Brian Hartline is one of college football's most likable outgoing personalities.
That made him the perfect candidate to appear on "Bussin' With the Boys," a Barstool Sports podcast hosted by former Nebraska linebacker Will Compton and former Michigan offensive lineman Taylor Lewan.
In the 30-minute episode, Compton and Lewan asked Hartline a litany of questions about his life inside and outside of football, namely requesting the Buckeyes' offensive coordinator to discuss his desire to coach in the NFL in the future, to explain how he got into the coaching profession and to rank the top-five wide receivers he's coached at Ohio State.
Here is what Hartline had to say about all of those topics:
Hartline's Career Ambitions Involve the NFL, Top CFB Program
Since he became a part of Ohio State's coaching staff, Hartline's ascension up the coaching ladder has been impressive.
A quality control coach in 2017, Hartline was the Buckeyes' interim wide receivers coach in 2018 and has held the full-time title since 2019. Last season, he was promoted to passing game coordinator. Before this season, he was promoted once more to offensive coordinator after Kevin Wilson's departure to become the head coach at Tulsa.
As Hartline climbs the ranks, many have wondered what his career ambitions are as a football coach. When Compton and Lewan asked Hartline to name them, he told the podcast hosts that he hopes to become an NFL coach in the future.
"In my soul, I'm an NFL guy," Hartline said. "I love the NFL. I think it is the All-Star League of college football. I don't care where you're from – what school, small or big – it's full of the best players in the world. There are no better players. I love that. I love that the degree of separation is so small."
Still, for any Ohio State fan whose heart stopped as they read the previous quote, Hartline said that dream remains a dream for now. He's fully committed to the Buckeyes and will always have a deep affection for his alma mater.
“My heart's in the NFL. I think one day I want to coach there, and that's the reality of it.”– Brian Hartline
"I love my alma mater at Ohio State," Hartline said. "My heart's in the NFL. I think one day I'd want to coach there, and that's the reality of it. When? I don't know. My in-laws are here, and my wife's from Columbus. There's a big foundation that's been built here. I love coaching the receivers. When I started, I was like, 'I'll be the receivers coach for the next 15 to 20 years. Leave me alone. I'm good.' But then that grows.
"I love building the receivers room. I love it. That was an awesome opportunity, choosing and developing it. I’d love to do that on a team. I'd love to be a head coach and try to do that on a team, not just in one position. I'm kind of doing that now but just offensively, but I like dealing with people and building a team, whether that's a staff or with individual players. Where does that end up? I couldn't tell you."
Hartline also said he would be open to a head coaching position at another program, with the caveat that the team has a legitimate chance of winning a national title, something he always wanted to accomplish as a player and is still looking to achieve as a coach.
"I want to be able to win a national championship," Hartline said. "It would have to be a top program that paints that vision, that it can get done there. It's that or the NFL. For me, all the marbles have to be on the table. It has to be the pinnacle, or I may not have as much interest. If the pinnacle is not an option – a Super Bowl or a national championship – that's hard for me. I want all the marbles on the table."
Hartline Reveals How He Started Coaching At Ohio State
Believe it or not, Hartline almost never coached at Ohio State.
After his seven-year NFL career with the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns, in which he collected 344 receptions for 4,766 yards and 14 touchdowns, Hartline returned to Central Ohio to start his early retirement life in 2016. It wasn't until his brother, Mike Hartline, an assistant for Ohio State that year, asked him about a possible return to his alma mater that the Buckeyes were even on his radar.
"I was living back in Columbus. My brother was coaching off the field for Coach (Urban) Meyer. There was a fad there for a little bit where former players would come back on the scout team," Hartline said. "They kind of nixed that, but I remember when Clemson had some players doing it, they talked me into doing it, Bobby Carpenter was doing it, one of the linebackers here. ... We had some guys come back, and my brother talked me into it."
After a few trips to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center to work with the Buckeyes' offense, specifically its wide receivers, Hartline said former Ohio State defensive coordinator and current Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano noticed his calculated and organized instruction of players like Terry McLaurin and Parris Campbell, among others.
A quality control coach in 2017, Hartline was the Buckeyes' interim wide receivers coach in 2018 and has held the full-time title since 2019. Last season, he was promoted to passing game coordinator and was promoted to offensive coordinator for Ohio State before this next season.
"While I was here, I was coaching up Terry McLaurin, Parris Campbell and some of the guys," Hartline said. "I think Coach Schiano, our DC at the time, kind of got wind of that as I was over there and said, 'Hey, I think you gotta hire Coach Hart.' I heard this after the fact. But Coach Meyer was like, 'Hey, I'd love to have you as a coach,' and I was like, "Absolutely not. I appreciate the offer, but that's not happening.' That was during bowl prep in 2016."
However, as time continued, Hartline said the idea of coaching became more prominent in his mind. No longer a football player, he craved competition. He wanted to win. Hartline's brief time spent after his NCAA and NFL careers ended allowed him to "recharge his batteries" after feeling "burnt out" from the sport after playing it for over two decades.
When Hartline and Meyer reconnected before spring practices leading into the 2017 season, he took the former Ohio State head coach up on his offer. He became a quality control coach for the Buckeyes.
"We reconnected in February before spring ball in 2017, and he gave me the opportunity again," Hartline said. "I just kind of felt like God was giving me a chance to right a wrong. I didn't have much going on at the time. I was like, 'Man, I'm living up the street. Let's see what this coaching thing is all about.' I've never left since. But that's how it happened."
Hartline Ranks Top-Five Receivers He's Coached
Hartline has a reputation in college football circles as the best wide receivers coach in college football, and for a good reason. Since he started coaching at Ohio State in 2017, Hartline has climbed the coaching ladder at a historic pace – more on that in a second – thanks to his next-level recruiting and development of wide receivers.
That begs the question: Who is the best receiver Hartline has coached in the last five seasons?
"I would say Marvin (Harrison Jr.) right now," he said. "NFL makeup, NFL prototype. Marvin is an NFL prototype."
Brian Hartline recruited Marvin Harrison Jr. from St. Joseph's Prep in Philadelphia. In his two seasons at Ohio State, Harrison has collected 88 receptions for 1,402 yards and 17 touchdowns. In 2022, Harrison was named a unanimous All-American and a finalist for the Bilenikoff Award.
But Hartline didn't stop his list at Harrison. In fact, he went on to name four more Ohio State receivers that stood out among the rest during his tenure with the Buckeyes. The next name Hartline listed was the record-breaking Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who he felt comfortable ranking second thanks to Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson saying he is better than them.
"The only reason why I feel comfortable saying that is because Chris and Garrett chose him as well," Hartline said.
After Smith-Njigba, Hartline rounded out his top five with Wilson, Terry McLaurin and Olave. He warranted their positions based on their time at Ohio State and in the NFL, considering Wilson's NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award from this past season on the New York Jets, McLaurin's consistency in Washington despite poor quarterback play and Olave's smooth-natured play and impressive production.
Ultimately, Hartline said his decision to put McLaurin ahead of Olave was based on a "coin flip." He offered McLaurin the nod because of his NFL experience, which Olave hasn't had the chance to prove as he enters only his second season in the league.
"That's worth its weight in gold," Hartline said of McLaurin's longevity at the next level. "A guy doing it one year is one thing — and Chris knows how much I love him — but you're talking about an elite group of dudes there. It's easy to do it once, but it's really hard to do it two, three, four and five (times)."
Hartline Discusses Other Miscellaneous Topics
Beyond his list of the top-five receivers he's coached at Ohio State, how he returned to the Buckeyes as a coach and his aspirations to be at a top college football program or in the NFL in the future, Hartline discussed several other topics with Compton and Lewan. Those topics, as listed below with timestamps, included:
