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| Urban has a plan for his staff |
That changed on Monday, when Urban sat down with a couple of Buckeye news reporters, and what he told them clears up some questions about the present and future coaching staff. We were able to track down (Thanks Ozone) some of the Q&A's that were recorded there.
Speculation has been swirling about Luke Fickell to Pitt, and about Mike Vrabel being retained or not. Urban cleared a lot of that up, which you'll find out below.
While Meyer doesn't mention who he has in mind for the rest of his staff, it's only a matter of time before the information gets out. I still have high hopes for Studrawa, but with his recent raise, it might be even tougher for the Buckeyes to land the current LSU Coordinator.
Below are some key points that Urban mentioned during the interviews that we were able to find.
- Meyer said he will announce the rest of the staff on Jan. 3, after the bowl games out of respect for coaches who are still working for other teams.
- Gene Smith never told Urban he had to keep Fickell or anyone. Told him to "evaluate everything" but asked him to consider keeping Fickell.
- Meyer confirmed that he will retain cornerbacks coach Taver Johnson along with Stan Drayton, who will move from coaching the wide receivers back to coaching the running backs, like he did under Meyer at Florida.
- Meyer is still evaluating Mike Vrabel, who has been one of his primary recruiters over the last three weeks, but hinted that Jim Heacock likely would not return next season. Fickell has already been named the team’s defensive coordinator.
- Meyer called new strength coach Mickey Marotti the "most important hire in the athletic department" because he will head Ohio State’s performance team. Said there is no reason OSU should have the best staff in the country.
