COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — In a roundabout way, Woody Hayes could be responsible for Arthur Smith being the new offensive coordinator at Ohio State.
The legendary former head coach of the Buckeyes died in 1987, but his name is on the football facility in Columbus, and one of his sayings — “You win with people” — remains a mantra for the program.
The 43-year-old Smith grew up in Tennessee, played offensive line at North Carolina and has never worked in the
state of Ohio since joining the coaching ranks in 2006.
However, he encountered many former Buckeyes during his various jobs, including coaching players such as Will Howard, Justin Fields and Jack Sawyer in Pittsburgh and Zach Harrison and Jeff Okudah in Atlanta, plus working for Mike Vrabel, who is a member of the school’s athletics hall of fame.
So when Ohio State head coach Ryan Day called in January to speak to him about joining his staff in Columbus, Smith felt he had to listen.
“Most importantly was the respect I have for coach Day,” Smith said Tuesday in his first meeting with reporters since joining Day’s staff. “He reached out, we had a good conversation, and I came down here and spent some time with him and just kind of weighed my options.”
Ultimately he concluded, “It just made sense" to become the Buckeyes' OC.
Smith worked for Vrabel with the Tennessee Titans from 2018-20, including two years as offensive coordinator.
After three years as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, he spent the last two seasons as offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Mike Tomlin’s decision to step down from being head coach of the Steelers left Smith in limbo while Day was in search of a new offensive coordinator following the departure of Brian Hartline to be the head coach at South Florida.
Now Day and Smith are joined in an effort to fix up an offense that was efficient last season but rarely resembled the high-scoring units Day has been known for overseeing since he came to Columbus, first as offensive coordinator in 2017 and then as full-time head coach since 2019.
The Buckeyes averaged 33.4 points per game (21st in the nation), but they managed only 10 in a three-point loss to Indiana in the Big Ten championship game and were largely stymied again in a 24-14 loss to Miami (Fla.) in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Cotton Bowl.
The unit was almost entirely new, including quarterback Julian Sayin, who was a Heisman Trophy finalist as a redshirt freshman.
He is back along with four starters on the line and All-American wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, two players Arthur Smith is not surprisingly excited to work with.
“A guy like Julian, there’s a lot he can handle, and I think he’s very mature, very intelligent,” Arthur Smith said. “So it’s been fun to work with him.”
How the attack evolves remains to be seen, but the expectation is Arthur Smith will be able to refine some of the things the Buckeyes were trying to do last season with multiple-tight-end sets after years of operating primarily out of the shotgun and 11 personnel (three receivers, one running back, one tight end).
The running game could use a boost after producing just 154.4 yards per game (72nd nationally) last season.
That is considered a strength of Smith's.
“You’re constantly looking at yourself and trying to evolve,” he said. “Things we did well in Tennessee night not fit this group and other places I’ve been. I think you want to have packages coming in so it doesn’t become obvious when you’re in this formation it’s this. You’ve gotta have counter punches, and that’s the game plan. It may change week to week what you like. You like this personnel and this formation and this package; then you’d have counter punches off it.”
___
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
