Buckeyes part ways with special teams coordinator Parker Fleming
COLUMBUS — Ohio State suffered from special teams blunders all season.
Ryan Day decided he has seen enough to make changes to his Buckeyes coaching staff.
The Buckeyes parted ways with special teams coach Parker Fleming on Wednesday, three years after Fleming was promoted following three seasons as a quality control coach with the program.
No replacement has been announced, but Day now has an assistant coaching spot to fill.
Ohio State struggled through special teams errors all season, including in the loss to Michigan to end the regular season. The Buckeyes had short punts and a special teams penalty in that game. Last season, Ohio State had a miscommunicated fake punt that wasn’t ran in that loss to Michigan and a fake punt gone wrong in the loss to Georgia in the College Football Playoff.
Even with those errors a season ago, the Buckeyes decided to extend Fleming’s contract and give him a raise, boosting his salary to $500,000. But the issues in that phase continued into this season, as noted above.
Fleming has been under the microscope since last year, and the issues persisted, most notably with a miscommunication on a fake punt in early November against Rutgers that handed the Scarlet Knights good field position in a tight first half.
“There are a lot of plays that we wish we had back for one reason or another,” Fleming said earlier this month. “There’s some we’re really excited and happy with. Obviously, you can probably point to a bunch of individual plays, that, you know, we wish we had done slightly differently in one way or another, and those are probably warranted. … Ultimately, the special teams, our job is to put our team in the best position to win. And like I said, there’s some spots that we have not done that. Clearly.”
Day stuck with Fleming for the rest of the regular season. The head coach believed his special teams coach could still make an impact for the Buckeyes.
“I watch Parker every day and see the way that he coaches,” Day said in November. “I think he’s a great teacher and a great coach. I can just tell you that he works as hard as anybody in the building. But we’re all being evaluated every time we’re out there. It’s everybody that’s involved in special teams, the coordinator, although he’s ultimately in charge and I’m ultimately in charge.
“You can put it back on me.”
Day is taking matters into his own hands and putting it back on himself.
After three seasons as the special teams coordinator, Parker Fleming is on his way out of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
And the turnover on the Buckeyes coaching staff is still ongoing.
This is a breaking news story. Lettermen Row will have full coverage of the Buckeyes and their coaching staff moves this offseason.
