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Ohio State is in the market for a defensive coordinator.
A week after the Buckeyes captured their first national championship in a decade, they saw Jim Knowles leave to become the defensive coordinator at Penn State.
The departure of Knowles brought them fully into the offseason, leaving coach Ryan Day to retool his staff.
As Day looks to hire his fourth defensive coordinator in seven seasons, here are potential candidates to replace Knowles.
Ohio State Buckeyes safeties coach Matt Guerrieri talks to players during a timeout in the NCAA football game against the Michigan Wolverines at Ohio Stadium in Columbus on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. Michigan won 13-10.
Potential candidates to replace Jim Knowles
Matt Guerrieri
Among in-house candidates, no one is as familiar with Knowles’ defense as Guerrieri, the Buckeyes’ safeties coach who began working with him as a graduate assistant. He was also the co-defensive coordinator at Duke in 2018-21 and Indiana in 2023. During a championship celebration on Sunday, Day described the 35-year-old assistant as “one of the brightest minds in college football and a star in the making.” His elevation would offer continuity, allowing them to keep a system Knowles installed three years ago.
Aug 8, 2024; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes secondary/cornerbacks coach Tim Walton watches during football practice at the Woody Hayes Athletic Complex.
Tim Walton
Another assistant with coordinator experience is Walton, the secondary coach who has coached the Buckeyes’ cornerbacks since 2022. It’s been more than a decade since he ran a defense, though. Walton was last a defensive coordinator in the NFL in 2013 with the St. Louis Rams and also at Memphis in 2008 and Miami in 2007. He’s been a position coach for 26 out of his last 29 years in coaching.
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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/8-potential-ohio-state-football-183855835.html
Author : The Columbus Dispatch
Publish date : 2025-01-27 18:38:00
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