After remaining silent for nearly a week about the departure of Ohio State cornerbacks coach Kerry Coombs to the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, Buckeye head coach Urban Meyer finally released a statement about the depature.
“I want to wish Kerry Coombs and his wife, Holly, the very best as Kerry pursues another opportunity in the National Football League and they begin a new chapter. Kerry is a great coach and a great friend, and I thank him for the contributions he has made to this program in his six years with us.”
Coombs made the move mid-week last week, informing his players of his decision to move on. He joins the staff of new Titans’ head coach Mike Vrabel, himself a former Meyer assistant in 2012 and 2013.
The departure came 16 days after Ohio State announced the hiring of Washington State defensive coordinator Alex Grinch. Grinch’s past duties have generally involved the secondary, which now has a void with Coombs off to the NFL.
With the newly-passed NCAA rule allowing a tenth full-time on-field assistant coach, the Buckeyes still have room to add another coach. Résumés have been flooding Meyer’s inbox for a while now, so he won’t have to look too hard to find a replacement.
Replacing the position will be the easy part. Replacing the impact and production will be the nearly-impossible part.
Including cornerback Denzel Ward, who is a lock as a first-round draft pick this spring, Coombs will have produced five first-round picks in the last five NFL Drafts (Bradley Roby, Eli Apple, Gareon Conley, Marshon Lattimore, and Ward.) The only two former starting cornerbacks who haven’t been first-round picks under Coombs were Travis Howard and Doran Grant, both of whom earned First-Team All-Big Ten honors.
With the way businesses are run (NFL is just another business) I would think the Coombs move was not published as soon as it was sealed. I would also expect that Meyer would move to have someone in place (Grinch) before any Coombs announcement was made. So, I would doubt the theory Coombs moved because Grinch came on board. It would be more reasonable to believe Grinch came in because Meyer knew Coombs was headed to the NFL.
HI Tony,
Checking in as an OSU Alum from the Bay Area, California — Question…? Is there any speculation or info “out there” on Kerry Combs leaving OSU for the T. Titans may be due to being passed over for the DC Position that was given to Grinch…?
People have definitely speculated that that could be a reason, though Grinch’s public role has not been revealed by OSU. I doubt anybody would admit this as a reason for leaving, but it would be understandable.
huge loss–i wish Coombs the best and hope Meyer can find someone even close to the impact/coaching up of players that Coombs had.
Ditto