Brian Hartline promoted to Ohio State football's passing game coordinator

Ohio State announced Sunday that it has promoted wide receivers coach Brian Hartline, adding passing game coordinator to his title.

Hartline has for four seasons coached wide receivers, one of the Buckeyes’ strongest position groups.

The program had two 1,000-yard receivers in a season for the first time this past fall between Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Garrett Wilson.

Finishing with 1,606 yards and nine touchdowns, Smith-Njigba also set the single-season school receiving yards record.

With the promotion, Hartline is expected to take on a larger role in game-planning alongside offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson and Ryan Day, who calls plays for the offense.

“Brian is a dedicated Ohio State Buckeye,” Day said in a statement. “He is the top wide receiver’s coach in college football and he has continued to develop as an offensive coach to the point where we want him to have more of an impact on our offensive game plan. His taking over as passing game coordinator will allow for this.”

It was not immediately known if Hartline would also be receiving a pay raise due to his additional staff responsibilities.

He received $600,000 as part of his base salary in 2021, the second year of a two-year contract extension that runs through the end of this month.

The 35-year-old Hartline is viewed as a rising star and was recently named the wide receivers coach of the year by FootballScoop, but he has rarely been speculated as a candidate for other coaching jobs.

Hartline grew up in Canton, was a wide receiver for the Buckeyes from 2005-08 and has spent his entire coaching career in Columbus.

In November, he said he “can’t imagine” leaving his alma mater and described the odds of such a scenario as a “low chance.”

“This state’s my home,” Hartline said, “and I have a strong passion here.”

He also mentioned it would be difficult to part from the current group of receivers he is coaching. Smith-Njigba returns as a junior next season, along with other talented underclassmen that include Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka.

One hot rumor, though, emerged last week involving Notre Dame, which is now being led by Marcus Freeman, a former linebacker at Ohio State and teammate with Hartline.

FootballScoop reported that Freeman could target Hartline as an addition to his inaugural coaching staff in South Bend.

There is an opening for a wide receivers coach since Del Alexander is not being retained, and Freeman was already bringing in another former teammate in James Laurinaitis in an unspecified staff role.

But Hartline’s promotion over the weekend should quiet that chatter.

Hartline first returned to Ohio State in 2017 when he joined former coach Urban Meyer’s staff as a quality control coach and quickly moved up within the program.

He took over as interim wide receivers coach the following year following the firing of Zach Smith, who was let go amid domestic abuse allegations, and was retained by Day in 2019.

Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Contact him at jkaufman@dispatch.com or on Twitter @joeyrkaufman.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football promotes Brian Hartline to pass game coordinator