“Who’s calling plays?”
There may be no more time-honored tradition around the Ohio State football program than asking who’s calling the plays.
Why?
Because if people don’t know who’s calling plays, they won’t know who to blame when something goes wrong.
Seemingly, that has been one reason why it has been difficult at times in having Buckeye coaches tell us exactly who is calling plays. The entire Jim Tressel era is still a mystery in that regard, though most scientists now believe it was just Tressel himself. And that was just offense.
Defensively, mysteries abound as well, especially in the dual-coordinator era of today. With new defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs taking over for Jeff Hafley, he will work side-by-side with co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison. The two have never coached together, but they are plenty familiar with each other, which is expected to help the play-calling process for the Buckeye defense.
Be it offense or defense, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day has been adamant that play-calling is a team effort. And it will be that way on defense again, new defensive coordinator or not.
“It’s like the way [offensive coordinator] Kevin [Wilson] and I did it and the way they’ve done it in the past, last year with Jeff and Greg,” Day explained. “I sat and had a great meeting with [defensive line coach] Larry [Johnson], with Greg and with Kerry and just told them about how much respect I have for their experience, and whatever it is, they’re going to go in that room figure that out again this year.
“Every year is a completely different year. You have to go in and figure out what that year and what your personnel looks like and what the right things are, and they’re going to go in there and do that. And at the end of the day somebody has to walk out of that room with the final say and that will be Kerry. But they’re all professionals. They’re all going to have their hand in this thing, and they’re all team players and they’re all in this thing together, just like we are on offense.”
While the play-calling may take place on Saturdays, the preparation for those play calls occurs throughout the week. As the opponent is scouted, it becomes more apparent what would be effective and what may not be. That is an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ kind of thing from each of the coaches.
Coaches’ meetings decide what gets called when. Those plans then get implemented on Saturdays.
And right now, the meetings are plentiful.
“I’m going to be honest with you, I’m not going to get real bogged down in all that. I don’t think anybody will,” Coombs said. “We’re in there right now. We got a lot of voices talking. We got a lot of voices listening. And really when [Day] says collaborative effort– I’ve been a part of some really good staffs here, right? I was just a part of a really good staff at Tennessee defensively. And I think defensive football, offensive football is best played when everybody’s got a voice and everybody has input.
“That’s the way we’re going to operate. I can’t tell you any more than that. That’s how we’re going to operate on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Game Day. ‘What do you guys think? What do you like here?’ You know, those kinds of things. And that’s how I anticipate the entire process going through the entire time that I’m here.”
The design of the defense and the implementation of the complementary parts of it makes the play-calling almost organic as the coaches discover what works and what doesn’t in practice. Along with the feedback on the fly, calls have to keep all three levels of defense working in unison.
Which is why when it comes to actually calling the plays, what matters most is the communication so that everyone is on the same page. That is the charge for Coombs and Mattison as they make the calls on the front and back end of this Ohio State defense.
“Obviously, Greg and I are going to be right-hand, left-hand on everything that we’re doing,” Coombs said. “So there’s going to be great communication with us.”