Who should Ohio State target at defensive coordinator?
Jim Knowles’ surprise departure leaves a huge whole in the Buckeyes’ staff for 2025.
Ohio State’s national title celebration was missing a notable face on Sunday, as Buckeye Nation shortly learned that defensive coordinator Jim Knowles was leaving Columbus to take the same position at Penn State. Ryan Day will now need to find a new defensive coordinator this offseason, and while there isn’t a clear slam-dunk choice like there was when Ohio State first hired Knowles, there are a ton of good options out there.
Here are just a few of the many names the Buckeyes could target to take over control of what was college football’s best defense in 2024.
Randy Bates
A name featured on virtually everyone’s watch list for Ohio State this offseason, Bates makes sense for a variety of reasons. The OSU alum began his coaching career within state lines as the offensive line coach at Muskingum College in 1982, more recently spending 12 seasons as the linebackers coach at Northwestern (2006-17) before taking over as Pitt’s defensive coordinator in 2018 — a position he has held for the last seven years.
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Bates has put together a number of solid defenses with the Panthers, including three units that ranked in the top 25 nationally in 2019, 2020 and 2022. While this past season’s group was not spectacular, ranking 91st in scoring defense, Bates has a track record of success and familiar ties to both Ohio State and the Big Ten. He also coached alongside Chip Kelly as the linebackers coach at New Hampshire in 1992-97, though he did not cross paths with Ryan Day, who played for the Wildcats from 1998-2001.
Jeff Hafley
It would likely be tough to pry Hafley away from the NFL and back into the college ranks, but it’s at least worth the phone call. The current Packers defensive coordinator is obviously well acquainted with both Day and Ohio State, as he served as the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator in 2019. It was a tremendously successful one-year stint, as Ohio State ranked No. 1 nationally in total defense and No. 3 in scoring defense under his watch.
He parlayed the Ohio State job into a head coaching gig at Boston College, and while that didn’t quite work out, he has once again proven his worth as a DC in the NFL, as Green Bay ranked sixth in the league this past season allowing less than 20 points per game. Hafley and Day go way back, with the two having coached together with the 49ers in 2016. Again, it’s unlikely Hafley would leave the NFL at 45 years old for a job he already had, but you still have to make him say no.
Rob Harley
This is a little more of a niche pick, but a potential under-the-radar candidate for Ohio State could be a name that is known quite well in Columbus. Rob Harley, the great-nephew of three-time Buckeye All-American Chic Harley and a member of the 2002 national title team, recently took the job as defensive coordinator for Northern Illinois under Thomas Hammock. Harley spent the previous four seasons at Arkansas State as assistant head coach and DC, where he helped produce 10 All-Sun Belt Conference players.
