Replacing Chip Kelly was never going to be easy. Then again, his Ohio State tenure was always going to be short-lived and not a long-term solution. Kelly left UCLA to serve under his greatest protege on Ryan Day's Ohio State staff. This was probably done so that he could get more serious looks from the NFL as a play-caller. It took one year, but Kelly is off to the NFL by joining the Las Vegas Raiders staff.
Day had a tall task when it came to replacing Kelly. Rather than pursuing other candidates outside of the building, he effectively promoted wide receivers coach Brian Hartline from within. Hartline has long been one of the best position coaches in college football. He is a dynamite recruiter and projects to be a Power Four head coach one day. Hartline is just largely unproven as a play-caller.
Hartline had been the offensive coordinator in 2023 with Day serving as the play-caller that season. He served as the co-offensive coordinator last season with Kelly coming in last year. While Hartline may have an abundance of resources at his disposal, this is not a job where you learn on the fly. Either Day will look like a genius for going in this direction or all of Columbus will want to run him out of town.
There are three reasons why Day went in this direction, but I cannot say that this will be for the better.
Hartline is expected to handle offensive play-calling duties for the Buckeyes, according to a source. Head coach Ryan Day handed over play-calling to Kelly last season and will continue with that approach. https://t.co/GBSFbZYHzi
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) February 5, 2025
This is all about control for Day, while keeping Hartline on the Ohio State staff for as long as possible.
Ryan Day settles with Brian Hartline as Ohio State's next play-caller
Besides potentially making himself look good, Day probably went with this choice because he does not want to upset the apple cart. Hartline is an Ohio State grad and a former NFL receiver, most notably with the Miami Dolphins. Having him on staff for as long as possible is big on Ohio State being able to stay atop the college football world in perpetuity. Eventually, Hartline is going to leave.
To me, Hartline projects to be a head coach in the vein of former receivers coaches who were not really play-callers in Urban Meyer and Dabo Swinney. If Scott Satterfield fails at Cincinnati, Hartline is the first guy I would hire to replace him. Should Luke Fickell fail at Wisconsin, I would take a long, hard look at Hartline as well. The man is destined for greatness, but he needs to leave Columbus to get it.
The other big thing at play here is maybe the other potential candidates for the offensive coordinator role did not want to leave their current place of employment? Maybe Joe Moorhead does not want to stop being a head coach like Kelly did? Shannon Dawson may really like the vibes down in Miami. As for Will Stein, he does not seem long for Oregon. I would be shocked if he is not a head coach soon.
So that is probably why Hartline got the promotion of sorts in all this. Day wanted to give him the opportunity to prove himself. Doing so will make Day look good if it works out. He does have to realize that Hartline could leave his program like Kelly and Jim Knowles just did. While it may have been to Ohio State's benefit to actively pursue an outside candidate, this may have been the right choice.
For now, Day and Hartline will be under the microscope when it comes to the Ohio State offense.