Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / Report: Buckeyes Fire Special Teams Coordinator Robby Discher

Transcript

Report: Buckeyes Fire Special Teams Coordinator Robby Discher · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We have some breaking news to start your Monday morning
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: involving the Ohio State football program. And it seems like
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the fallout from Saturday's disastrous loss to the Oregon Ducks
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: has now begun inside the walls of the Woody Hayes
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Athletic Center. According to a report from Matt Zenitz of
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: CBS Sports, Ohio State has decided to part ways with
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: special teams coordinator Robbie Disher. Disher was hired this past offseason.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: He had previously worked at Illinois. And when they brought
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: him in, the idea was he was going to sort
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: of upgrade and revolutionize the Ohio State special teams, turn
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: them into a weapon. Instead, they have gone the wrong direction.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: If you look at some of the advanced analytics right now,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: this is the worst special teams unit that Ohio State
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: has had in the era that they have tracked this stuff. FEI,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: has been tracking special teams efficiency since 2007. The Buckeyes
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: currently rank 92nd in the nation in special teams FEI.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: That is by far the worst they have ever been
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: in that measure since they started tracking it in 2007.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: The worst before that was 75th in 2012. 92nd this year.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: They are 101st in the nation in kickoff efficiency, 103rd
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: in punt efficiency. But you don't need analytics to show
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: you that the special teams have not been very good
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: this year. All you have to do is look at
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: some of the big games that Ohio State has lost.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: They've lost three games this year. Special teams have played
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: a role in all three of those. Now, in the
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: game against Texas... Buckeyes were up by six in the
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: fourth quarter, about five minutes left in the game. Missed
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: a 45-yard field goal. That would have been a huge,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: huge play because that would have turned a six-point lead
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: into a nine-point lead, which turns it from a one-possession
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: game to a two-possession game. Missed kicks happen. It happens.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: The kicking has been pretty good other than that, but
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: a big moment in a big loss. Special teams played
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: a role there. Out at USC about a week and
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: a half ago now, They had a punt from the
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: USC 42 in the first quarter that went just 32
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: yards in the air instead of pinning USC deep. It
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: was a returnable kick. The Gunners overran the play, allowing
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: for a big return, a 44-yard return. And then at
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the end, the cherry on top, you got a 15-yard
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: personal foul penalty for a late hit out of bounds
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: that gave the USC the ball at the Ohio State 31.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: That turned a game where Ohio State was down just 7-3.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: gave USC a short field, let them score a second touchdown.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: So then Ohio State was down 14-3 in the first
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: quarter and really never got back from that. So that
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: was another game-changing play from the special teams unit. Not
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: in a good way. The final straw, though, that probably
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: came on Saturday against the Oregon Ducks. Buckeyes were up
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: 14-3 in the second quarter. Oregon... Head coach Dan Lanning,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: this is not a mystery. This is not a surprise
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: that Dan Lanning is very, very aggressive in fourth down situations, very,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: very aggressive with fakes in the special teams area. Fourth
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: and nine at the Oregon 31, Oregon down 14 to three,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: ran a fake, snapped it to the up back Tatum Tuioti.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: He took a couple steps towards the line of scrimmage,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: then threw a jump pass to Mateo Uyangalile. That turned
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: into a long gain, 31-yard gain that set up the
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Ducks' first touchdown of the game. All of a sudden,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: instead of If you get a stop there, it's 14-3.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: You got the ball deep in Oregon territory and you
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: got a chance to maybe blend a knockout blow instead.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Ended up setting up the touchdown that put Oregon right
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: back in the game and started that disastrous middle eight
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: for Ohio State where they got outscored 21-0. You get
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: the sense that that was probably the final straw there,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: but not a lot. You didn't really see, it didn't
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: seem like there was a lot you could point to
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: in terms of what Ohio State had gotten from Robbie
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Disher since they brought him in. And This was when
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Ryan Day brought him in, a pretty substantial investment. He
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: gave Disher a two-year contract, $ 400, 000 for 2026, $ 450, 000 for 2027,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: and it is apparently not an investment that has paid off.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: So now what is Ohio State going to do with
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: the special teams for the rest of the season? Ohio
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: State has not officially announced this. Again, this is why
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: we're sourcing this all to the Matt Zenitz CBS Sports Report.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Most likely scenario is They have a couple other special
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: teams assistants, Rob Keys, Gunnar Daniel, who are internal guys.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Very likely they would be the folks who would sort
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: of take on the main role for the Ohio State
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: special teams coaching moving forward. So now the next question is,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: is that it? That was sort of one of the
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: responses on social media. Is that all? Only one guy?
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: I think you have to remember this is the middle
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: of the season, and Ohio State does technically– still have
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: a path to both the Big Ten championship and the
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: college football playoff. So this is not the time when
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: you typically see wholesale changes. Michigan just fired their offensive coordinator,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: but Michigan is in a different spot than Ohio State
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: is right now, where they've got one more loss. They're
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: completely out of the Big Ten championship picture. It is
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: really kind of a lost season for them. For Ohio State,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: still theoretically at least a path to the Big Ten
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: championship game. and therefore the college football playoff. So you're
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: not necessarily going to make wholesale changes here. But as
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: mentioned off the top, this is the first time that
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Ryan Day has dismissed a coach in the middle of
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: the season since he has been Ohio State's head coach.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: There was that time in 2021 where defensive coordinator Kerry
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Combs was demoted. He lost his play-calling role in the
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: middle of that 2021 season. Matt Barnes took that over.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: But you don't tend to see that kind of change
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: as outside of like the real, real disaster areas. And
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: it's also, if we want to be real frank about this,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: it's easier to let go of the guy who's making $ 400, 000
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: than someone who's making five or 10 times that amount.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: So that's probably a factor in this as well. Feels
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: like it's not a dismissal that you look at and
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: you go, why? What could he have possibly done? You
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: can sort of understand it. And I think the question
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: from Ohio State fans this morning is why not more?
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: The answer is, Because the season's not over, and you
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: can't turn over your entire assistant coaching staff in season.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: I know that everyone has a long list that looks
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: like Santa's list, except everyone's on the naughty list. That's
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: the Ohio State fans right now looking at their assistant coaches.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: I think you have to sort of be a little
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: bit patient. My guess, and this is just speculation, but
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: my guess is that you will see more turnover with
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: the Ohio State coaching staff After the season, this will
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: probably not be the only change to the coaching staff
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: between now and the start of the 2027 season. But
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: during the middle of the season, this tends to be
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: a time when you're not making huge wholesale sweeping changes
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: unless you're firing your head coach. And that certainly does
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: not seem like where things are headed with Ohio State
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: right now. So unless you're firing Mike Norvell in order
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: to get out in front of the coaching market, you
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: don't tend to see huge sweeping changes. with the assistant
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: coaching staffs during the season. So probably a little bit
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: of patience required to satiate the bloodlust of the Ohio
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: State fan base right now. But the special teams coordinator,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Robbie Disher, has been fired. So they threw someone into
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: the volcano to sort of maybe satisfy some of the
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: bloodlust from the Ohio State fan base right now. But
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: more changes likely to come, but likely, likely not until
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: later in the season or after the season. So there
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: you go. Some breaking news to start your Monday morning.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Not a sign of a great situation for the Ohio
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: State football program, but I guess an evolving situation for
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: the Ohio State program. Buckeyes will be back on the
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: field this Saturday against Northwestern. That game kicks off at noon.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: It will be on Fox. Should be a very enthusiastic
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt on the call for that one. Man,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: oh man, is there a lot to talk about this week.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: We would love to talk about it all with you
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: at BuckeyeInsiders.com. Our board has been buzzing already this morning.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: It is not even 8 a.m. as I'm saying this.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: And man, our board is blowing up this morning with
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: the Robbie Disher news. But also a lot of other
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: stuff going on around the program. Also basketball plays on
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Monday night. There's a lot to talk about right now.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Women's basketball hosts UConn on Thursday this week. It is
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: going to be a busy, busy and exciting week in Columbus, Ohio.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: We'll be covering it all for you at BuckeyeInsiders.com. We
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: would love to see you there. That'll do it for now.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Thank you guys all for joining us. We'll talk to
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: you next time.