When Ryan Day offered James Laurinaitis the opportunity to return to his alma mater and join Ohio State’s coaching staff as a graduate assistant, he and his wife agreed that he should take it – on one condition.
As a graduate assistant at Notre Dame last year, Laurinaitis had a hands-on role helping coach the Fighting Irish’s linebackers. So he wanted to make sure he would have a similar opportunity at Ohio State. Once it became clear he would and that Day truly wanted him to join the staff, it wasn’t a hard decision for Laurinaitis to return to the Buckeyes.