Team Information
Sport
Football
Gender
Men's
Division
NCAA Division 1
Location
Columbus, OH
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Coaching Staff (124)
Brian Kelly
Head Coach
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Justin Frye
Associate Head Coach
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Larry Johnson
Associate Head Coach
Johnson Position: Asst. Head Coach/DL Coach Alma Mater: Elizabeth City State, 1973 Larry Johnson is in his third season with the Ohio State football program, during which time the team has posted a 26-2 record including 23 consecutive wins at one point, and won Big Ten, Sugar Bowl and national championship in 2014. He was named assistant head coach and defensive line coach at The Ohio State University in early January, 2014. One really good reason why Johnson is so highly regarded on the Ohio State coaching staff, among his peers and by his student-athletes: no Big Ten Conference program in the last 20 years, outside of Ohio State, has developed more Big Ten defensive players of the year and Big Ten defensive lineman of the year than the 12 that Johnson has coached since 1996. After coaching nine such honorees during his 18 seasons at Penn State, Johnson has seen Joey Bosa win conference defensive lineman of the year honors twice (2014 and 2015) and the league defensive player of the year award in 2014. Bosa has also been a consensus All-American the last two years and Michael Bennett earned All-America honors in 2014 as well, giving Johnson a total of 10 All-American defensive linemen. Bosa went on to be the third pick of the 2016 NFL Draft by San Diego. "I am very pleased that Larry Johnson is an Ohio State Buckeye," Ohio State coach Urban Meyer has said. "I have great respect for him as a family man, as a coach and mentor of young men, and as a recruiter." Mentoring is a critical aspect to the successes Johnson and the student-athletes he coaches have realized. "I'm a relationship guy and I think in order to get the best out of your players you have to develop relationships," Johnson said. "I'm also a teacher. I like to teach the basic fundamentals of football. I want guys who are fundamentally sound and have the ability to play fast and to play relentless." Johnson grew up in Williamston, N.C., and is a 1973 graduate of Elizabeth City (N.C.) State University with a degree in health and physical education. He came to Ohio State after coaching along the defensive line for 18 years at Penn State, including the last 14 seasons (2000-13) overseeing the entire unit. He spent his first four seasons at Penn State -- 1996-99 -- as defensive ends coach and special team's coordinator. While Ohio State is Johnson's second collegiate coaching stop, his career includes 20 years of high school coaching in Maryland and Virginia. He knew right away that Ohio State was a place where he wanted to be. "In just a few hours I could tell that Ohio State cares about football," Johnson said. "There is a winning tradition that is important here. They care about academics and they care about players, and I like the way Coach Urban Meyer approaches things. He's a great teacher. He is very organized and this is what I was looking for." Johnson came to Ohio State with a resume of accomplishments while at Penn State: Six of his defensive linemen were first-round NFL draft picks, including No. 1 overall pick Courtney Brown in 2000 and also featuring Jimmy Kennedy (2002), Michael Haynes (2003), Tamba Hali (2006), Jared Odrick (2010) and Aaron Mabin (2009). Seven of his defensive linemen achieved first-team All-American status (the six in the first note above and Devon Still). PSU defensive linemen earned 22 Academic All-Big Ten Conference honors. Three of his position players earned Academic All-American status (Tim Shaw in 2006 and Pete Massaro in 2010 and 2012). Fifteen Nittany Lion defensive linemen were named first-team all-Big Ten Conference. In addition, he coached on a Penn State defense that led the nation in sacks between 2005 and 2009 and was No. 5 nationally in rushing defense from 2004-10. And between 1996 and 2013 Penn State's defense was a Big Ten Conference statistical champion 14 times, including four times in quarterback sacks and three times in scoring defense. Johnson spent the first 20 years of his career as a highly successful high school coach. Six times chosen as the Washington Metropolitan Area coach of the year, he guided McDonough High School in Pomfret, Md., to three Maryland state championships and to a 139-36 record between 1975-91, and he also was coach two seasons (1992-93) at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va. He started his coaching career in 1974 at Lackey High School in LaPlata, Md. As a player, Johnson was an NAIA All-American and all-conference performer at Elizabeth City State University. He was inducted into the school's sports Hall of Fame in 1990. He played one year in the NFL, with the Washington Redskins in 1973. Johnson and his wife, Christine, are the parents of two sons -- Larry Jr. and Tony -- and a daughter, Teresa. Larry Jr. and Tony both played football at Penn State with Larry Jr. rushing for a school record 2,087 yards in 2002 and later becoming a first-round draft pick of the Kansas City Chiefs and a two-time Pro Bowl selection. Teresa played softball for the Nittany Lions. Williamston, N.C. Elizabeth City State, 1973 Health & Physical Education 40th (Third at Ohio State) Wife, Christine; sons, Larry Jr. & Tony (Karin); daughter, Tersea & grandchildren Tony Jr., Laila, Deklen & Jaylen. Larry Johnson Position: Asst. Head Coach/DL Coach Alma Mater: Elizabeth City State, 1973 Larry Johnson is in his third season with the Ohio State football program, during which time the team has posted a 26-2 record including 23 consecutive wins at one point, and won Big Ten, Sugar Bowl and national championship in 2014. He was named assistant head coach and defensive line coach at The Ohio State University in early January, 2014. One really good reason why Johnson is so highly regarded on the Ohio State coaching staff, among his peers and by his student-athletes: no Big Ten Conference program in the last 20 years, outside of Ohio State, has developed more Big Ten defensive players of the year and Big Ten defensive lineman of the year than the 12 that Johnson has coached since 1996. After coaching nine such honorees during his 18 seasons at Penn State, Johnson has seen Joey Bosa win conference defensive lineman of the year honors twice (2014 and 2015) and the league defensive player of the year award in 2014. Bosa has also been a consensus All-American the last two years and Michael Bennett earned All-America honors in 2014 as well, giving Johnson a total of 10 All-American defensive linemen. Bosa went on to be the third pick of the 2016 NFL Draft by San Diego. "I am very pleased that Larry Johnson is an Ohio State Buckeye," Ohio State coach Urban Meyer has said. "I have great respect for him as a family man, as a coach and mentor of young men, and as a recruiter." Mentoring is a critical aspect to the successes Johnson and the student-athletes he coaches have realized. "I'm a relationship guy and I think in order to get the best out of your players you have to develop relationships," Johnson said. "I'm also a teacher. I like to teach the basic fundamentals of football. I want guys who are fundamentally sound and have the ability to play fast and to play relentless." Johnson grew up in Williamston, N.C., and is a 1973 graduate of Elizabeth City (N.C.) State University with a degree in health and physical education. He came to Ohio State after coaching along the defensive line for 18 years at Penn State, including the last 14 seasons (2000-13) overseeing the entire unit. He spent his first four seasons at Penn State -- 1996-99 -- as defensive ends coach and special team's coordinator. While Ohio State is Johnson's second collegiate coaching stop, his career includes 20 years of high school coaching in Maryland and Virginia. He knew right away that Ohio State was a place where he wanted to be. "In just a few hours I could tell that Ohio State cares about football," Johnson said. "There is a winning tradition that is important here. They care about academics and they care about players, and I like the way Coach Urban Meyer approaches things. He's a great teacher. He is very organized and this is what I was looking for." Johnson came to Ohio State with a resume of accomplishments while at Penn State: Six of his defensive linemen were first-round NFL draft picks, including No. 1 overall pick Courtney Brown in 2000 and also featuring Jimmy Kennedy (2002), Michael Haynes (2003), Tamba Hali (2006), Jared Odrick (2010) and Aaron Mabin (2009). Seven of his defensive linemen achieved first-team All-American status (the six in the first note above and Devon Still). PSU defensive linemen earned 22 Academic All-Big Ten Conference honors. Three of his position players earned Academic All-American status (Tim Shaw in 2006 and Pete Massaro in 2010 and 2012). Fifteen Nittany Lion defensive linemen were named first-team all-Big Ten Conference. In addition, he coached on a Penn State defense that led the nation in sacks between 2005 and 2009 and was No. 5 nationally in rushing defense from 2004-10. And between 1996 and 2013 Penn State's defense was a Big Ten Conference statistical champion 14 times, including four times in quarterback sacks and three times in scoring defense. Johnson spent the first 20 years of his career as a highly successful high school coach. Six times chosen as the Washington Metropolitan Area coach of the year, he guided McDonough High School in Pomfret, Md., to three Maryland state championships and to a 139-36 record between 1975-91, and he also was coach two seasons (1992-93) at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va. He started his coaching career in 1974 at Lackey High School in LaPlata, Md. As a player, Johnson was an NAIA All-American and all-conference performer at Elizabeth City State University. He was inducted into the school's sports Hall of Fame in 1990. He played one year in the NFL, with the Washington Redskins in 1973. Johnson and his wife, Christine, are the parents of two sons -- Larry Jr. and Tony -- and a daughter, Teresa. Larry Jr. and Tony both played football at Penn State with Larry Jr. rushing for a school record 2,087 yards in 2002 and later becoming a first-round draft pick of the Kansas City Chiefs and a two-time Pro Bowl selection. Teresa played softball for the Nittany Lions. Williamston, N.C. Elizabeth City State, 1973 Health & Physical Education 40th (Third at Ohio State) Wife, Christine; sons, Larry Jr. & Tony (Karin); daughter, Tersea & grandchildren Tony Jr., Laila, Deklen & Jaylen. Larry Johnson Quick Facts Hometown: Alma Mater: Degree: Years in Coaching: Family: Larry Johnson Coaching Assignments
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Thomas Morton
Assistant Coach
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Matt Rea
Assistant Coach
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Tyler Walton
Assistant Coach
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Carlos Locklyn
Assistant Coach
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Billy Yates
Assistant Coach
NFL veteran assistant coach Billy Yates joined the Ohio State staff in March of 2025 and works as a defensive quality control coach. Yates played along the o...
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Chip Kelly
Assistant Coach
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James Laurinaitis
Assistant Coach
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Jonathan Brading
Assistant Coach
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Joshua Taylor
Assistant Coach
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Chuck Lorenz
Assistant Coach
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Mateo Kambui
Assistant Coach
Mateo Kambui joined the Ohio State football staff in March 2026 as a position assistant for the offense, working directly with offensive line coach Tyler Bow...
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Shaun Barnhouse
Assistant Coach
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Anthony Schlegel
Assistant Coach
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Dan Cencer
Assistant Coach
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Nick Murphy
Assistant Coach
Nick Murphy enters his second season on the Buckeyes’ recruiting staff in 2023. He came to Columbus by way of Charlotte, where he was the 49ers’ director of ...
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Dallas Dudley
Assistant Coach
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Kelsey Poplawski
Assistant Coach
Kelsey Poplawski joined the Ohio State football staff in May 2024 as an Office Associate and now serves as Administrative Assistant. She brought more than fi...
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Sean Binckes
Assistant Coach
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Domenick Guerrera
Assistant Coach
Domenick Guerrera joined the Ohio State football staff in August 2025 as Assistant Director of Creative Media. He brought more than 11 years of experience in...
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Tony Tucker
Assistant Coach
Tony Tucker begins his fourth season as Ohio State’s Director of Football Student-Athlete Well Being in 2020. Among other duties, Tucker is responsible for o...
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Mike Sollenne
Assistant Coach
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Kevin Nerl
Assistant Coach
Kevin Nerl currently serves as the Assistant Director of Football Equipment Services. Alongside Assistant AD of Equipment Services Kevin Ries, he manages all...
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Derek Gross
Assistant Coach
Derek Gross joined the Ohio State staff in 2015 as a Student Supervisor & Producer. After graduating in 2019, he continued to assist the Live Events departme...
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Aliyah Wright
Assistant Coach
Aliyah Wright joined the Ohio State staff as an intern in August of 2022 and was hired on full-time in July of 2023. A native of Cleveland, Ohio and a proud ...
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Justin Pilloff
Assistant Coach
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Kaila Olson MS, RD, LD
Assistant Coach
Kaila Olson, MS, RD, LD became the football program’s sports dietitian in July of 2019 after serving for two and a half years as a dietetic intern at Ohio St...
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Molly Rose Mayer
Assistant Coach
Molly Rose Mayer joined the Ohio State staff in July of 2024, where she serves as the primary marketing contact for women’s basketball, men’s soccer, men’s a...
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McKinley Rogers
Assistant Coach
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Keenan Bailey
Assistant Coach
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Zach Higgins
Assistant Coach
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Jim Knowles
Assistant Coach
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Malachi Lundell
Assistant Coach
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Michael Liston
Coach
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Cannon Evans
Coach
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Krissy Mullins
Coach
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Kurt Farnsworth
Coach
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Mike Walden
Coach
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Adam Molyet
Coach
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Gary Sheldon
Coach
Lifelong Buckeye - went here for Sociology/Criminology and fell into an IT role. Been full time with the university for 25 years and Athletics for 12 of thos...
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Keith Frische
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Mike Nicholson
Coach
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Tim Lewis
Coach
Tim has have worked in the entertainment industry since 1982, first as a night club DJ during the 80's. He attended The Recording Workshop in 1989, and began...
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Steve Auch
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Barb Hartley
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Amy Golian
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Kendra Baumann
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Catie Near
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Chris North
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Jason Smith
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Todd Homon
Coach
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Adam Cope
Coach
Adam Cope joined The Ohio State staff in January 2019 as the Technical Manager for the Covelli Center, where he is an integral part of the Video Engineering ...
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Joel Toku Binfoh
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John Paxson
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Matthew Bath
Coach
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Chris Rodriguez
Coach
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Sunny Day
Coach
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Dave Majeski
Coach
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Zach Thornton
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Jared Johnson
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Kristin Weiss
Coach
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Tony Scaffidi
Coach
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Julia Sanders
Coach
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Justin Odenthal
Coach
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Danielle Smith
Coach
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Nicole Hartner
Coach
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Travis Ortman
Coach
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Kenzie Young
Coach
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Mindy Kesterson
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Vikki Graves
Coach
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Tasha Brown
Coach
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Caleb Clark
Coach
Caleb Clark joined the Ohio State staff in 2014 as Assistant Director of Fan Experience & Promotions. In September of 2016, he was promoted to Director. Clar...
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David Bakalik
Coach
Dave Bakalik joined the Ohio State staff in October of 2013. The Youngstown, Ohio native is the Director of Live Events, working primarily with the marketing...
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Craig Brown
Coach
Craig Brown has worked with The Ohio State University since 1994. His responsibilities include creating graphics, animations, headshots, stats, etc., for the...
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Patrick Boniecki
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Sam Bonofiglio
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Ali Gordon
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Hudson Harris
Coach
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Mark Pantoni
Coach
Pantoni is in his fifth season as the Ohio State football programs director of player personnel. In this position Pantoni supervises all aspects of the programs administrative duties for recruiting, including on-campus official and unofficial visits, budgeting, travel and database management. Pantoni always finds ways to relate to prospects and, coupled with his meticulous attention to detail and administration skills, he has helped Ohio State secure five consecutive Top 5 recruiting classes, including a 2016 class ranked as high as No. 2 by Scout and No. 3 by Rivals. Hes also helped secure the No. 1 class in the nation (2013 by Scout) and nine total rankings of No. 3 or better by the four major prospect ranking organizations from 2012-16. His efforts have earned him recognition as the FootballScoop 2014 Director Player Personnel of the Year presented by ProGrass after being a finalist for the honor in 2013. Mark has proven abilities at organizing recruiting efforts and in building relationships with prospects and their families, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer has said. Pantoni started in his Ohio State position in December 2011 after working at the University of Florida for five years. He had direct responsibilities as a recruiting program coordinator for two seasons, including serving as Floridas director of football administration from March 2011 through the end of the 2011 regular season. Pantoni also helped with Floridas highly successful summer camp showcase, Friday Night Lights. One of the best-known on-campus summer camps, this one-night event was held under the lights in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium with music and highlight videos on the scoreboard. The concept of Friday Night Lights has continued in Columbus each July in Ohio Stadium. A Florida native, Pantoni grew up in Sarasota and attended the University of Florida. He has both bachelors (Summa Cum Laude; 2004) and masters (2006) degrees from Florida in applied physiology and kinesiology. Pantonis wife, the former Kristin OBerry, is also a Florida native (Jacksonville) and a University of Florida graduate. The couple has a set of twins: son Hayden and daughter, Madison, who were born Summer of 2015. Mark Pantoni Quick Facts: Hometown: Sarasota, Fla. High School: Cardinal Mooney (Sarasota, Fla.) H.S. Alma Mater: Florida, 2004 Master's Degree: Florida, 2006 Year in Administration: 10th (Fifth year at Ohio State) Wife: Kristin Children:Twins Hayden and Madison Sarasota, Fla. Cardinal Mooney (Sarasota, Fla.) H.S. Florida, 2004 Florida, 2006 10th (Fifth year at Ohio State) Kristin Twins Hayden and Madison
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Doug Knaup
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Karen Clark
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Scott McLafferty
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Tom Bugno
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CJ Alfani
Coach
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Scott Bokker
Coach
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Tom Ewers
Coach
Tom Ewers has been assistant manager at the O.S.U. Ice Rink since 1995. Tom has been on the OSU Intramural Championship Ice Hockey team a number of times inc...
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Jim Null
Coach
Jim Null has worked at the Ohio State University since 2000. In his current position, Null manages IT, AVS (Audio, Visual, Scoring) and Video. Null graduated...
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Jason Brooks
Coach
Jason Brooks joined the Ohio State football staff in March 2026 in a defensive quality control position. He arrives in Columbus with over 15 years of coachin...
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Cortez Hankton
Coach
Cortez Hankton has been hired as Ohio State's new wide receivers coach, Ryan Day announced today. Hankton has spent the last 10 seasons at three different SE...
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Austin Fields
Coach
Austin Fields is in his first season on the Ohio State coaching staff. He is a quality control coach working with Tyler Bowen and the program’s offensive lin...
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Joe Kim
Coach
Joe Kim joined the Ohio State football staff in March 2026 as a Defensive Analyst (DL). A respected consultant and coach with more than 30 years of experienc...
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Miguel Patrick
Coach
Miguel Patrick Quality Control, Defense Miguel Patrick returned to the Ohio State coaching staff in March 2025 after spending the past two seasons as defensi...
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Kenny Parker
Coach
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Danny Kraft
Coach
Danny Kraft joined the Ohio State football staff in March 2026 as Associate Director, Creative. He returned to Columbus after serving as Director of Football...
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Kevin Ries
Coach
Kevin Ries oversees all of the day-to-day equipment operations and needs for the Ohio State football program as Asst. AD of Football Equipment Services. The ...
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Sarah Takach MPH, RDN
Coach
Sarah Takach joined The Ohio State University’s Performance Nutrition team in August 2024 as a Performance Dietitian. In her role, she manages the nutritiona...
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Doug Calland
Coach
Doug Calland, a member of the Ohio State athletic training staff since 1995, serves as head athletic trainer for the Buckeyes and is in charge of overseeing ...
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Adam Stewart
Coach
Adam Stewart DPT, ATC, LAT joined the Ohio State Athletic Training staff in spring 2015 as the physical therapist working with football. Adam is a 2010 gradu...
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Tyler Deam
Coach
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Solomon Campbell
Coach
Solomon “Solo” Campbell joined the Buckeyes in 2017. He works primarily with football and also is responsible for men’s tennis. Solomon received a bachelor o...
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Grace Castricone
Coach
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Marc Lucas
Coach
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Dennis Bowsher
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Brad Swartz
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Derek Ankrum
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John Demianenko
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Drew Reed
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Mason McCool
Coach
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WIlliam Robinson
Coach
Robinson is a certified PGA Instructor (Teaching & Coaching), Class A Member of the PGA Specializes in: Junior golfers, beginners, and advanced players. Rob ...
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Kirk Noga
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Michael Lezan
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Julian Link
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Matthew Gerhart
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Trace Helton
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