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Texas' coaching continuity gives the Longhorns one advantage ahead of 2025 matchup with Ohio State

Joe Cookby:Joe Cook•about 9 hours•

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Ryan Day, Steve Sarkisian
Ryan Day, Steve Sarkisian (Sara Diggins/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

The Ohio State offense called by Chip Kelly and the Buckeye defense coordinated by Jim Knowles elevated OSU’s play over the course of the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff, helping Ohio State win its first national championship since the 2014 season. Texas should know how effective the Buckeyes were under their two star coordinators, as they called plays that pushed Ohio State past the Longhorns in the CFP semifinals at the Cotton Bowl.

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Ahead of the rematch of the two programs in week one of the 2025 season, the Longhorn coaches will be able to draw valuable information from their previous matchup because every single assistant coach along with head coach Steve Sarkisian is returning for next season. That’s continuity that Ohio State won’t have, as Kelly elected to take the offensive coordinator role with the Las Vegas Raiders and Knowles spurned offers from Ohio State and Oklahoma to go to Penn State.

Both teams will see major personnel changes, as the Longhorns lose frontline stars like Quinn Ewers, Kelvin Banks, Matthew Golden, Gunnar Helm, Alfred Collins, Vernon Broughton, Jahdae Barron, and Andrew Mukuba, among other experienced members the Longhorns’ 13-3 team. The Buckeyes aren’t immune to losses either as Emeka Egbuka, Jack Sawyer, JT Tuimoloau, Will Howard, TreVeyon Henderson, and several others are on their way to the NFL draft. Those losses won’t be easily absorbed, but both teams have such lofty recruiting results over the past few years that the players waiting in the wings are certainly talented. Plus, both teams are regular participants in pursuit of high-end portal prospects.

But it’s hard to say that whoever replaces Kelly at offensive coordinator, even if it’s head coach Ryan Day himself as the play-caller, will bring the same amount of acumen to the 2025 Buckeyes. Similar applies to Knowles, whose defense in 2024 was arguably a step above Texas’ elite crew.

The losses in Columbus aren’t limited to the coordinator level. Offensive line coach Justin Frye recently left the Buckeyes for the Arizona Cardinals. And while Day and longtime assistants Larry Johnson and Brian Hartline remain, the Longhorn staff they’ll be coaching against will be the exact same as the one they faced off with in Arlington in the Cotton Bowl.

Texas returns offensive coordinator Kyle Flood, defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, and special teams coordinator Jeff Banks for their fifth season together under Sarkisian. Also returning are assistants Terry Joseph, Tashard Choice, Blake Gideon, Johnny Nansen, Chris Jackson, AJ Milwee, and Kenny Baker.

Texas will have the same staff for a second consecutive season.

That’s yet to happen in Sarkisian’s time in Austin.

A program of Ohio State’s stature is sure to attract elite coaching candidates. They will pay those coaches good money, too. Knowles was rumored to have turned down an offer from Ohio State similar to the one he accepted from Penn State. Plus, Day’s star may be at its brightest now that he has a national championship to his name.

But no matter who the Buckeyes bring in for their coordinators, fresh faces will be roaming the halls of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. The same faces who led the 2024 Longhorns will be roaming the halls of the Moncrief-Neuhaus Athletic Center in Austin.

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Texas will have continuity in coaching the Buckeyes cannot claim, a decent advantage ahead of a potential matchup between the top two teams in the nation on August 31.

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