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“One pro coach, but the other two were head (college) coaches,” Smith said. “I had a couple more. One was out of coaching. I had a bigger list but it came down to three that I was comparing (Day) against.”
- Gene Smith, via Rob Oller of the Columbus Dispatch
Ohio State’s coaching search may have seemed a bit narrow to many fans, for good reason. We knew about the loss of former head coach Urban Meyer and the appointment of future head coach Ryan Day at the same time, and because of that quickness, as well as Day’s background, that there was no true search.
However, according to a report today from the Columbus Dispatch, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Gene Smith reportedly had a short list of at least three coaches, two college and one pro, in place if Ryan Day wasn’t interested in taking over for his former boss. Now, we don’t know who those coaches were, and probably will, but it’s fair to guess that Iowa State’s Matt Campbell was likely one of the options, and the others could’ve been any combination of Sean McVay, Mike Vrabel, Luke Fickell, Dino Babers or jeff Brohm, among others.
Regardless, Ohio State got their No. 1 guy, and seems to be delighted with the promotion of offensive mastermind Ryan Day.
“Look, we liked several quarterbacks over the course of the Big Ten season and as they say, the cream always rises to the top. Dwayne Haskins was the cream of the crop in the conference this season, setting Ohio State and Big Ten records in his path to the top grade at the position.”
- Cam Mellor, PFF
It feels like for much of the 2018 season, Pro Football Focus was playing some kind of joke on Dwayne Haskins, frequently snubbing him in their weekly Big Ten quarterback rankings for various scrubs from Wisconsin, Illinois, or whatever Big Ten West school that scored more than ten points that week.
They made amends for those oversights today though, as they named Haskins the Big Ten player of the year, thanks to his consistent excellence and incredible stretch over the past few games of the season. While Haskins may not take home the Heisman trophy tomorrow night, he’s still taking home awards elsewhere, deservedly so.
St. John Arena opens its doors for the 2018-19 season on Sunday (Dec. 9) when the second-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (3-0, 0-0 B1G) host No. 19 Wisconsin (6-0, 1-0 B1G) for a 4 p.m. ET dual.
- Ohio State Buckeyes dot com
In the only Ohio State event of the weekend, the wrestling team kicks off their home season on Sunday against a ranked Big Ten foe in Wisconsin. it should be a great test for the No. 2-ranked Buckeyes, as they look to capture a national title this season after coming so close last year.
It’ll be an individual test for a number of Buckeyes as well, as Joey McKenna (2nd in 141 class) takes on Tristan Moran (12th in 141 class), Micah Jordan (3rd in 149 class) takes on Cole Martin (18th in 149 class), Chase Singletary (14th in HWT class) takes on Trent Hillger (9th in HWT class) and either Ryan Ferro, Kaleb Romero or Fritz Schierl tries to upset Evan Wick (2nd in 165 class).
The Buckeyes also look to continue their dominance over the Wisconsin of the past two years, where they’ve outscored the Badgers 57-21. While it may not be a blowout like those were, Ohio State is expected to win the home opener.
Buckeyes in the NFL
It was a quiet Thursday night game for Buckeyes as the Titans crushed the Jaguars, 30-9, thanks to Derrick Henry’s huge night. Neither team has many Buckeyes to begin with, and Andrew Norwell’s injury paired with Carlos Hyde not seeing any playing time made it a completely Buckeye-less affair.