And it's official, save for two. Ohio State updated their coaching roster on the official website earlier today and clarified the job titles of Luke Fickell, Mike Vrabel, and Everett Withers. It was speculated that Fickell would receive the additional title of "Assistant Head Coach," but that title has gone to Withers. Instead, Fickell will be Ohio State's primary defensive coordinator, the one who calls the plays on Saturday. Withers will assist in gameplanning and other big picture decisions. Mike Vrabel will replace Jim Heacock as defensive line coach.

Withers was apparently a hot commodity this offseason after leading North Carolina as interim head coach in 2011. His rumored salary would be record-breaking for an Ohio State assistant coach, and the additional title was likely a necessary inducement for Ohio State to beat other teams for his services.

New tight ends coach Tim Hinton and offensive line coach Ed Warinner remain off the official roster, but, as Vico at Our Honor Defend pointed out on Twitter, the pair have yet to be officially introduced. The two have officially left Notre Dame, however, so it is just a matter of time before an announcement writes it with ink.

The ultimate success of Meyer's staff will have as much to do with how the members coalesce and work together as anything else. Ohio State's historic run over the last decade can be largely attributed to a group of coaches who worked well together and stayed together for a lengthy period of time, relative to other coaching staffs in the turbulent college football profession.

At Florida, Meyer's success ended when his coaches left and he was forced to hire replacements that he had little familiarity with. It appears to me that Meyer hired certain members of this staff as internal replacements in the event other members leave. Luke Fickell will be a constant candidate for head coaching positions, and offensive coordinator Tom Herman will be another hot candidate if he finds success here. Withers is clearly Fickell's built-in replacement, and Warriner could be viewed as Herman's, since Warriner is an accomplished spread offensive coordinator himself.

FootballScoop.com is reporting that Notre Dame offensive line coach Ed Warinner will leave the Fighting Irish to join Urban Meyer's staff at Ohio State. He spent the last two seasons on Brian Kelly's staff at Notre Dame.

Warriner, a 28-year coaching veteran, has extensive experience coaching within the spread offense, having spent three seasons coordinating the Kansas offense under Mark Mangino. Those three seasons were some of the most successful in Kansas football history, and the Jayhawk offense broke point and yardage records in that time. Following the 2009 season, Warriner was a finalist for the American Football Coaches Association's National Assistant Coach of the Year award. He has also coached offensive lines at Army, Air Force, and Illinois.

When it became clear that Greg Studrawa would not leave LSU for Ohio State, a scattershot of names sprung up for the open position. Warriner's name was not bandied about as a leading candidate, but he's a good hire, nonetheless. At fifty years old, he has the necessary mix of experience, energy, and familiarity with Ohio State's new offensive scheme to fit the staff well.

For Part I see here.

Spending many of his formative years at Notre Dame with Lou Holtz and Bob Davie, Urban Meyer had limited exposure to a conceptual pass offense. Meyer, therefore, had to go out and learn much of what became his base pass offense. Meyer drew heavily from Joe Tiller's Drew Brees Purdue heydays, as well as from Scott Lineham. As Chris Brown states

Meyer learned his passing offense primarily from what Purdue and Louisville were doing in their spread heydays. (Though it is important to note that both Purdue and Louisville at the time were traditional "one-back" spread offenses -- derivative of Dennis Erickson's one-back offense -- so although he focused on their passing games their running games were consistent with the inside zone and counter game Meyer was installing with advice from Rich Rodriguez and the Northwestern folks.) Meyer developed a system based from spread formations, with focuses on quick passes, lots of quick shallows, pivots, and other quick moves. (The biggest evolution in the Meyer/Mullen offense at Florida has been the attempt to improve their play-action game, which has always been tough for shotgun-spread teams to convincingly do.)

As a background note, any modern pass game needs a 'coverage beater' for every pass defense it may see. From there, a passing game's route stems should work together so that a defense cannot pattern read. An offense wants enough concepts so that it can beat every coverage, yet keep it simple enough so that you are not overwhelming your players. Meyer has attempted to accomplish these goals through five primary drop back concepts: Specifically, Meyer's offenses have traditionally featured: four verticals; smash; 'Houston'; Follow-pivot; and option routes. This is in addition to featuring an ample quick game, often focusing on y-stick and spacing. For purposes of this article, however, I will focus on the drop back concepts (for fuller discussion I highly recommend the links).

H-Option

Meyer's Florida offenses were perhaps most associated with inside option routes. Meyer's heavy use of option routes comes straight from the original one-back coaches. The base play is simple. As Chris Brown states, "the outside receivers were to run straight and try to get open deep [or deep comebacks]. The inside receivers were to burst upfield to eight to twelve yards depending on the call. Against man-to-man, they cut inside or outside depending on the defender’s leverage; against zone they found a void between defenders and settled in it."

Option routes are most effective against man coverage, allowing slot receivers to beat inside man defenders. The play is also easily adaptable to a wide variety of personnel; it can be run with 21 personnel to an empty backfield.

Smash

Smash, where the inside receiver runs a deep corner and the outside receiver runs a hitch (or quick out), is again one of the best and most widely used route concepts in college football. It is a cover-2 beater by giving the offense a 2 vs. 1 on the squat corner, while ideally holding the deep half safety with a divide route.

The quarterback reads 1) corner to 2) hitch. Simply put, if the cornerback sinks to take away the corner, throw the hitch. Smash also works against man coverage or cover-2 man, by allowing the slot receiver to beat the slot defender to the corner. Meyer's offenses will generally run smash as a mirrored route (smash combo to each side). (For a fantastic full discussion of smash, see here).

Four Verticals (All-Go)

Four verticals is another foundational route that is found throughout college and the NFL. Chris Brown, citing Dan Gonzalez, has a thorough breakdown here, but at its core four-verticals is a way to get a 2 v. 1 deep horizontal stretch against a deep safety.

Notably, one seam runner is given a 'bender route.' If the middle of the field is open, he will break to the middle, while continuing down the seam against a one-high look. Below, you will see Dane Sanzenbacher as the 'seam reader' working to the middle of the field.

Meyer will also use a 'switch' principle and have two receivers cross and switch their routes, which he refers to as "al-go cross."

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Urban Meyer has hired Iowa State offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tom Herman for the same positions at Ohio State, both clarifying the assistant coaching search and confusing fans in the process. Herman's name appeared out of the rumor mill abruptly, like a salmon jumping upstream, and days later he was officially announced to the dual positions.

With Herman's hire, Meyer found a young mind with a track record of molding raw quarterbacks into polished spread performers, but he also muddied up the offensive line coaching search, which had focused entirely around LSU coordinator Greg Studrawa.

Most had assumed that Studrawa would leave LSU and run the Buckeye offense while handling the offensive line duties. Studrawa, a talented coach, remains a candidate to join the staff, but the odds are quickly diminishing. Rumors from Baton Rouge have Studrawa either signing an extension or leaving to become a head coach at another program. If Meyer can outbid LSU for Studrawa's services, it would be a tremendous coup and worth every penny. If he cannot, however, Meyer will need to find an able offensive line coach to replace him.

We've compiled a list of four young, rising coaches we think are worthy candidates for the position, coaches who have received praise for their teaching abilities and would inject new ideas into the offensive scheme. Matt Campbell, offensive coordinator and line coach for the Toledo Rockets the past three seasons, is our top candidate, but the competition for him will be fierce. Chris Klenakis, offensive line coach at Arkansas, John Hevesy, offensive line coach at Mississippi State, and Adrian Klemm, recruiting coordinator and offensive line coach at SMU, fill out our roster. Each have qualities that make them exciting potential additions to Urban Meyer's Ohio State staff.

Below are profiles of the four, including their current situation, scheme familiarity, and recruiting history

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Urban Meyer has found his offensive coordinator. Tom Herman, who coordinated Iowa State's offense the past three seasons, has been hired as Ohio State's new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Rumors began circulating two days ago that Herman had been hired only as quarterbacks coach, but he will instead direct the entire offense in addition to his position duties.

The official release from Ohio State confirmed the news minutes ago, and Meyer commented on Herman's credentials within the report.

"Tom Herman has one of the bright young minds in college football," Meyer said. "His philosophies are very similar to those of my own. I spoke to numerous colleagues about Tom and all had great things to say about him. I enjoyed our time together during the interview process and I am excited to have him on the staff."

Meyer has never worked with Herman before, which can be seen as both a potentially exciting and potentially negative factor. Herman brings new blood outside of the Meyer coaching tree and different beliefs about how to run an offense, which should refresh a passing scheme that some, including Chris Brown from Smart Football, believe went stale by the end of Meyer's tenure at Florida.

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From a rumor that seems to have originated on the excellent Ohio State forum Buckeye Planet, Urban Meyer may have found his quarterbacks coach. Tom Herman, current Iowa State offensive coordinator, is the choice to replace Nick Siciliano. At only 35 years old, Herman is seen as a rising star in the coaching profession, which fits with Meyer's stated goal of finding the best college football coaches, young and old, in America.

Herman was hired at Iowa State in 2009 and has been their offensive coordinator for three seasons now. Iowa State's official website attributes the Cyclones' recent, and considerable, offensive improvement almost entirely to Herman:

The statistics and accomplishments speak for themselves. Iowa State quarterback Austen Arnaud ended his career as the Cyclones No. 2 all-time leading passer with 6,777 yards and 42 touchdown passes. His 8,044 yards of total offense is the second-best total in school history. Running back Alexander Robinson finished his Iowa State career as the Cyclones' fourth all-time leading rusher with 3,309 yards. Such are the fruits of the Iowa State spread offense employed by offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tom Herman in the first two years of the Paul Rhoads era.

The improvement continued last season as Iowa State upped its scoring average. The Cyclone offense put up big numbers in 2010. Iowa State's 52 points in a win over Texas Tech marked the most points put up by the Cyclones against a conference opponent in 38 years. Herman's offense spreads the wealth. Eleven Iowa Staters caught passes last season.

Iowa State installed Herman's spread attack for the 2009 campaign, its first under head coach Paul Rhoads. Herman, the architect of one of the nation's most prolific offenses at Rice in 2008, brought new life to ISU's offense as its coordinator and quarterbacks coach. It was a successful transition as Iowa State was effective on the ground and through the air in Herman's first Cyclone season.

If true, Herman will be the first member hired outside of the coaches being retained, and should be considered a definite home run. That Meyer was able to convince--with Ohio State's purse, of course--an offensive coordinator at another BCS program to accept a demotion to quarterbacks coach is an impressive accomplishment.

There's different elements of spread offenses. You can say Texas Tech and all these different spread offenses. The one thing that our offense that we always tried to take great pride in is Big Ten I formation power football. We just do it from a unique formation, sometimes do it with a240-pound quarterback. But the same -- if you look at our plays, it's the same plays that I was brought up on, split zone and off-tackle power. That's a staple here at Ohio State. Sometimes motion and fake a jet sweep, but we're still running hard, aggressive downhill football at you. We've added elements to it. But if you really cut it down and watch film and study, it's still I formation football. Just from a unique set of formations. It's just trying to be creative and outnumber people. That's all it is.

--Urban Meyer, November 28, 2011 Introductory Press Conference

Perhaps no term is more of a misnomer in modern football then the 'spread offense,' because it is over-applied to any college offense that bases its offense from the shotgun. It is used to identify offense as diverse as Mike Leach's airraid to Rich Rodriguez's read option run game.

Urban Meyer's offense is neither. As Meyer accurately describes above, his offense is predicated upon the one-back, downhill run game that every NFL team runs, mixed with the veer option, all from the shotgun. Smart Football's Chris Brown provided a fantastic recounting of how Meyer's offensive philosophy came about, which I cite below in full.

Strangely enough, I would say that the inspirational fathers of Florida's offense have to be Joe Gibbs and Dennis Erickson, who helped establish and pioneer the one-back offense. Indeed, as will be discussed below, Florida's main run plays are basically the same ones both guys made popular in the '80s, though from the shotgun and a bit more option sprinkled in . . .

Meyer bounced around as an assistant coach, finally as receivers coach at Notre Dame under the schematically brilliant but instinctively cro-magnon Bob Davie. Meyer has recalled losing to Nebraska in 2001, and being struck when, after they lost, he found one of his best players, David Givens, crying at his locker because he was unable to help his team win: he hadn't touched the ball the entire game. He swore to run an offense that got his playmakers the ball. While at Notre Dame, he began meeting with his intellectual mentor (his actual mentors were guys like Lou Holtz), Scott Linehan. (Yes, that Scott Linehan.) He was hired as Head Coach of Bowling Green, and decided that -- in years that just happened to be the rather formative ones for the spread -- he would have his staff learn at the masters' feet.

So, eschewing typical coaching visit hotspots like Ohio State, Michigan, Florida, and the like, Meyer directed his staff to make a midwest pilgrammage to learn from the likes of: John L. Smith and Scott Linehan at Louisville; Joe Tiller and Jim Chaney (now St. Louis Rams) at Purdue; Randy Walker and Kevin Wilson (now at Oklahoma) at Northwestern; and, of course, with Rich Rod at West Virginia. What all these guys had in common was they were one-back or spread coaches, they had the ability to run the ball (though Meyer focused more on passing with a team like Purdue), and they had an organized, conceptual way of thinking about football.

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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.

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