After just one season directing the Ohio State offense, Chip Kelly left for the NFL. Shortly before he left, offensive line coach Justin Frye earned an opportunity with the Arizona Cardinals. With these two departures, Ryan Day had to fill three positions (Kelly was also the quarterbacks coach). Day has done well in his time as the Buckeyes’ head coach at replacing coaches. Now, his work has been cut out for him as the team works to defend its National Championship.
Ohio State Offensive Staff Complete Before Spring Practice
Fessler Gets to Develop the Five-Star Quarterbacks
The Ohio State quarterback room is expected to have a pair of uber-talented, five-star athletes in Julian Sayin and Tavien St. Clair battling with Lincoln Kienholz to be the next starter. With Kelly headed to the Las Vegas Raiders, Day has elected to promote Billy Fessler from his offensive analyst role. Last year, Fessler worked closely with Kelly and Day with the quarterbacks and had a hand in Will Howard‘s impressive career season.
Fessler played at Penn State from 2014 through 2017. He was later a graduate assistant for the Buckeyes in 2020 and 2021. Fessler left to be the quarterbacks coach for Akron in 2022 and was promoted to be the Zips’ offensive coordinator in 2023. He left Akron to be the quarterbacks coach at UCLA in 2024 but ended up following Kelly to Columbus when he made the move.
Fessler is widely considered to be an up-and-coming young coach and was named to 247Sports‘ “30 coaches under 30.” The 29-year-old coach was commended by Howard in his farewell address. He asserted, “Billy Fessler is one of the guys that doesn’t get a lot of credit, too; he did an unbelievable job developing me this year.”
Kelly thought highly of the young analyst and it seems Day does as well. Fessler’s first job will be to help set up Sayin, Kienholz, or St. Clair to be the guy to get Ohio State back on top.
Another P4 Poaching
Last year, it was the talk of the town that Kelly came over to be offensive coordinator after being the head coach of UCLA. This year, Day was able to pry an ACC offensive coordinator away to become the new offensive line coach.
35-year-old Tyler Bowen left Virginia Tech to take over the trenches after Frye’s departure. Already, Bowen is well-traveled. After spending three years with Maryland as a student/graduate assistant, Bowen was hired as tight ends coach for Towsen for the 2013 season. In 2014, he was a graduate assistant at Penn State before heading back to Towson to be its offensive line coach in 2015 and 2016. He picked up the offensive coordinator role in the second season with the Tigers. Bowen left for Maryland to be the Terrapins’ offensive line coach for the 2017 season before heading back to Penn State for four years.
In 2021, Bowen joined Urban Meyer’s staff as tight ends coach before landing with Virginia Tech.
An area of Frye’s performance that drew the most ire from fans was his recruiting. Ohio State often missed out on the top recruits on the trail. Considering the Buckeyes’ two best linemen this year were transfers, it makes sense. However, Bowen could be a step up from Frye. For example, he was responsible for Penn State getting Tyler Warren. He has an eye for the diamonds in the rough which could be a massive get for the Buckeyes. It seems the program’s NIL allocation is not focused on the trenches, so that’ll help.
Bowen will have to rebuild the offensive line with four players leaving for the NFL and a pair of bookend tackles on their way via the transfer portal. He will also be taking over the run game coordinator role.
Deja Vu All Over Again
Following the 2022 season, Day decided that he was going to take a step back and give Brian Hartline the reins to the offense. Then, in the weeks leading up to the 2023 season, Day took the reigns back but allowed Hartline to keep the title. After the 2023 season, Day hired Bill O’Brien to be co-offensive coordinator. Then, he hired Kelly after O’Brien bolted for Boston College. In all that time, Hartline retained the title of co-offensive coordinator. However, in all that time, he never called plays.
Now, Day has gone back to Hartline and named him the sole offensive coordinator ahead of the 2025 season.
Hartline’s chops in recruiting and developing wide receiver talent are unmatched. Since taking over as the wide receivers coach in 2018, Hartline has brought in six five-star receivers and 19 four-stars (including the 2025 class). Plus, two more four-star receivers are pledged to the Buckeyes in 2026. Seven of his receivers were drafted with four first-round picks over the last three NFL Drafts.
There is no denying that Hartline is another hot commodity in the coaching realm. If he has upward mobility on his mind, calling plays will have to be checked off the list. Normally, Ohio State is not the place to be learning on the job. Day’s first head coaching job was at Ohio State. Now, Hartline’s first shot at calling plays will be at Ohio State.
The question will remain will Day give Hartline the freedom to call plays? He’s been learning from Day and Kelly over the last two seasons (at the very least). He had to have absorbed some of the philosophies. There is one safe bet, however. Hartline is going to call an offense that gives his receivers the best possible chance at success.
Main Photo: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
The post Ryan Day Rounds Out the Ohio State Offensive Staff for 2025 appeared first on Last Word on College Football.