Hiring Hartline

1 strike, 2 strikes, 3 stri….(foul ball?), 3 stri….(another foul ball?) how many foul balls before strike 3 or a home run for Ryan day against TTUN? How many years away are the Buckeyes from tasting the sweet nectar of defeat against their ultimate foe? If not this Michigan team then what Michigan team will they beat? Talented upon talented players and careers have been squandered at the hands of Ryan Day at the helm against Michigan. A magnificent coach record wise….except when it’s time to play in the biggest games. There is only one answer Buckeye fans, and he’s within reach…not even a phone call away.

Presenting (cue the lights): Brian Jack Hartline.

Buckeye fans want one thing in this life. And that’s to beat TTUN. It’s more than a national championship, for some it’s a way of life, for Woody it was everything. For Urban Meyer, his greatest fear was to lose The Game. For Jim Tressel, he led the charge of the new millennium ascendancy that fueled his famous quote “to live long enough to go above .500 so that I can go to sleep happy.” Three legendary coaches. Coaches Michigan fans see now only in their nightmares. Coaches that created a culture of dominance and supremacy. Coaches that were Ohio made. Coaches like Brian Hartline.

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1. Homegrown Advantage

Ohio born coaches: 32-12-1

Non Ohio born: 8-18-1

This is not a coincidence. The Game is in the blood of an Ohioan. It’s history, it’s toxic, it’s beautiful, it’s visceral, it’s volatile, it’s poetic. It’s not something you want but you get. Whether you’re a fan of football or not, it is inescapable to trudge the state without dancing upon a conversation, a game, or a dispute in regard to the greatest rivalry in sport. Brian Hartline grew up in Ohio and played for Glenn Oak High school. Once a quarterback then switched to wideout during his sophomore year, the rest was history. A number of schools were interested in Hartine but he had his heart set on one…The Ohio State University. At Ohio State, Hartline was apart of 4 Big Ten championship teams, played for a national championship, accumulated over 1400 yards and a dozen touchdowns, but more importantly…beat Michigan every…single…year. He was coached under the great Jim Tressel and he lived and breathed his culture. He checks off box number 1 that very few qualifying coaches can.

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2. Recruiting and Developing at an Elite Level

Garret Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Marvin Harrison Jr., Jamo Williams, Carnell Tate, Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka, JTT, CJ Stroud, the list goes on…and on…and on. And that doesn’t even include upcoming classes. Since 2019…Brian Hartline (without including 2025 and up) has recruited 10 five stars and 20 four star athletes. He has sent multiple wideouts to the NFL who are thriving.

As an Ohio State fan, if you’re one of the outliers who’s top priority is not simply to beat Michigan year in and year out then this point should worry you the most. Brian Hartline in the college football world is a hot commodity, if not the hottest. He is on every program’s watchlist. As Ryan Day squanders opportunity away, opportunity metastasizes for Hartline to find somewhere else to go. Money talks and men walk for something more. More than just a trusty recruiting sidekick, or a co-offensive coordinator that has to sit back and watch an offense with a plethora of wide receiver talent run block against a team who eats up the run. Hartline gets the athletes he wants, he develops those athletes, and he churns NFL talent with the best of them. In the next few years, he will be gone whether Buckeye fans like it or not. Are you willing to take that risk? A man that can produce NFL talent in his position group, at the exponential rate Hartline has, can infect an entire team to become even greater than what it is.

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3. The Dabo Swinney Effect

Dabo Swinney!? DABO SWINNEY!? We don’t want anything to do with Dabo!? Calm down. Buckeye fans are not a fan of ol’ Dabo. But the similarity of the situation between Dabo and Hartline are uncanny. Dabo was a wide receiver at Alabama. A man with a fiery personality, likeable to some (hard to believe aye Buckeye fans?). This man went on to coach at Alabama from 1993-2000 after his playing career. A few years later he winds up at Clemson coaching the wide receivers and eventually became head coach after the firing of Tommy Bowden. Dabo went on to lead this team from turmoil to triumphant within a little over half a decade. The thing is, he had to get his guys. There’s another ex-collegiate wide receiver that’s an assistant coach out there, with a fiery and likeable personality, one who is also in the system already, except the difference between this guy and Dabo…this man has his guys NOW. Hartline has all he needs next year and years to come thanks to him himself. If a man like that walks away from a program, the program itself will change entirely.

If you want to protect Day, I’m sorry you read this far in. I once was there, too. Ohio State is not a team that’s rebuilds. It reloads. And that bares the question.

When you reload this time, who’s gonna fire the best damn weapon in the land this time? I have your answer…

Brian Jack Hartline.