Ohio State completes coaching staff

    The Ohio State Buckeyes were down to the final of three coaching staff positions that needed to be filled and the team pulled a mild surprise in former New England Patriots defensive coordinator and Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia as their replacement for Jim Knowles as their defensive coordinator.

Ohio State earlier had promoted Brian Hartline to offensive coordinator and play caller and hired Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen as their new offensive line coach.

Hartline was expected to have a chance for the offensive coordinator position, and was regarded as the favorite, if he pushed for it, due to his value as a recruiter and developing wide receivers, where he is the best in the sport.

Ohio State wasn't going to take a chance on losing Hartline and promoting was the easy call, especially if Ohio State hires a veteran coach soon to help Hartline progress into the job.

Tyler Bowen hasn't coached the offensive line since 2017 at Maryland but his three years at Virginia Tech as their offensive coordinator should help Brian Hartline before that, Bowen was the tight ends coach at Penn State, where the Nittany Lions have put four tight ends into the pros in recent years and expected first rounder in the upcoming draft Tyler Warren, all were recruited by Bowen.

It's hoped that Bowen's recruiting prowess will improve the only area where Ohio State's recruiting has flagged a bit in recent years.

Bowen's hiring was a mild surprise, although his name did receive some mention as a candidate coming up to the hire but the real surprise was the hiring of Matt Patricia as the defensive coordinator.

Patricia was the defensive coordinator for the New England Patriots from 2012-17, winning two Super Bowls as their DC and leading them to one of the best defenses in the league before moving to Detroit for three seasons as the Lions head coach, where he finished with a 13-29-1 record.

Patricia returned to New England for two seasons and moved to Philadelphia in 2023 as an advisor before taking 2024 away from football, where he was reported to have spent time with Bill Belichick studying the college game.

Patricia hasn't coached in college since 2003 when he was on the Syracuse staff as a graduate assistant, so it'll be interesting to see if he needs any adjustment time to familiarize himself with the college game.

Patricia's rapport with players has been questioned after many difficulties with players with the Lions, although I haven't seen issues with him from his Patriots background, perhaps it was a situation of a young coach in a position he simply wasn't ready for.

Patricia's name wasn't mentioned as a candidate until a day before accepting the job. Most thought that Ryan Day would promote Matt Guerreri and Tim Walton to co-defensive coordinators.

Patricia's hiring has brought questions from Buckeye fans who wonder how much Patricia had to do with the success of the New England defenses on a team coached by Bill Belichick and that's a fair question to ask.

My response would be this-  Patricia is a proven defensive coordinator, who won't do a lot of recruiting, and lots of schemes and masterminding plans.

Plus, I think we could be here as soon as next year looking for a new defensive coordinator. Patricia is attempting to clear his name from the Detroit fiasco and would rather work in the NFL.

This trio of hires seems to have the potential to be great, but with a mix in the middle, it could fail.

The jury is out.

Browns Release Brian Hartline-Mini inbox cleaning

I have tons (and I mean TONS) of stuff building up inside the inbox and I was going to dump some of that today.
That was before the Browns announced the release of the only veteran wide receiver looked to be safe entering training camp as former Dolphin (and Buckeye) Brian Hartline was given his release.

Hartline broke his collarbone late last season after catching 46 passes for 523 yards,which was decent production,but not tremendous numbers.
The release comes right after mini-camp and the Browns drafting four wideouts to the roster.
I'm mildly surprised only by the timing.
Hartline would have been a veteran pass catcher that might been useful with rookies,but the writing was on the wall for the future and the money savings was likely a factor.
The main thing that I take issue with was once again,the Browns waited far too long to release a veteran player and as a result hindered his chances of finding another team.
After the Donte Whitner waiving,I would have thought that the Browns might have learned a lesson in how to handle players-Apparently that lesson hasn't take hold yet....

Another Browns note from the inbox as the Browns made an unusual move in their search to challenge incumbent kicker Travis Coons.
I wrote a while back about the signing of Maryland kicker Brad Craddock as that challenger,but after camp,the Browns released Craddock and claimed another rookie undrafted free agent in TCU's Jaden Oberkrom off the wire from Jacksonville.
Oberkrom must have been really impressed with Cleveland,the Browns or pro football in general as he promptly retired and left the Browns still looking for another kicking contender...

We are still loaded with inbox notes,so I'm going to slide a few in here!

From the feel good department,Donnell Alexander,the son of former Chief Hall of Famer Derrick Thomas,went undrafted and was given a tryout by his dad's team.
The former Akron Zip runner was invited by the team and the odds are against him,I have no word on whether he was given an invitation to the full camp or not....

The Canadian Football League has left Nike and went with Adidas as its apparel source and announced their uniform changes.
Some I like as Winnipeg went back to its classic royal blue,some was meh as Hamilton went all black (I like black jerseys,yellow pants),some stayed the same and some revamped helmets that were pretty bad (British Columbia)....

Howie Rose,the long time voice of the Mets and Islanders has trimmed his responsibilities down to one as Rose will not be returning to the Islanders next year.
Rose has always been one of my favorite hockey announcers and back in the days before Rachel cared about hockey,I would watch the Devils games on occasion on the opponents networks,if the announcers were of quality.
The Islanders were one of those teams.
Rose will still remain in his role as the TV voice of the Mets.

We wrap up with an article from SABR on Santo Alcala,who went 11-4 in 1976 with the World Champion Reds as a rookie and would win just three more games in his career afterward.
Guys like Alcala were a big deal to stat hungry kids like me in the 70's because you had to dig his information out from obscure sources and he was one of many "common" players that their names are memorable to me from this day from the "wonder years" of baseball that everyone has from childhood.

Podcast tonight-Hope you enjoy it!

Browns sign Brian Hartline

The Cleveland Browns began to address their painfully obvious issues at wide receiver on the evening before free agency's start with the signing of Brian Hartline to a two year contract.

Hartline,who is from Canton and played his college football at Ohio State,saw his numbers drop last season,but in the previous two seasons,Hartline caught over seventy passes and over one thousand receiving yards in each.

The 6'2 Hartline isn't a speed burner,but possesses enough speed to keep defenses honest and should be a badly needed upgrade to the corps.
At worst,Hartline should be to match or exceed what Miles Austin did last season for the Browns.
Austin is a free agent,but I would be in favor of the Browns attempting to bring Austin back to the team.
Hartline does not eliminate the issue of lacking a true number one receiver,but adding him to Andrew Hawkins,who might able to move to the slot position that he was signed to play and Taylor Gabriel does make things better at the position.
I still believe the Browns need another receiver either early in the draft or another veteran,although a veteran that would be available in the market would be more along the lines of Hartline and not a true lead receiver.

In any case,Hartline is a upgrade at an affordable cost (three million per year) and considering that he will not count as a free agent signing (Miami released him),the Browns could be possibly adding compensation picks for the first time in a while in the 2016 draft.
I'll expound more on that in the Browns free agency recap,but it is an interesting strategy to consider.