When asked whether offensive coordinator Brian Hartline and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia will coach on the field or in the press box during the Texas game, Ryan Day initially declined to share specifics.
“We’ve put all that stuff together, and Brian and Matt both feel like they have a good plan. I won’t get into exactly where everybody is because we have so staff here that I’ll forget some people,” Day said. “But no, I think we have a good plan. What we did on Saturday was we went into the stadium and kind of went through a mock game. In that mock game, everything up until when you get in the stadium, we did. We were in the locker room, we came out, we did the pregame warmups, we did quick cals, we went through the game, halftime, finished the game and went through the whole operation of TV timeouts. With a young team, I thought that was important.
“We sang Carmen Ohio, went into the locker room and sang the fight song and then that was it — just so everybody knows this is what the expectation is, talk through it, so that when they’re doing it on Saturday, it’s not for the first time. Part of that was having guys in the box and the communication.”
Following another half-dozen questions, a reporter asked Day to clarify where Hartline will be during the game on Saturday.
“He’ll be in the box,” Day said with a laugh. “He’ll be in the box.”
During his first stint as offensive coordinator in 2023, Hartline coached from the sidelines instead of the box. Day, who was still Ohio State’s lead play caller at the time, shared that Hartline benefited from being near the bench because it allowed him to make efficient substitutions when needed.
Hartline, now in his second stint as OC, will call plays for Ohio State’s offense this season. With his added responsibility, the 38-year-old has become an eye in the sky for quarterback Julian Sayin, who will wear the green dot and have helmet communication with Hartline during his first start for the Buckeyes.
