Barnes to become secondary coach, Fleming promoted to full-time position
COLUMBUS, Ohio –– Promoting within the program was not an option that Ohio State head coach Ryan Day ruled out when discussing how the Buckeyes would replace co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison in the offseason, and Day announced a couple in-house coaching moves Wednesday that will address that absence in part.
Parker Fleming, a quality control coach this past year, has been promoted to a full-time position on special teams, while 2020 special teams coordinator Matt Barnes will now become the Ohio State secondary coach.
"To bring in somebody that has a different set of thoughts on coverages and beliefs and all those things, that's a different dynamic," Day said. "And I think Matt Barnes will do this job better than anyone in the country for what we need. And if I didn't think that, we wouldn't do it."
However, Day said he is still considering bringing in an outside defensive analyst as a consultant in the coming weeks.
The Ohio State pass defense ranked No. 122 in the country in Kerry Coombs' first season back with the program in 2020, and his first ever in the defensive coordinator position. Coombs will remain the defensive coordinator, but he will no longer be the team's secondary coach, Day said.
"Promoting from within is something that I believe strongly in, and I believe that it's gonna be an opportunity for these guys to really be part of our program for a long time and keep some continuity," Day said.
No one will officially replace Mattison's title as co-defensive coordinator, although Day said he considered it.
Barnes has been at Ohio State since 2019 after three seasons coaching at Maryland, and Day said he will still work with the special teams unit a bit this season.
Fleming is in his second coaching stint with the Buckeyes, having previously been a graduate assistant under Urban Meyer in 2013 and '14 before coaching at James Madison and Texas State.
"He's really sharp, he's done a really good job, I mean he'll step into our offensive meetings, he can go over to defense, and I think the guys on the team feel like he's a wealth of knowledge and that they get him better," Day said.
If Day does bring in an additional voice from outside the program, he said it "has to be the right fit culturally," and said he may begin bringing people in to discuss a position in the next couple weeks.