Ohio State promoting Brian Hartline to offensive coordinator

Ohio State is expected to promote wide receivers coach Brian Hartline to offensive coordinator, multiple sources tell On3. The former Ohio State wide receiver has developed some of college football’s top wideouts in recent years, including Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka and Marvin Harrison Jr.

With Chip Kelly’s decision to return to the NFL and take the Las Vegas Raiders offensive coordinator job, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day was left to find a play caller, along with openings at offensive line and defensive coordinator.

Multiple sources also tell On3 that Ohio State is expected to hire Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen as its next offensive line coach and run game coordinator. It remains unclear if Hartline or Day will serve as the chief play caller for the Buckeyes in 2025.

Along with promoting Hartline, Billy Fessler is expected to be named Ohio State’s quarterbacks coach. He was an analyst on the 2024 national title team, spending most of his time with the quarterbacks. And he stepped into a recruiting role when Kelly and offensive line coach Justin Frye left for the NFL.

Hartline has been on the Ohio State staff since 2017 and was named wide receivers coach in 2019. He’s become known as one of the top recruiters in college football, helping land J.T. Tuimoloau and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, among others. Under Hartline, Jeremiah Smith finished his true freshman season with 1,315 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns.

Hartline held the offensive coordinator title in 2023 after Kevin Wilson left for Tulsa. But Day took over play-calling duties that season, deciding not to give Hartline the reins of the Ohio State offense offense.

Ohio State had a top-30 offense last season, averaging 429.4 yards per game. The Buckeyes also averaged 35.7 points per game. Day brought in his former coach, Kelly, to take over the offense in 2024 so the head coach could take a CEO approach to the operation.

Coming off the program’s first national championship in a decade, Ohio State will have a quarterback battle to sort out in the spring but return multiple pieces of its offense.