Latest Ohio State Coaching Rumors and A Staff Prediction

Urban Meyer has been a lone ranger throughout the first week of his tenure as Ohio State's new football coach. While he develops relationships with recruits, and burns through minutes on his cell phone, rumors abound about who he has targeted to coach alongside him. So here's what we know, what we think, and a personal prediction for how the staff will end up.

Know

• Luke Fickell will remain on staff, possibly as an assistant head coach, possibly as a co-defensive coordinator, possibly as both. Fickell is qualified to coach both linebackers and the defensive line, having coached the former for years and having played the latter for even longer. Look for Fickell to slide to whatever position fits best after the rest of the staff has been filled.
• Stan Drayton Jr. will return on the offensive staff. Wide receiver recruit Mike Thomas was contacted by both Drayton and Meyer and was informed that Drayton's position on the staff is secure. Will he remain the wide receivers coach? Maybe not. Drayton could slide over to running backs, the position he coached under Meyer at Florida.
• Taver Johnson is back to coach defensive backs. Fickell, Drayton, and Johnson are the only three coaches recruiting alongside Meyer right now.
• That means quarterback coach Nick Siciliano, offensive line coach Jim Bollman, tight end coach John Petersen, running back coach Dick Tressel, and defensive back coach Paul Haynes are gone.
• Mike Stoops has been offered the co-defensive coordinator position. News On 6, an Oklahoma newstation, confirmed the rumors last Thursday. Stoops has openly stated his interest in the Buckeye job, but there appears to be a hold-up. Stoops, who is divorced, will need to stay on the West Coast if he wishes to see his children on a regular basis. It's a tough choice, the balance between career and family, and one that Stoops is mulling over right now.
  
• Tim Brewster, the former Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach, has been offered a position on the staff, probably as tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator, according to the Austin Statesman. Brewster was horrible at Minnesota, but holds a reputation as a tenacious recruiter and able assistant.

Think

• Mike Vrabel is still in the air, it appears. Rumors had him gone last Tuesday, but FootballScoop.com reported the next day that Meyer had given him a job. The Football Scoop staff are pretty good at what they do, but this needs to play out before it's confirmed.
• Meyer wants another coach alongside Fickell as defensive coordinator. He either doesn't trust Fickell to run the defense on his own, or he has reservations about handing over such a significant portion of the team to someone who was here before him. If Stoops passes on the job, look for Florida linebackers coach D.J. Durkin to possibly join the staff as a co-coordinator.
  
• The winds seemed to have shifted in Chad Morris's direction, but a new contract from Clemson appears to have ended the chance that Morris would leave Clemson for Ohio State. Given the copious funds Meyer has to fill his staff, he may still make a run at Morris, but it will likely be in vain.
• If Morris is somehow hired, and Studrawa remains at LSU or is hired as a head coach elsewhere, Meyer will need to find an offensive line coach. Matt Campbell, offensive coordinator and line coach at Toledo, could be a worthy candidate. Campbell runs a spread offense and would fit well with Morris's preferred spread, up-tempo style.
• Billy Gonzalez, LSU wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator, has reportedly been targeted by Meyer. Gonzalez served on Meyer's staff at Florida, but the two had a break-up when Meyer passed up Gonzalez for Steve Addazio as the Gators' offensive coordinator in 2009. Gonzalez left the following off-season, leaving only a Post-It note on Meyer's desk to let him know. The two have patched up, however, and Meyer is expected to make a formal offer to Gonzalez soon.
• Tim Hinton, running backs coach at Notre Dame, may return to Ohio. He was a longtime Ohio high school coach and assistant at Cincinnati before leaving with Brian Kelly. Because of his tenure, Hinton turned down jobs from Mark Dantonio at Michigan State and Urban Meyer at Utah, preferring to grow his state retirement fund instead. Kelly offered him too much money to pass up, though, and he moved one state over. If Meyer can match his current salary at Notre Dame, and he can add more years to his pension, it's thought that Hinton would flip back over in a heartbeat.
  
• Scot Loeffler, Meyer's quarterbacks coach for two seasons at Florida, and Connecticut quarterbacks coach Joe Moorhead are the two names connected to the same position at Ohio State. Moorhead is also a candidate for Akron's head coaching position. Loeffler was a longtime coach under Lloyd Carr at Michigan and worked with John Navarre and Chad Henne. He's currently at Temple, and would likely jump at a return to big-time college football.
• If Meyer cannot pry Billy Gonzalez away from LSU, he may turn to Temple wide receivers coach Zach Smith, who was a graduate assistant with him at Florida when they won the national championship in 2006. Smith is currently Temple's wide receivers coach, and also has the added benefit of being Earle Bruce's grandson.

My Staff Prediction

• Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line- Greg Studrawa
  
• Quarterbacks- Scot Loeffler
  
• Wide Receivers- Billy Gonzalez
• Running Backs- Stan Drayton Jr.
• Recruiting Coordinator/Tight Ends- Tim Hinton

• Co-defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line- Luke Fickell
• Co-defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers- D.J. Durkin
• Outside Linebackers- Mike Vrabel
• Defensive Backs- Taver Johnson