Veteran Coach Todd Fitch Joining Ohio State's Coaching Staff As Offensive Analyst

Todd Fitch is coming to Ohio State as an offensive analyst, joining defensive analyst Paul Rhoads who was also recently hired, according to Ohio State's staff directory. Fitch is listed as a quality control coach for offense.

Like Rhoads, Fitch will bring more than 30 years of coaching experience to Columbus.

Fitch has nearly two decades of experience as an offensive coordinator, most recently at Vanderbilt, where he finished the 2020 season as interim head coach following Derek Mason's firing. Fitch was previously the offensive coordinator at Connecticut (1996-98), East Carolina (2007-09), South Florida (2010-12), Boston College (2015) and Louisiana Tech (2016-17), while he's also been a quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers coach at various stops.

Fitch, who grew up in Bellaire, Ohio, and played at Ohio Wesleyan, worked alongside Day at Boston College in 2013 and 2014 when Day was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach and Fitch was the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator.

Not until this offseason has Day gotten serious about adding veteran coaches as analysts. Unlike Nick Saban, who has used this practice for years at Alabama, it hasn't been commonplace at Ohio State. Day said last week, however, that he was looking into the possibility, and has now decided to add two veteran analysts to assist the full-time coaching staff.

“It’s something that I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about,” Day said when asked about potentially hiring analysts on Feb. 3. “Every program is different. You have to do what’s right for your program. And now that I’m going into year three, taking a hard look at that, and seeing if there are some people around who would be the right fit.”

Like Rhoads, Fitch's duties as an analyst will center on scouting and game planning. He's not allowed to be an on-field coach.