Three days after firing Zach Smith, Ohio State has a new wide receivers coach – at least for now.
Thursday morning, OSU announced Brian Hartline as the new interim coach for the position.
Corey Dennis, who is entering his third year with the program, was promoted to a senior quality control position focused on quarterbacks and wide receivers.
“As I said in Chicago, I am very confident with the individuals on this coaching staff and both Brian and Corey are quality young men,” OSU head coach Urban Meyer said in a statement. “I anticipate both of them doing well with their new responsibilities.”
Hartline is a former Buckeye wide receiver. He caught 90 passes for 1,429 yards and 12 touchdowns between 2006-2008. Hartline was a fourth-round pick of the Miami Dolphins in the 2009 NFL Draft.
He was a very productive pro, catching 344 passes for 4,766 yards and 14 scores in seven NFL seasons.
Hartline returned to Ohio State as a quality control coach with the wide receivers in 2017, so he is very familiar with both the Buckeyes’ personnel and scheme.
“It’s been great working with him,” fifth-year senior H-back Parris Campbell said on Tuesday. “He’s a great guy. He’s played at the next level and also dominated at the next level. So it’s been great.”
The familiarity with how the Buckeyes do things will also make this transition smoother than it could have been.
“He’s someone who is already familiar with the way we go about things,” Campbell said. “He’s familiar with our culture. He’s been great and he’s adapted to us. He’s been here for two years now. We’ve grown our relationship, everyone has with him.”
Dennis is a former Georgia Tech wide receiver and defensive back. This is his third season with the OSU program. He previously served as graduate assistant coach. He is also Meyer’s son-in-law.
The full release from Ohio State on both promotions is below.
Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer announced today that former Buckeye receiver and seven-year NFL veteran Brian Hartline will be the team’s interim wide receivers coach. Hartline is in his second year with the program after serving in a quality control position with the wide receivers last season.
In addition to naming Hartline, Meyer also elevated third-year program assistant Corey Dennis to a senior quality control position working with the wide receivers and quarterbacks. Dennis was working alongside offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ryan Day this season after working for two seasons with the wide receivers as a graduate assistant coach.
“As I said in Chicago, I am very confident with the individuals on this coaching staff and both Brian and Corey are quality young men,” Meyer said. “I anticipate both of them doing well with their new responsibilities.”
Hartline, who worked as a quality control coach with the Ohio State wide receivers last year and through the spring and summer of 2018, joined the staff after retiring from the NFL having played in 104 games with 73 starts and with 344 career receptions for 4,766 yards and 14 touchdowns. His best seasons came in 2012 and 2013, when he combined to catch 150 passes for 2,099 yards for the Dolphins. He caught 30 or more passes in each of his seven NFL seasons.
Hartline played for the Scarlet and Gray from 2005 through 2008 and was a part of four Big Ten championship teams while playing an integral role Ohio State reaching consecutive BCS National Championship games in 2006 and 2007. In 2007, he caught a career-best 52 passes for 694 yards and six touchdowns. Hartline’s career numbers include 90 catches, 1,429 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Hartline graduated from Ohio State in 2007 with his degree in communications. He and his wife, Kara, have a young son, Brayden.
Dennis will have an increased off-field coaching role with the Buckeyes’ offensive program as a senior quality control coach with game planning, practice planning and daily organizational responsibilities with both the wide receiver and quarterback units.
Dennis is a 2014 graduate of Georgia Tech with a degree in business administration, and he has his master’s in sports management from Ohio State. He played in 54 games for coach Paul Johnson’s Yellow Jacket teams that won two Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division titles and played in four bowl games. Dennis was recruited to Georgia Tech as a receiver, but he also played in the defensive secondary and on special teams between 2011 and 2014.
A high school receiver and quarterback for his Troy, Ala., hometown team Charles Henderson High, Dennis was the first player in school history to rush and pass for more than 1,000 yards when he did so as a senior in 2010.
Dennis and his wife, Nicki, have a young son, Troy.
So glad the wife beater pathetic coach id gone, never like the mouth breather gum chewer (like Fickell) Love Hartline!!!!
Calling a guy an “internet tough guy” while at the same time citing the “intestinal fortitude” apparently required to “confront” a man on the same internet… loving the irony here 🙂
No irony at all…….Urban Meyer works on the Campus of Ohio State. He can go there are tell Urban that he’s a MORON for calling himself the CEO as opposed to Coach. That will work out real swell for him or her or whatever it claims to be.
The little turd refuses, as you also apparently do to address the article which I commented on. So you’re like your delicate little buddy, because you “got nothing” to input ON the article but would rather play the role of internet tough guy defender. WELL DONE Silly Sally.
I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to talk about the topics, so you sissy little antifa girls can run along and tell each other what internet tough guys you are in either of your mommy’s basement. I addressed NEITHER of you………you addressed me. So float away little buttercup.
Another “stirring” epistle from Mr. Mills. He is certainly well versed in his ability to speak on a variety of topics including the head coach at Nebraska. Please note the continued use of the term CEO when referring to Coach Meyer. Still moronic.
Would you like Kleenex or a box of an off brand to wipe your crying, snotty nose. Even more moronic, is that you remain stupid. Meyer called HIMSELF the CEO so if you have a problem with me calling him the CEO, take it up with him. But you’re not that bright and lack the intestinal fortitude to confront him. You’re what’s known as an internet tough guy wasting time on your mommies computer.
Now WHY – O – WHY would I know about Scott Frost? I know you haven’t but did you think there was a REASON (not to be confused with the EXCUSE of your asinine attacks on me) Buckeye fans know A LOT about Scott Frost? Hmmmmm, maybe because he was on a very short list of potential OC’s FOR the Buckeyes just a couple of so years ago? Naw, that couldn’t be it.
Here’s a clue, some people like staying up on College football in general, and, their respective teams for more than a cursory understanding of what’s at play.
Since that breaks your delicate snowflake little heart, I’ll make it a point to increase posting……..just to watch you twist your pretty lacy pink panties tighter around your mini marshmallow sized gnads.
OH, and you’re excused.
Another thing concerning Brian. As a QC coach/analyst he already knows the vetting process for recruits and ALL of the ins and outs of the system. AS a QC coach he’s not coaching the players but he’s in the meetings with the coaches discussing and establishing gameplans. All of this years class and a couple of last years class and all of the Buckeye targets for the next 2 years Brian has basically groomed as “prospects” who fit the Program on behalf of the coaches, so he’s pretty familiar with the kids being recruited even though he’s never had direct contact in their homes.
Love the Hartline hire! Excellent choice that could only be made better by removing the interim tag. Why put that title on it? Just make him the WRs coach period and if it doesn’t work get rid of him…but no need to handicap him (recruiting and otherwise) with an interim tag.
Hopefully it’s not nepotism waiting in the wing that led to this “interim” designation (i.e. keep the spot warm until I can justify giving this job to my son-in-law).
It’s doubtful that the CEO and the AD have had enough time to sit down with Brian and have any discussion about contracts, Brians mindset or how he views the current functionality of the program. I have issues with Gene Smith, but the man is thorough when it comes to vetting those who will be working under him.
Zach’s firing came at a bad time tied into the Big 10 kickoff and the start of Fall Camp. The interim tag isn’t much of a concern. Brian will attack it just like he did as a receiver, or a gunner on special teams, or in the classroom and community. He’s detail oriented. The CEO has 2018 to use as an open interview for a permanent hiring/dropping of the interim designation. Production increase from his unit will be a key factor and give Urban either a bargaining chip for negotiating a contract with Gene Smith, or in the event that the on the job interview flops through production. Brian has a ton of experience in his room so I suspect the on the job interview will be pretty successful. I watched Scott Frost’s growth in the coaching ranks and it wouldn’t be a slight surprise to see Brians move into coaching go the exact same way. The devil is always in the details, and like Frost, Brian crosses his T’s and dots his I’s.
You say “It’s doubtful that the CEO and the AD have had enough time to sit down with Brian and have any discussion about contracts, Brians mindset or how he views the current functionality of the program”… yet they gave him a job? Even if interim certainly those things have been discussed. Lol. He isn’t working for free, so quite obviously compensation as been discussed (as well as everything else you mentioned). And how long would it take to pin those things down with a Buckeye Lifer anyway?
A month ago I don’t believe that Brian, Urban or Gene were anticipating moving Brian out of until yesterday position into a full time coaching position. At the end of 2016 Urban simply gave him a shot at scratching the surface behind the scenes. It’s whole different conversation and interview being tapped out of the blue to become a high profile position coach at one of the largest programs in College Football as opposed to a quality control/analyst opening. Urban was in Chicago when the trainwreck happened with Zach Smith and by his own statements hadn’t had a chance to have a real conversation yet with Gene Smith. So yeah, Urban and Gene hadn’t had the opportunity to sit down and discuss filling that sudden job opening, or if Brian was willing or even wanted to.
You’re a smart guy so I doubt if you think a QC hire, interview or pay is even remotely in the same process.You go from just answering to the Program, to answering to the kids AND the kids parents. Marcus Freeman took some really hard lumps coming directly out of playing to coaching. His situation was unique because of his heath issues, but looking back, he was ready for that plunge.
^^^
(wasn’t ready for that plunge) ^