Ohio State head coach Ryan Day spoke about his most recent hire, Arthur Smith, and he called him a "home run hire," and I'm trying to justify it.
Ohio State Buckeyes' head football coach Ryan Day had a pretty open conversation on 97.1 The Fan on Friday afternoon, and in it, he called the hire of Arthur Smith a "home run hire."
I'm here trying to figure out how he can think that.
Now, this isn't to say that Smith is a bad football coach, or is incapable of success at the college level, but to call this acquisition a home run is a major stretch. Smith is coming to Columbus after a two-year stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers, after a three-years as the Atlanta Falcons' head coach.
Before being the offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans, he spent the previous seasons with the franchise working his way up to the top. His first job in Tennessee was as a quality control coach in 2011. He had bounced from North Carolina to the Washington Redskins to the Ole Miss Rebels before finding his home in Nashville.
That context is important because, in my opinion, in his now 21 years of coaching, he had one season that would be "home run" worthy. It was in 2020 when he led the Titans to the AFC one-seed, and his running back, Derrick Henry, had a career season.
Other than that, his offenses have been at the middle to bottom of the NFL.
His two offenses in Tennessee were ranked 10th and 4th, which were head and shoulders above the rest. His Falcons teams were ranked 29th, 24th, and 17th in the league, while his Steelers' teams were ranked 23rd and 25th. These rankings are in terms of yardage, and thereis absolutely some context to each of these seasons.
However, nothing about that says "home run" to me.
Many people are comparing this to the same conversations about Matt Patricia, and while I certainly see the parallels, it's stillcomparing apples to oranges.
Patricia had three Super Bowl rings and several years of top-performing defenses. He had his failures sprinkled in, but at least he had several years of success in his career.
I hope that, like I was about Patricia, I am wrong about Smith, but I just do not see it. Not only does he have two years of college experience, the most recent being in 2010, but he also doesn't have years to fall back on, where Buckeye fans can be excited about his offensive philosophies.
It's good that the head coach believes in him, but I have to see it on Saturdays to buy into the "Home Run."
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