COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State football coach Ryan Day’s firing of special teams coordinator Parker Fleming gives him a chance to reconfigure the balance of his staff.
That vacant position will almost certainly now be used on a defensive coach, after three years of a 6-4 split favoring coaches with offensive backgrounds. Many programs put special teams oversight on the plate of one of the position coaches. Day did that with Matt Barnes on his first staff in 2019.
However, Day has two options for filling that position, both of which have merit. Both have an added benefit for recruiting.
Day could simply promote James Laurinaitis to linebacker coach. Last year, the former Buckeye All-American and career NFL linebacker began acting as a graduate assistant in that position group.
Laurinaitis has already had an impact on recruiting, albeit as a GA, he is not permitted to do so off-campus. This promotion would allow him to do all of the tasks of an assistant while also taking his on-campus and phone connections with him on the road.
It would also relieve defensive coordinator Jim Knowles of linebacker coaching duties, allowing him to focus on becoming, as Day put it, the defense’s head coach.
Leave a Reply