COLUMBUS — When word of Tony Alford’s departure to Michigan first broke, many Ohio State football fans shared an immediate and obvious candidate as his successor.
Sorry, Eddie George backers. Longtime OSU reporter Tim May said on X he reached out to the Heisman Trophy winner and current Tennessee State head coach. George said he was not interested in coming back to coach running backs.
While replacing an assistant after the start of spring practice comes as an annoyance, it also presents Ryan Day with an opportunity to add a fresh new voice to the staff. Alford had been around for nine seasons, preceding Day’s own tenure as an assistant.
This is already projected as one of the nation’s best running back situations for 2024, if not the best. TreVeyon Henderson will be a four-year starter coming off a first-team All-Big Ten season. Quinshon Judkins transferred in after more than 2,700 rushing yards in two Ole Miss seasons. Dallan Hayden has produced every time he’s been called upon, and few programs can say their No. 3 back has delivered so reliably.
Add in the chance to work with new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly — not exactly a stranger to powerful rushing attacks — and this opening should draw serious interest. Here are some names that might come up as Day makes his fourth assistant coach hire (including two for offensive coordinator) since the end of last season.
Straight up
• It is not yet clear what led to Mike Hart’s separation from Michigan. He did not leave with Jim Harbaugh for his first Los Angeles Chargers staff, as many other Wolverine assistants and staffers did. New coach Sherrone Moore also did not retain Hart after his contract had expired.
Had Alford left for some other job earlier in the winter, Hart’s name certainly would have shown up among candidates to replace him. He is a true Michigan man, though, and the program’s all-time leading rusher. It’s one thing for a longtime coach like Alford to switch sides, but it’s another for an actual Wolverine or Buckeye to do so.
Buckeye connections
• George did tell May that his former running backs coach, OSU alum Pepe Pearson, might be interested in the job. He was the Buckeyes’ MVP as a junior after rushing for 1,487 yards and 17 touchdowns. He was a head coach for two different indoor football franchises. However, he has not been a Power 5 head coach, and his only FBS experience came with a five-year stint at Marshall. Currently he serves as running backs coach and associate head coach at Tarleton State.
• Could Day coax another sitting head coach to join his staff? Stan Drayton already served as OSU running backs coach once, from 2012-14 (preceding Alford). That turned out pretty well, thanks to Ezekiel Elliott’s backfield breakout. Drayton enters his third season as Temple’s head coach after going 3-9 in each of his first two seasons. Probably not an option unless Day can offer an enhanced title.
• Scottie Graham spent three seasons in Ohio State’s backfield, including one as a captain. He just followed Jedd Fisch from Arizona to Washington, but perhaps he would be up for a move closer to home. Arizona’s yards per attempt jumped from 3.63 in 2021 to 4.31 in 2022, going from 100th nationally to 34th.
• Stretching a bit here, but OSU once landed a commitment from the son of Notre Dame running backs coach Deland McCullough. Dasan McCullough ultimately backed out for family reasons, to reunite with father and son (temporarily) at Indiana.
Point is, there’s already a relationship with Day and other members of the staff. McCullough also coached Kansas City Chiefs running backs for three seasons. Notre Dame ranked 13th nationally in yards per attempt last season, and OSU saw his work up close in each of the past two seasons.
Day/Kelly connections
• DeMarco Murray’s one-year stint under Kelly with the Philadelphia Eagles did not go according to plan. But Day was on that staff, too, so relationships already exist. Hiring Murray, though, would necessitate prying him away from his alma mater, Oklahoma, where he currently coaches running backs.
The Sooners ranked seventh in yards per attempt in 2021, but have not broken the top 30 in any other season under Murray.
• Along those same lines, Kelly’s running backs coach with the Eagles was Duce Staley. He has spent his entire coaching career in the NFL and currently coaches running backs for the Browns. Pretty good gig.
Bigger swings
• When Kalen DeBoer left Washington for Alabama, he made certain to keep Robert Gillespie on the Crimson Tide staff and promoted him to assistant head coach. His three-year stint in Tuscaloosa has included commitments from five-star backs Camar Wheaton and Justice Haynes, among other recruiting successes. He also pulled in Alvin Kamara at Tennessee.
Day said he judges assistants on recruiting first and foremost. Gillespie knows how to do so with the pressures, and resources, of a big-time program.
• Devon Spalding is a Michigan native currently on Luke Fickell’s staff at Wisconsin. Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi were poised for a strong 1-2 punch in 2023 before the latter’s season-ending injury. Perhaps Spalding wants to take over an even more high-octane duo in Columbus. He already has Ohio experience after stints at Cincinnati and Youngstown State.
• As long as people are stealing from their rivals, could Day look at Penn State’s Ja’Juan Seider? He’s been there since 2018, coaching the likes of Miles Sanders and the recent combo of Kaytron Allan and Nicholas Singleton. He finished last season as co-offensive coordinator after Mike Yurcich’s firing.
• Tashard Choice went into coaching after his six-year NFL career. In the past two seasons as Texas’ running backs coach, Bijan Robinson finished sixth in yards per game in 2022 and Jonathon Brooks finished 12th.
