Ohio State Buckeyes college football fans are looking forward to a successful season, later in the year. The Buckeyes made the national championship title game last month but lost to 52-24 to Alabama. The team’s fans are hoping that the team’s head coach, Ryan Day will finally win a national title in his third year with the team. In an intriguing move, Coach Day surprised analysts after he hired former Iowa coach, Paul Rhoads to be his team’s defensive analyst.
Paul Rhoads will join Buckeyes’ coaching staff as defensive analyst
While announcing the news, Coach Day claimed that hiring Rhoads on his coaching staff would help his team advance to another level. The Buckeyes coach feels that hiring a defensive analyst will help establish a good culture for his players. Rhoads will not coach Buckeyes players on the field, but he will help Coach Day’s staff with scouting duties and game planning. However, Ohio State Buckeyes fans have had mixed reactions to the team’s latest coaching changes. A section of fans feels that Rhoads will help defensive coordinator, Kerry Coombs, with some of his duties next season.
However, several spectators have questioned the value that Rhoads will add to the Buckeyes’ coaching staff in his seemingly limited role.
Fans have had mixed reactions to Rhoads' recent hiring
In addition to being a former head coach at Iowa, Rhoads has over 28 years of experience in various coaching roles in college football. The veteran coach kicked off his career as a graduate assistant at Ohio State in 1991 under former Buckeyes’ head coach, John Cooper. Rhoadss later secured the defensive coordinator job at the University of Pittsburg, and he went on to hold a similar position at Auburn for eight years. Even though some Ohio State fans are skeptical about Rhoads’ recent hiring, many fans feel that Coach Day made the right decision by focusing on improving his team’s defense.
Buckeyes fans were disappointed by their blowout loss to Alabama during the national championship game. However, Coach Day is confident that his players will bounce back from their humiliating loss this upcoming season. In a past interview, Coach Day claimed that he was proud of his team for winning the Big Ten Conference title and reaching the national title game despite facing several challenges brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. Several Ohio State Buckeyes regular-season games were canceled due to the strict coronavirus protocols imposed by the Big Ten Conference. Ohio State fans are hopeful that they will attend their team’s games this coming season, and it will be interesting to see whether the Big Ten conference will relax some of their strict policies. In the meantime, Coach Day will be looking to evaluate his players once spring training starts next month.