OT - OSU's Kerry Coombs (CB/STC) promoted to "Asst. Defensive Coordinator"
There were a lot of rumors months ago that Kerry Coombs, a Cincinnati native and former HC of local high school powerhouse Colerain, was going to follow Luke Fickell to Cincinnati as DC. UC fans were disappointed to learn that Coombs would instead be staying at Ohio State:
Great news! My rt-hand man, Kerry Coombs, is a Buckeye! In add to coordinating the SPT, he will have an expanded coordinating role on our D
— Urban Meyer (@OSUCoachMeyer) December 10, 2016
I was personally hopeful for the move to UC due to Coombs's connection to the program and his recent success as OSU's CB coach (Bradley Roby, Eli Apple, Marshon Lattimore and Gareon Conley). In any case, it looks like Coombs has increased responsibility for the whole secondary now, but Greg Schiano remains the sole DC and playcaller.
Edit: Salary-wise, seems like Coombs made a smart decision. The raise puts him at $500,000/year vs. UC's last DC's salary of $340,000/year.
excellent recruiter --- super high energy guy. Not really overly strong at the Xs and Os, IMO. But he's brought it his entire career from a salesmanship and energy POV. (yes, he was recrutiing at Colerain).
If Coombs DID replace Schiano at some point - I'd view that as a good thing for non-OSU fans.
As a Bearcats fan (2nd favorite team), I was disappointed that he didn't go to Cincinnati. Would have brought a lot of energy to that program. Coombs is still only 54 years old (his hair went white VERY early), so he's got awhile in the business yet. I'm not overly high on Fickell's potential at UC.
The Bearcats as also my 2nd favorite team, and I have the opposite viewpoint on Fickell. I think Fickell's potential is decent.
Fickell is already recruiting at UC on a vastly higher level than Tuberville, and just as well as Brian Kelly and Butch Jones at their peak. Fickell was also known for having a fantastic eye for "hidden talent" at Ohio State because he was the primiary recruiter for a lot of their lower-rated recruits that ended up being star players (Ex: Darron Lee, Malik Hooker, Pat Elflein).
As a coach, I feel like Fickell was unfairly crucified for the 2011 season as interim HC. Fickell was given 3 months to prepare to be head coach after a major scandal and player attrition. Plus, Fickell didn't have a chance to hire his own staff, and had to defer to OC Jim Bollman to run the offense. The one coaching hire that Fickell made that year was Mike Vrabel who has risen to be a NFL DC with 6 seasons as a coach.
As a defensive mind, Fickell has led to some of the best defenses and LB corp in Ohio State's history. The only years where the defense underperformed while Fickell was DC was 2012-2013, and I think it is telling that Urban chose to let go of co-DC Everett Withers instead of Fickell.
"Asst. (to the) Defensive Coordinator"
Even if he left it wouldn't have mattered. Not much anyway. Meyer would find someone to get that unit continually performing at a high level. Sure, there may have been a slight drop-off, but it wouldn't have been enough to really notice.
Since 2012, Coombs has had 6 (maybe 7?) starting cornerbacks, and 4 of them ended up being 1st round draft picks with a 5th (Doran Grant) getting drafted in the 4th round.
That's a pretty high bar to replicate for any CB coach.
When he was a high school head coach every summer he hosted a camp open city wide; I could listen to that dude talk about football all day.
Cant believe schiano, a former nfl head coach is satisfied being a dc at the college level.
Schiano said he got offered a few HC positions this past offseason, but turned them down.
Schiano said didn't want his twin sons to go to a 3rd high school in 3 years, and his wife was really happy in Columbus. Plus, Schiano said this was the happiest he has been as a coach since he was the DC for the Miami Hurricanes in 1999-2000. He had forgotten what it was like to only have to worry about coaching up his "kids," instead of stressing about every single detail as the HC, but that doesn't mean he won't go back to being a head coach, it was just a nice break.
This will probably be the last year that Schiano stays as OSU's DC. Urban Meyer asks all of his asst. coaches for a "gentlemen's agreement" of a 2-year committment from both sides. That is why Meyer gave former OC Tim Beck 2 seasons before canning him even though Beck squander the offensive talents of the 2015 Buckeyes. Plus, both of Schiano's sons are graduating.
If you've got talent in recruiting, you have to figure out ways to retain it.
Smart on Meyer's part, I hope Harbaugh is looking to get creative to retain Partridge when the time comes.