Replacing Herman
Kevin Noon
Managing Editor
The University of Houston still has not made an official statement about the hiring of
Tom Herman (upon the publishing of this article) but the handwriting is on the wall and the Buckeyes will be looking for a new assistant coach.
A lot of things will be up in the air for the time being, will Tom be calling plays for the Buckeyes for the Sugar Bowl? What if Ohio State gets to the Championship Game what then? What does this mean for
Ed Warinner in terms of being the other co-offensive coordinator?
We will have plenty of time to go through all of these steps in the coming days but people are curious who could be some of the names on the radar as Ohio State at worst is looking for a new quarterbacks coach? People were talking about
Chad Morris and
Mike Stoops well before anyone was talking about Herman and the Buckeyes.
With that being said, we are going to take a very preliminary look at a couple names that could make sense for the Buckeyes as
Urban Meyer looks to fill a vacancy on the offensive side of the ball, his first since having to replace Bill Sheridan only days after he accepted the job.
Brian Johnson
QB Coach
Mississippi State
Utah - 2008 Johnson knows Meyer well as a former quarterback under Meyer at Utah in 2004. Johnson spent the majority of his career with the Utes before joining Dan Mullen's staff in Starkville (Miss.) last season. Johnson worked closely with one-time Heisman candidate
Dak Prescott. Johnson's track record has not been consistent but honestly has not had the keys to a car like the Ohio State offense in his career to date.
Lincoln Riley
Off. Coord./QB Coach
East Carolina
Texas Tech - 2006 Riley is one of the hottest names making the rounds right now and is being looked at by Kentucky among other schools. Riley learned his craft at Texas Tech and the high powered offense of the Red Raiders and it of course would keep the state of Texas open (to a point) to the Buckeyes as a recruiting ground but could Riley learn to incorporate enough of a running game to fit the needs of the conference game and the roster?
Mike Sanford
Off. Coord./QB Coach
Boise State
Boise State - 2005 Sanford is very young in terms of coaching chops and has no ties to the state of Ohio but has ties to Meyer with Sanford's father, Mike Sr., being Meyer's former OC at Utah. The former BSU player spent three years at Stanford before returning home to the Broncos and is known as a dynamic recruiter. Sanford has had one job within the region in 2010 with Western Kentucky before joining the Cardinal.
Kurt Roper
Off. Coord.
Florida
Rice - 1995 Reports are that Roper will not be retained in Gainesville (Fla.) by the new regime and Roper now comes out of the wash looking for work. The Florida offense was pretty bad this year but there were not many playmakers to be found on the roster and this is more of a case of weak personnel over weak coaching. Roper's coaching stops have been throughout the SEC and ACC and would give the Buckeyes more presence within the region.
Jason Candle
Off. Coord./QB Coach
Toledo
Mount Union - 2003 You always have to have an in-state guy on the list and Candle fits that need. The former Mt. Union OC saw his team go 29-1 in his two seasons in the position. Candle has moved up the chain of command at Toledo and 2014 was his first year with the QBs and has held the OC title since 2012. Is Candle good enough with QBs however to take on this job as the Buckeyes will need someone to fill Herman's role as developer of quarterbacks? Candle may be a long shot for that reason.
- See more at:
https://ohiostate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1715847#sthash.BSaJhBaf.dpuf
