With Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly leaving the Buckeyes to accept the same poison at the NFL ranks with the Las Vegas Raiders, the search for a new OC has officially started in northwest Ohio.
In a recent list from 247Sports’ Dave Biddle, one name with Big 12 ties was listed as the next potential offensive coordinator. That individual is former West Virginia head coach Neal Brown.
“Now we get into the candidates who appear to be more of the long-shot variety,” Biddle said. “Neal Brown, 44, was West Virginia’s head coach for the past six seasons (2019-2024) and was the head coach at Troy for the four seasons prior to that (2015-18). Brown quickly rose up the coaching ranks as he became the youngest coordinator in FBS in 2008 at the age of 27 at Troy. He was also the OC/WR coach at both Texas Tech (2012-13) and Kentucky (13-14). Brown is a native of the state of Kentucky and played wide receiver for both the Wildcats and at UMass. He has an overall record of 72-51 as a head coach, including 35-16 at Troy and 37-35 at WVU.”
While Neal Brown’s name has been relatively quiet through the majority of the offseason coaching carousel, Ohio State becomes the second team linked to the former Mountaineer coach. Earlier in the cycle, UMass was listed as a possible landing spot for Brown as the team entered the search to find their new coach. The group would eventually select Joe Harasymiak for the position, who was the defensive coordinator at Rutgers from 2022-2024.
In addition to Neal Brown, Biddle listed wide receivers coach Brian Hartline, Penn State’s Andy Kotelnicki, Toledo’s Jason Candle, Akron’s Joe Moorhead, and Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator Tommy Rees.
