It was just over two years ago that Urban Meyer retired at Ohio State and handed the keys of the program to Ryan Day. Day was able to keep the nucleus of the Buckeyes staff together, which has undoubtedly led to their sustained success through the transition from Meyer to Day.
But with Urban headed to take over the Jacksonville Jaguars, what does that mean for some of the key members of the Buckeyes staff, many of which were brought to Columbus by Meyer?
Well Bill Rabinowitz shares that he has been told that Urban's right hand man, Ohio State assistant athletic director for football sports performance Mickey Marotti is expected to stay in Columbus.
Meanwhile, the report adds that director of player personnel Mark Pantoni and director of player development Ryan Stamper "appear to be less certain," and could be in play for the Jags. Both Pantoni and Marotti previously worked with Meyer at Florida, and are considered to be among Meyer's "core four" that we have mentioned previously, and Stamper played for the Gators under Meyer before he was brought to Columbus to join the Buckeyes staff.
Rabinowitz adds that the Buckeye position coaches that could join Meyer include Kerry Coombs (DC / secondary), Greg Mattison (co-DC / SAM linebackers), Corey Dennis (QBs) and Brian Hartline (WRs).
Coombs previously coached in the NFL with the Titans under Mike Vrabel for a season, working with the secondary before coming back to Ohio State as the defensive play caller for Day. Dennis is Meyer's son-in-law and while he is a well respected up and coming young coach, he has just one year of on-field coaching experience, and Hartline spent a number of years in the NFL with the Dolphins as a receiver before working his way into the wide receivers role and has quickly built a name for himself developing talent and on the recruiting trail.
It is going to be really interesting to see the type of talent Meyer assembles for a staff in Jacksonville, and who Ryan Day may have to face replacing.
We will have some more information to share on this front in the coming days.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.