The Ohio State football program has been without an offensive coordinator for almost two months since Brian Hartline decided to leave the Buckeyes to become the new head coach of USF. Since then, it has been pretty clear that Ryan Day was looking for an OC from the NFL ranks.
Brian Daboll was the early favorite for the Buckeyes, but he continued to take interviews for other NFL jobs. All of the college coordinators were already taken, so Day was painted into a corner by going into the NFL ranks. That did work with the hiring of Matt Patricia last year for the defensive coordinator position.