OC HIRED
Ohio State hires former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith as its next OC.
Ohio State is hiring a former NFL head coach and offensive coordinator as its new OC.
Arthur Smith, who was the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive coordinator for the past two years after three seasons as the Atlanta Falcons’ head coach, will be Ohio State’s new offensive coordinator for the 2026 season, according to multiple reports.
Sources: #Steelers OC Arthur Smith is expected to become the next offensive coordinator at Ohio State.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 24, 2026
Smith has received multiple requests for NFL HC and OC interviews this cycle. Smith has engineered multiple top 10 offenses in the NFL, and now he lands in college. pic.twitter.com/TKlLEdwlmh
Smith replaces Brian Hartline, who’s now the head coach at South Florida, as Ohio State’s offensive play caller.
According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, Smith also had conversations with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles and Tennessee Titans about their offensive coordinator openings, but chose to take the Ohio State job instead.
Smith becomes the second former NFL head coach on Ohio State’s staff, joining second-year defensive coordinator Matt Patricia. It’s the second time in three years that Ohio State will have a former NFL head coach leading its offense, as Chip Kelly was OSU’s offensive coordinator in 2024 before he left to become the Las Vegas Raiders’ offensive coordinator; Kelly only held for that job for 11 games, but is now the offensive coordinator at Northwestern.
Smith’s tenure in Pittsburgh was largely met with criticism from Steelers fans, as the Steelers ranked just 25th in total offense in 2025 and 23rd in total offense in 2024. He was far more successful, however, in his previous tenure as the Tennessee Titans’ offensive coordinator; the Titans’ offense ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in both of his seasons at the helm, finishing third in total offense and fourth in scoring offense in 2020.
That led to Smith becoming the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, a role he held from 2021-23. The Falcons went 7-10 in each of his three seasons as head coach.
While Smith has never been a full-time coach at the collegiate level – he was a graduate assistant at his alma mater North Carolina in 2006, and a defensive intern/administrative assistant at Ole Miss in 2010 – Ryan Day coveted a veteran offensive play caller with NFL experience to lead the offense. With Cortez Hankton replacing Hartline as wide receivers coach and Ohio State’s other nine assistant coaches from last season slated to return in 2026, Smith is not expected to be one of Ohio State’s 10 assistants who go out on the road as recruiters.
Smith, the son of FedEx founder Fred Smith, was an offensive lineman at North Carolina from 2001-05. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Smith is 43 years old.
