So.

[Bill Landis]

And my read on that was well, when Ryan Day goes and brings in the next offensive coordinator, it's going to be somebody with more of like a passing game lean, more of a passing game background. And that's not really Arthur Smith. Like, of course, like he calls a balanced offense. He has a passing game. He's like a Matt LaFleur kind of guy. He worked under the floor in Tennessee, but his, his bend is like more like run game. He's a former offensive lineman. Positionally, he's coached offensive lineman and tight ends. His offenses have had like super high rushing rates. Now part of that is because he coached Derrick Henry when he was in Tennessee, but even when he was in Atlanta, they had a high rushing great, like when they didn't have Derek Henry. So I, I just wasn't like on alert necessarily for like Ryan Day to go get a like, quote unquote, like run game guy. And that is that. I don't mean to say that, to say like that Arthur Smith only has one area where he's strong. I actually don't think that's the case, but I thought maybe the offense was going to go in a slightly different direction. And this is, I think, very much a bit of a double down on the heavier personnel. We're going to use more tight ends. We want to be a balanced team, but to be a balanced team, we have to be a better rushing team. And like, I think, I think Arthur Smith will make Ohio State a better rushing team. So, like, which I love, frankly, like, personal preference. I'm kind of fired up the watch to see what the offense looks like as I was when they, when they hired Chip. But it's just a little, little counter to what I assumed about the direction when Ryan Daley kind of passed on the idea of Chip Kelly coming back here.

[Doug Lemarise]

So people may or may not know Arthur Smith is, is of the FedEx lineage. His late father founded FedEx. And I just googled this. FedEx currently has a current market capitalization, I don't know what that means, of 71 to 72 billion dollars. So also, I don't know if this is part of it, but Arthur Smith can buy Ohio State a roster. And if Ohio State's looking for their whale, they just hire an offensive coordinator and they can call him Ahab. Like, what is up with this? Right? What happens when you hire, when you hire an offensive coordinator who hasn't worked in college football? So we don't know what the. I don't know. Hey, everybody. Hey, fam. We could really use a left tackle. You got some Extra cash floating around that we could get to. I mean, again, like everybody, every Ohio State player is just doing FedEx commercials now, getting paid $1.5 million to hold up a cardboard envelope. I don't really think that's what's going.

[Bill Landis]

To happen, but Chestnut Checkers. Yeah, I don't think so.

[Doug Lemarise]

Have we ever seen a team hire a coach who's, whose family is filled with billionaires before in the Nil era? I don't know. I'm not aware of it.

[Bill Landis]

So no, I don't think so. Maybe so. I didn't know that. I saw people like talking about that, like, right as the news broke of his hire and like I got a little nervous because I didn't know. Does that mean like the only reason Arthur Smith became a coach because like his dad owned the Tennessee Titans, but that wasn't the case.

[Doug Lemarise]

Oh, right.

[Bill Landis]

They are Tennessee. They are Tennessee based billionaires, but they did not own the Titans.

[Doug Lemarise]

Yeah, so, so this is. And again, for people asking this question, right. Can, can we explain Ohio State is not getting rid of a coach to hire Arthur Smith. This is an addition to what they already have. And just explain coaching rules and limitations because they have evolved over the last year or two and this can be confusing to fans for sure.

[Bill Landis]

Yeah. So there's no limit on how many coaches you can have on your staff. The only, the only limit is on the number of coaches who can be designated to go on the road and recruit. And that limit is 10 assistance. So Ohio State has all of those slots filled at the moment. And whoever this offensive coordinator was going to be, and it is now Arthur Smith was kind of going to be brought in with, without much recruiting, I think involved with the job. Now they can recruit on campus, they can make phone calls, all that stuff. They just can't go to high schools like we've seen this week. Matt Patricia's out at high school with Ryan Day talking to kids. I think actually even ideally Ohio State might want to get to the place where it has a coordinator at the top on both sides of the ball and then five recruiting assistants underneath each guy. At the moment, that's not what they have because they only have four on defense with Matt Patricia. So Patricia can still go and recruit. He's one of the 10. Arthur Smith, unless something changes and I'm not expecting it, will not be an on the road recruiter and will not have a positional designation. If he did, it'd be O line or tight end, but he's just going to be head Coach of the offense, scheming up, scheming up the game plan and calling the plays and kind of having his hand in all the different position groups, which is like, honestly, like, kind of what Chip did when he was here. Like, I know Chip was like the quarterbacks coach, but I don't think he was like in there running the room every single day. I think Billy Fessler had a pretty big hand in that, which is why Billy Fessler got the quarterback coaching job prior to this past season. So, yeah, this is a little bit of a different spot for Ohio State. And I actually, I've been meaning to look across college football to see how many teams, like, have sort of like a bonus coordinator situation where the guy isn't one of the. The 10 who go out recruit. And I didn't look through all the P4, but I looked through like half of it and couldn't find one. So I do think this is perhaps maybe unique to Ohio State this year, but I wonder if other teams might go this direction with everything that's asked of head coaches these days. If you want like a, a CEO as your head coach and the two guys underneath him as coordinator who don't have to do anything other than run their side of the ball and scheme up ball plays and don't worry about recruiting.

[Doug Lemarise]

And then I do think, like, it creates kind of some, especially if you're getting NFL guys, it creates kind of like gravitas, right? Of like, you have these other maybe experienced college guys. Doesn't have to be younger guys, but like energetic guys who are out on the road and building relationships and it's like, come to campus. And then not only are we going to have you go in and, and hang out with, with the head coach, we're going to have you go hang out with a coordinator who also, like, he doesn't leave. He's like, Jabba the Hut. Like, where they're, they're. They're in, right? You, you come to them, they can't come to you. And it's like you're. Now you're a kid and you are a quarterback. You are an offensive, you know, you're an offensive player. And it's like, oh, go talk to Arthur Smith. He's been an OC at two different places. He was an NFL head coach. Let's go talk ball, right? So like I do, here's the thing.

[Bill Landis]

Sorry to cut you off. Diana Rossini covers the NFL, said that Smith was talking with the Eagles and the Titans and decided to take the Ohio State job.

[Doug Lemarise]

So, like, like, here's the thing. And. And I'm. I'm only yelling at, like, a couple people because, like, don't come in and be a jack hole on Saturday night. Honestly, like, we're so grateful for the people who are here for this live show. Show. If you are in this live show to be a jackhole, get a freaking life. It's Saturday night. If you're here because you love Ohio State football and you want to hang out and talk ball, we couldn't be happier to have you. If you're here to be a jackhole, my God, what a pathetic existence you have. So. So I just think this is the kind of thing that only programs like Ohio State can do, like a hand, a small handful. And this is the kind of thing when you are, you know, whatever, 14 out of 18 programs in the Big Ten. Like, we know that there's 68 teams in the Power Four, but, like, there's really probably 12, 15 who have any chance to swim in these waters where it's like, oh, what did you do? Oh, yeah, no, you're hot. Young, rising, great position coach. OC Took a head coaching job. What'd you do? We outpid the Eagles and the Titans for our new OC and oh, so, like, did you have to get rid of somebody? It's like, no, we just have 11 coaches now. So, like, this is just. They're just throwing money around. So this is an incredible investment that very few schools are able to do. And so is it. Nothing's for sure, but the strategy behind it and the type, the resume of their person they're bringing in, it's unlike anything in college football right now. And the only thing that it mirrors is Bama. It's Bam and Saban, which we've been talking about a lot, which is you become this place. Brian Dabel, right, Like, flamed out, did this, comes to Alabama and now restarts his career, right? And now he's. He's in this cycle. So, like, this is. And this is the other thing too. And I haven't been. I haven't been following it. I. Like, I don't care. But, like, I know there's consternation about, oh, what if Ohio State loses Matt, Patricia. And like, every. Like, people are like, there's. You see headlines everywhere. And I think people like throwing headlines out there. That's what, like, that's the cost of this.

[Bill Landis]

Sure.

[Doug Lemarise]

You can't hire guys from the NFL who have long resumes and then be like, oh, I hope we can keep them for 10 years. That's not what we're in now. So if you don't like that cycle and you'd rather be hiring college guys and bringing guys up. Tom Herman was the offensive coordinator at Iowa State when Urban Meyer hired him. Right. Jeff, if, like, if that's what you want to do, that's a very reasonable opinion. That is not currently how they caught their two coordinators. So then what? That's the cost. You don't know how long they're going to stay. But if you create this situation like Saban did you become a place where other guys like this want to come here?

[Bill Landis]

Yeah.

[Doug Lemarise]

And then like that's what it is. And it's the Ryan Day offense and it's the Ryan Day way of doing things and you get qualified people. The hires that I don't like is when I feel they're not qualified. They're getting hired at Ohio State and they, they wouldn't be hired somewhere else. This person wouldn't be hired a Colorado State, much less Ohio State, except they're friends with somebody, they're related to somebody, they're down the hall. So like this is, this is completely not that obviously this person is over qualified for this job, but the idea that he might be a short timer or that Matt Patricia might be a short timer, does that make you nervous at all? Do you think it should make Ohio State fans nervous?

[Bill Landis]

It might have made me nervous prior to, honestly, like prior to this off season. But I think everything in college football anymore is a one year proposition. With the way the rosters change over, with the way the players can move. Now Ohio State, I think because of its status will be able to weather a lot of that reality, but I still think it's probably the reality of the sport. It's not to say like Ohio State is going to be 10 and two one year and then, you know, four and eight the next. But everything just has to line up for that one year to go win the national title. And Ohio State's going to have two former NFL head coaches as its coordinators with the Heisman Trophy finalists and the best receiver in college football coming back. Like it's a pretty good setup. And if Arthur Smith leaves after a year, then you just find the next guy who's not going to make it through the NFL cycle with a, with a play calling job and bring him in. And you have the offensive continuity with Ryan Day. I do think like this isn't, this is instructive. I think moving forward, like, like maybe have run game in mind more for Ryan Day and offensive coordinators because he, he views himself as the guy who brings the passing game to the table which is, is true. And then it'd be the same thing on defense like you maybe you search for some scheme continuity but honestly a lot of these guys with these extensive NFL resumes have coached it all, have coached in, in every system amount imaginable and can sort of, you know, form their scheme around that. I think like Matt Patricia is doing that at Ohio State. He did. He carried some stuff over from Jim Knowles that maybe he wouldn't have otherwise and it worked great. So no, I'm, I'm no longer nervous about that. As long as you have the continuity at the top with Ryan Day, I think that's sort of what and like the idea of Ohio State is what sells the players and then there's always going to be people with the NFL ties that Ryan Day covets I think available to hire for your coordinator positions.

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[Doug Lemarise]

So now we're also being realistic here. We're not, we're not blowing smoke on stuff. I, I do think that I, I understand this idea. I like this idea of a coordinator who doesn't have to coach a position group. They got to that point in like 2018 with Greg Shiano where that was the first time that they could. That was when they went from nine assistants to 10 assistants. They hired Alex Grinch. I think people thought Shiano was leaving but then he didn't and then he stayed and he didn't really have a group and I think Shiano that year like schemed himself into oblivion and that was the one where they decided they had the linebackers, they got up on the defensive tackles and get the defensive tackles, gave the linebackers piggyback rides. Remember that? That was how they played defense and did not work very well. And. And I almost felt like Greg Shiano, as a guy who had been at every level of the sport, college head coach, NFL head coach, position coach, defensive coordinator, like, got in his own head because he didn't have enough to do. Right. Because he was used to having his hands on guys. And it was like, oh, let me sit back and scheme it. And it's like, okay, you over schemed it, Greg. So I do think you have to be careful. And you don't want to lock yourself in a room and just pop out on game day and be like, I gotta. I got a bunch of plays, everybody, let's go. So I do think that matters. I do think. And that's the thing that Matt Patricia showed the way on. And everybody. Everybody saw it, everybody wrote about it, talked about it. The way Matt Patricia interacted with players while also bringing an NFL mindset and an NFL scheme to the Ohio State defense, but also building relationships. I do think Arthur Smith's gonna have to make sure that he doesn't become a mad scientist, that if he doesn't have a group, he's got to still be out there. He's got to make sure he has a relationship with Julian sand and Jeremiah Smith and Austin Saraveld and Ian Moore and Bo Jackson and everybody else. So I, like, I'm not on alert for that, but I think it's important. But I think, like, this idea of this acumen and, and, and. And we'll tell this story. We were standing there after Ohio State lost to Miami.

[Bill Landis]

Oh, yeah.

[Doug Lemarise]

And Ryan Day was standing outside the locker room. He was just talking to Matt Patricia and talking to Matt Patricia and talking to Matt Patricia as equals, commiserating. They had just lost this devastating game to end their season. They shouldn't have lost that game. They did. But he was just standing outside the locker room talking about Patricia. And a bunch of us were standing there watching Ryan Day talk to Matt Patricia. And what did we say? What were we talking about in that moment? He needs an offensive guy standing next to him too, now.

[Bill Landis]

Yeah.

[Doug Lemarise]

Brian Hartline came over later. Like, Brian Hartline was doing other things. It was like Brian Hartline was kicked out of the group. Right. But it's just different. Brian Hartline views Ryan Day as a mentor. Brian Hartline says, I want to be like Ryan Day. Matt Patricia doesn't say like, I want. It doesn't say, I want to be like Ryan Day. Matt Patricia is like, what up, Rybro? I don't know what he calls him.

[Bill Landis]

Probably not, right, bro?

[Doug Lemarise]

That's what Arthur Smith now is, right? And so it is wonderful, what a wonderful thing for Ryan Day and Brian Hartline to have that relationship. Brian Hartline worked so hard and so effectively for Ryan Day. It is unbelievable how important Brian Hartline was to Ryan Day success. It is unbelievable the things that Brian Day showed. Brian Hartline, right, How to run a team, how to run a program. But like, in that moment, I think we saw something there. And just the way this season has gone, it was like, man, it's like, right? It's like, hey, look, it's the offense and the defense, like, got like bosses there commiserating. It's like, no, it shouldn't be that. It should be the head coach and his two lieutenants, right? It's Tony Soprano and Paulie Walnuts and the guy from the Bruce Springsteen band, right? It's like, you got. You got both guys. You got two capos. It's not that you're the boss and a capo, right? You're the boss. But you got to have like a right hand man and a left hand man, a defensive guy and an offensive guy. And it felt like in the moment you could like, sort feel that missing just because of the way the staff shook out. And it felt like that's what they need. And then they got the Steelers offensive coordinator and that's what this is. That's what this is.

[Bill Landis]

Who's Silvio and who's Dante?

[Doug Lemarise]

I mean, like, hey, sorry.

[Bill Landis]

Who's Sylvia's Paulie?

[Doug Lemarise]

No, not Patricia. More of a poly walnuts. Like, I don't. I mean, like, that's the first question I'm asking as soon as we get to this. But like, I think like, as. As Ryan Day, as a. As a coach, as a leader, as a guy running a gigantic program in a cha. Chaotic time. I think he needs two guys like that. I think he needs two guys like that to handle the ball.

[Bill Landis]

Yeah, he. He knows that too. I think, like, and like a lot of things sort of came to a head ahead of the 2025 season that, like, I wouldn't say, like, didn't permit that to happen, but I understand why it caused Ryan Day to like, deviate course a little bit, right? Like, he could have said, like, you know what? Like, I get it. This might be what I have. What I have to do. Because Brian Hartline's on the rise, but I'm still going to go get my, my guy who can be the head coach of the offense. But he didn't do that. And like it almost worked. It didn't quite work, but it almost worked. Yeah, but this will be, this will, this will be the way of it, I think, I think from now on. And I even think like, you know, the younger guys in Ohio State staff who might fancy themselves offensive coordinators someday might have to leave and come back if they want to do it right. Like, I don't, I don't know if, if, if you know the next young guy on the staff's gonna, gonna get that job under Ryan Day and anymore and that's okay too. Like, I frankly probably, probably shouldn't but I think it's good. Like you almost had these people come in because obviously does have a pretty, like, it has a really young offensive coaching staff but also like, you know, some young guys on the defensive staff who are, who are on the rise too. And it's like to have Patricia, now Arthur Smith like coach those guys too. I think that's a heck of a thing for Ohio State to have. So you know, there's a, there's like an incubator effect that I think can, can happen here when, when you, if you're able to kind of cycle through the people that have these kinds of resumes, like, you know, are you always going to be able to get a multi time super bowl winning coordinator to coach your defense and a former NFL head coach to coach your offense? Maybe not, but there are a lot of the NFL turns out a lot of people also, so maybe you will. And I totally get like where Ryan Day is coming from with wanting, winning that profile on either side of the ball so that he can, you know, be the CEO type that he needs to be from whatever from January until the following December and then you know, can get a little more nitty gritty with the ball in the playoff like he did in 2024, but he needs that, he needs that buffer that he didn't have on the offensive side in 2025 and Arthur Smith should give that to him.

[Doug Lemarise]

It is really quite a thing even when they're not all young guys and it's like ambition is wonderful, but like there have been a lot of guys again like Chris Ash when he got here under Urban Meyer was like very upfront about how he wanted to be a head coach. Right? The first guy that Ryan Day hired, when he got hired as the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes is now the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, Jeff Halfley. Right. Like, there are guys, and so it's also part of it, and that's wonderful. But it's also. And I'm not going to say it's like split focus or whatever because, like, you have to be true to yourself. You have to. You're there to do well for your employer and your players and your. And your team, but you're also trying to move up in the business. Like, Arthur Smith and Matt Patricia have already been there, and it doesn't mean they don't ever want to go back, but, like, Arthur Smith's not sitting there being like, oh, man, I hope our offense better be ranked number one so I can be a head coach. It's like, I've already been a head coach, right? So, like, you're. You're like trying to restart something, but you're not trying to, like, climb them. You've been to the mountain now. You fell down a little bit, but you're trying to get. But like, sometimes when it's like, oh, man, like, you're climbing up, it's like, man, like, I'm. We're trying to win a game here and like, this guy's trying to make sure he gets his next job, right? So, I mean, like, it's. And that's the way it works, and that's wonderful. But I do think there's just. There could. There's something really, something can be said for bringing in guys like this, not who are at the end of the rope. This is not catch a falling coach. Arthur Smith's 43. This isn't Bill Belichick. So, like, this is. This is a guy who's like, still in the midst of his career, but has already kind of been there.

[Bill Landis]

He's only been an offensive coordinator for four years. If you. If you like. He called the place as head coach for the three that he was the Falcons, but he was OC'd for two years in Tennessee and then he was OC for two years in Pittsburgh on either side of being a head coach.

[Doug Lemarise]

Well, he was so good as an offense coordinator. They just like he got hired in two years after doing it like he was that offense.

[Bill Landis]

That offense in 2020 was cooking in Tennessee when they had Tannehill and A.J. brown and who's the guy? Corey Davis from Western Michigan and obviously Derrick Henry and John New Smith. Like, they were doing some stuff that I think, like, if you want to. If you want to get excited about the hire, like, go watch the 2020 Tennessee Titans offense. Yeah. And frankly, it's like, it's just like, you know, I, I guess this could be taken in a negative way, but like when Arthur Smith has had good players, his offense has been really good. I guess what he's going to have at Ohio State, good players. He's not working with a 48 year old quarterback like he was in Pittsburgh or Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ritter like he was in Atlanta. Like he's going to have premier athletes at his disposal. And when he's had that, his offenses have been excellent.

[Doug Lemarise]

And you know who I'm sure Ryan Day called. And if this guy's like, don't hire this guy. He might not have hired him, but I, I would imagine got the stamp of approval.

[Bill Landis]

Will Howard, Mike Frable.

[Doug Lemarise]

Like Frable like Rabel, who was the head coach when Arthur Smith was the coordinator at Tennessee.

[Bill Landis]

Yes.

[Doug Lemarise]

And is as loyal of a Buckeye as there is. If Ryan Day is like, hey man, like you were this guy's boss. What's the deal with this guy? Mike Vrabel wants to see Ohio State succeed. I think Mike Rabel, in my day, he doesn't. If, if he shot him, I mean, if, if he was like, I'm just telling you, man, I don't know, I don't think it would work. Then I'm not sure Arthur Smith would be here. And I know Mike Vrabel is getting ready to play the AFC Championship game, but I bet she takes that call when it's from the Ohio State head coaches about the Buckeyes. He's got 11 minutes in his car to talk about Arthur Smith.

[Bill Landis]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Doug Lemarise]

Did you ever think that they really were gonna stick with an internal hire? Like as this went along there, I think was our guy. Sam in the chat the other day was like, hey, if it was going to be like an internal promotion to oc, wouldn't have, they have, have, wouldn't they have done it by now? Which I was sort of thinking the whole time, it's like, well, if you're just gonna say, well, whatever, we're not hiring somebody, then you could, you already would have announced it. I assumed they'd land here and I would have been shocked if they didn't. If it would have been like, no, Ryan Day would have been like, no, I'm just gonna call it, I'll call it myself. We'll, we'll have two CO OCs, but I'll be the play caller. We'll get the next guy ready, whoever it is. I think that would have been potentially very iffy. Did you think it was a real possibility?

[Bill Landis]

Very, very small percentage. Like I guess I would say non zero. But like when I did my list, I, I listed Ryan Day and Keenan Bailey and Tyler Bowen and Billy Fessler just to like cover my own butt. I guess I was going through it because I really wanted the person who was going to be the next OC to be on that list. I'm still mad that or not. 35 names, man. It's bad that what this guy was on there. But no, no, I don't.

[Doug Lemarise]

Gainfully employed by a player at the time that you made the list. He was.

[Bill Landis]

I'm gonna go back and retroactively add his name to it so no one will be. Yeah, yeah, no, I, I, I just think like too much, too much was gained in, in 2024 by Ryan Day going down the path that he did that I, I just assumed he would, he would go back to that. Yeah. So I guess there's a chance like you know, just like really no one kind of fell through the NFL cycle that was appealing that, that like, like if it came down to like Ryan Day calling plays or Greg Roman calling plays, is Ryan Day going to call plays or he's going to give it to the hardball guy. Maybe that's what leads to Ryan Day calling plays. But like I think like he would have to exhaust almost every option of person who's called plays in the NFL before he got to that point. El Programa Nacional de bececas hace serde McDonald's a beneficiado mas de bieciente.

[Doug Lemarise]

And McDonald's Punto com jagonal a ser.

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[Doug Lemarise]

And I. So when I was making my list of these 24 people there I was noting throughout it there were either five or six that were on your original list. And I was like, like Landis was on this. There were six. And I gotta tell you man, like as I really started to get into this, Doug Peterson was looking pretty good.

[Bill Landis]

Good. Yeah.

[Doug Lemarise]

Peterson was looking pretty good.

[Bill Landis]

Yeah. So I Think that could have been one. I thought I, I thought maybe it would have ended up being Press Taylor.

[Doug Lemarise]

Taylor, which like, I didn't realize it until you put it in your article, but there was some stuff there that like really made me think that was possible too.

[Bill Landis]

Yeah. So Press Taylor I think is in Chicago right now. Right. But was Doug Peterson's offensive coordinator with the Jaguars. Was in Philly with Peterson prior to that.

[Doug Lemarise]

That.

[Bill Landis]

But back in the day when Ryan Day was in the NFL, Press was like a QC guy when Day was coaching the quarterbacks under Chip Kelly. So like, and I think Press Taylor's Inc. Might have, might have came up when the Ryan Day I was doing. When hired, when he hired Bill o', Brien, I think. Okay, so that was like, it was like I didn't pull that one out of left field. That was like I knew that connection existed, but I thought maybe I'm actually unsure if he's ever called plays in the NFL because he's always been under an offensive play calling head coach.

[Doug Lemarise]

I had him on my, I think he did. But anyway, yes, he definitely right. I, I, but he's, he's the past job. He has a job. He's the passing game coordinator in Chicago. So he's not Ben Johnson, the head coach calls the plays there. So you would have had to pull him out of something. Right. That it's like he would have to, he would have left an NFL paycheck to come to Ohio State.

[Bill Landis]

The other connection there is like with Brian. Ryan Day and Ben Johnson work together at Boston College. I have no idea if they're friends, but they work together for a year at Boston College.

[Doug Lemarise]

Yeah. You also know why I like Matt Nagy when I was starting to really get on the Matt Nagy train?

[Bill Landis]

Because he played for Delaware, former Columbus.

[Doug Lemarise]

Destroyers quarterback in the Arena Football League. I bet you this guy loves Columbus. I bet Matt Nagy loves Columbus. I think if the, if the announcement today was whatever, any of the existing offensive coaches have been promoted to co offensive coordinator, but Ryan Day is going to call the plays. How would you be feeling on behalf of Ohio State fans and how would you be thinking about this program today?

[Bill Landis]

Border. Borderline disastrous. Disastrous. Yeah. Like, and it's not Ryan Day, you know, got this job because he's a really good play caller. I just, I think it's difficult to wear that hat anymore when you're a head coach in college football. And, and I just don't, I don't think that would position Ohio State to be the best version of itself.

[Doug Lemarise]

And I would have thought like, okay, something like it worked doing this One thing in 2024, you tried something different 2025, like it didn't go exactly as you wanted it to because you didn't win the national title. And then you like reverted to your old ways. Well, let's go back to 2019 when I was calling the plays. Just like even that decision making, the result, the actual result of Ryan Day now is calling the plays. And he has a million other things to do. But the process that would have led him to, to that point, I would have worried about instead of, instead of acknowledging what worked and looking forward, he, he felt like he got bitten and, and is, is going back to what's comfortable, which is I, I, I know that I trust myself with that play sheet. So anyway, I think this is a win across the board for Ohio State, for Ohio State fans. And again, just think of if you, if you have, if you don't like this, just again, like, who is it that, that you would have wanted and is that a realistic person to get and if you have somebody that you think is a great play caller at a lower level, that certainly would have taken the Ohio State job and you, and you would that younger, innovative on the way up. Like, I get it, I get it. That's, that's a reasonable answer. But if you don't like it because you thought the Steelers offense wasn't very good this year, like, that's, I don't think that's the way to look at it. Right. That's, that's sort of not because this guy's, this guy's been successful and this guy was still in the mix. This guy had not been put out to pasture by the NFL by any stretch of the imagination. And that doesn't, that doesn't mean that he's going to be the best offensive coordinator in college football, but it means that Ohio State hired a guy who was still talking NFL teams and there are, there are not a ton of college teams that could do that. I don't, I was saying like 10, 12, 15. It might be two, it might be three. I, I don't even know be in this situation and be like, oh yeah, he only talked to the Eagles and the Titans and then he went to LSU and then he went to Texas and then he went to Michigan or he went to Oregon. Oregon lost their offensive coordinator and promoted a guy from within.

[Bill Landis]

I don't like, I like the, the teams that I think would seek out that, this profile. I like our Ohio State Georgia, I think Michigan under Harbaugh would have. It might be it. Because the other part is like one wanting it is one thing. Being able to attract that coach is another. Right. So yeah, probably, probably those three teams.

[Doug Lemarise]

Okay. All right. You already wrote about this. Bill and Doug osu.substack.com I have a great story that I'm gonna shove down the garbage disposal as soon as the show is over.

[Bill Landis]

I think there might be a way, I, I thought the way that you arrived at sort of that group of coaches was interesting. There might be a way for you to repackage that to save it, to color this higher a little differently.

[Doug Lemarise]

I really did. I really did think, I thought, I thought the guy was in that list of 24. I really did think that made sense. Right. That it's like someone who's called plays in the NFL and that's not. Again, you had, you had a bunch of guys who were on my list were on your list. Right. So like that's the thing, like we're thinking along those lines. And then they just, they got a guy who had other options. I think he had other options and he, and he chose Ohio State or Ohio State was able to woo him. So we'll continue to talk about this. We'll continue to write about this. Bill and Doug osu.substack.com We have a show planned for our Substack subscribers on Sunday. We call it the Sunday Sound Off. We take questions from them, we gather them all up, we do some Q A. We do that only for our subscribers. So if you subscribe to us on Substack, you get that written content, you get two extra shows, one or two extra shows a week. It's probably in the off season will be like six extra shows a month. I would guess six or seven. Probably won't have two shows every week, but at least one show for subscribers every week. And then we're going to continue to do a bunch of shows weekly here on this YouTube feed and here on this podcast channel. So if you're listening, if you're watching right now, we're grateful for it. Arthur Smith, new offensive coordinator for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Thanks to you guys for hanging out. He's Bill Landis, I'm Doug Lemarise and that was the Bill and Doug show.

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[Doug Lemarise]

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