Brian Hartline gives heartfelt answer on potentially leaving Ohio State

Known as a rising star in the football coaching profession, Ohio State wide receivers coach Brian Hartline has made one thing clear: It’d be hard for him to leave Columbus.

“This state’s my home,” Hartline told reporters Tuesday. “I have a strong passion here. I would say that I love it here. It’s a passion here. All I care about is this room and that’s my main focus, my forever focus, and outside of that … I think I would be lying if I’m looking outside of that.”

A former standout wide receiver at OSU who went on to play seven seasons in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns, Hartline – a North Canton, Ohio native – is in his fourth season as the Buckeyes’ receivers coach and his fifth overall at his alma mater.

Hartline’s receiving core has put up impressive numbers over the years, and he’s been able to recruit some high-caliber players to Ohio State, which is why his name is often brought up when coaching positions open – both at the college and NFL levels. Despite the talks, Hartline’s more than satisfied where he is.

“All I know is that I love Ohio State,” he said. “My wife’s from here, we’ve lived here, I love my house … it’d be really hard to leave. I don’t think that’s ever really in the books.”

Hartline is climbing the ladder

As many coaches start out small and work their way up in the coaching profession, Brian Hartline, now 34 years old, was able to kickstart his career at a prestigious program in OSU. He started out as a quality control coach in 2017, was promoted to interim wide receivers coach in 2018 and quickly had his interim tag removed after the Buckeyes’ receivers racked up 4,429 yards and 45 touchdowns on 310 receptions that season, which were all school records.

Is there a chance that Hartline would leave for a bigger job? Possibly. But he doesn’t think he could be anywhere better than Ohio State.

“I’m also not a person to sit up here and tell you that, ‘No, I’m never leaving Ohio State.’ I’m not saying that I ever will,” Hartline said. “And you say ‘go up the ladder’ … like, go where? This is the pinnacle of the ladder.”

A players-first type of coach, Hartline said he doesn’t even want to think about having to tell his receivers that he’s leaving for another job, so there’s a pretty good chance that he’ll stay put in Columbus for years to come.

“The conversations I have with my wife, we can’t imagine leaving the guys in the room,” Hartline said. “I can’t even, to this day – like it gives me chills – trying to walk in and tell them that I’m not going to be in the room anymore. That would be really hard to do. I don’t think I can do that. Never say never, but it almost chokes me up now. Low chance [I’ll leave].”